Ceremonies honoring two local pioneering Black physicians took place on Saturday afternoon with both descendants and civic leaders in attendance.
A commemorative plaque honoring Dr. Harold Johnson and Dr. Edward Morton was unveiled at a new pocket park located on the grounds of VHC Health at 19th Street N. and N. Edison Street.
“It is a significant moment,” said Saundra Green, a civic leader and community activist who worked with the hospital to make the plaque a reality.
Having started their careers in an era of segregation, the two physicians “more than likely never envisioned that, in 2026, their family, friends and community would be here to honor, recognize and celebrate them,” Green said.
The marker and park were a joint effort by hospital officials and the John M. Langston Citizens Association, with support from Amazon. The unveiling was part of Neighborhood Day activities in the Halls Hill/High View Park community.
Morton was a longtime resident of Halls Hill/High View Park, who began treating residents from his home — located where the McDonald’s is today — in the 1930s.
An obstetrician/gynecologist, he delivered many of the neighborhood’s babies with the assistance of a midwife.
“He often accepted produce and baked goods in lieu of money for his services,” the commemorative plaque notes.
Morton also was active in Halls Hill civic life and served as manager of the community’s acclaimed White Sox baseball team. He died in 1962 and is buried at the Mount Salvation Baptist Church graveyard, just two blocks from the VHC park space.
In 2020, Morton’s name was one of the finalists as Arlington leaders sought a new name for Lee Highway (now Langston Blvd).
When Arlington Hospital (now VHC Health) opened in 1944, it was partially segregated. While some facilities, including emergency care, were open to Black patients in separate areas from white patients, there were no non-emergency maternity services offered to expectant Black mothers.
In the 1940s, Johnson (1910-84) became the first Black doctor admitted to the hospital staff. Later, he became the first Black physician permitted to make medical rounds in units designated as white-only.
“Because he refused to participate in discriminatory practices of the time, he successfully steered the hospital’s policy toward Blacks away from some of the regrettable practices of the era,” the plaque notes.
In 1971, Johnson — a grandson of those who had once been enslaved — was selected to serve on the hospital’s governing board. He was a member until 1981, the year before he retired from practice.
One of Johnson’s daughters, Harolyn Ivy, attended the ceremony. In September 1957, her father brought 17-year-old Harolyn and her 15-year-old sister Rita to what then was Washington-Lee High School, seeking to enroll them at the all-white school.
They were among nine Black students denied admittance to segregated schools across Arlington that day. The event received front-page coverage in the New York Times and was a precursor to court battles that ultimately led to desegregation of Virginia schools two years later.
(Also in attendance at the May 30 ceremony was Michael Jones, one of the four Arlington youths who in February 1959 desegregated Stratford Junior High School.)
Descendants of both honorees attended and spoke at the ceremony.
Karen Ivy Monaco, Harolyn Ivy’s daughter and a granddaughter of Johnson, said her family was “grateful and humbled by this acknowledgment.”
She remembered her grandfather as “a serious man who loved his family, his patients and God” and one who treated all his patients “with humanity and dignity.”
Despite his early experiences with segregation, Virginia Hospital became a place “he cared for so deeply,” Monaco said.
A Morton family member also expressed thanks for the honor.
“We’re very proud to be part of this,” she said.
Also speaking at the ceremony was County Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., who said the unveiling represented an opportunity to “stop, pause and reflect.”
He said the two physicians were among “leaders who opened doors some said would never be opened.”
“Despite barriers, they chose to serve — standing up when it would be easier to stay silent,” Spain said.
In remarks, John M. Langston Civic Association president Wilma Jones thanked hospital officials for supporting the project.
She said Adrian Stanton, a VHC Health vice president who frequently serves as liaison on community affairs, “has been extremely responsive.” When the concept was brought to Stanton, “he said ‘we can make this happen,'” Jones said.
The marker, which faces the Halls Hill/High View Park neighborhood, will serve as “a lasting reminder of two legendary Black physicians who understood no man stands as tall as when he stoops to help another,” Green said.
