Maceo Braxton, Jr. family photograph album

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 7109

Staff Only

Content Description

Most of the black-and-white photographs measure 7.5" x 9.5" and bear an ink stamp ("W. White, Comm, Arts Academy, Dec. 72") on the verso. Included is a worn photograph of Bernice in 1944 and a later polaroid of Braxton, Jr. and his wife, Shirley. In addition to the photographs, the album contains a program to the 1974 West Point Society of Los Angeles Military Ball, which is signed on the front by General Omar N. Bradley, whom the Society honored at the event. All of the materials are housed in acetate sleeves that are bound in a brown buckram album.

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within 1974
Creation: 1944
Creation: 1980

Creator

Braxton, Maceo, Jr. (Person)
Braxton, Bernice Maiflorence Tuggle (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical / Historical

Maceo ("Mace") Braxton, Jr., M.D. (1953-2008) served in the U.S. Army and pursued a career in medicine. Born April 7, 1953 in Los Angeles, CA to Maceo Braxton, Sr. (1922-1997) and Bernice Maiflorence (Tuggle) Braxton (1924-2013), Braxton attended West Point and graduated in 1974. Braxton went on to attend the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Medical School and continued to serve in the military until 1998, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. With his wife Shirley and their three children, Braxton settled in Salina, Kansas where he pioneered the heart surgery program and served as a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Salina Regional Health Center.

Bernice Maiflorence Braxton, Braxton Jr.'s mother, earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biology at Philander Smith College and a Master's Degree in Library Science at the University of Michigan, before taking a position at Tuskegee Institute Airfield during World War II and working part time in the library where she often assisted George Washington Carver with his research. Later, while working as a medical school librarian at Howard University, she was reunited with her high school sweetheart, Maceo Braxton, Sr. (1922-1997), whom she married in 1949. Following the Braxtons' move to Los Angeles, Bernice was hired as a reference librarian at the University of Southern California--the second Black reference librarian at USC--and later emerged as a leader in the African American art movement in Southern California.

Adapted from seller's description

Extent

0.88 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

An album of family portraits and other material assembled at the time of Maceo Braxton, Jr.'s graduation from West Point in 1974. The more than 40 photographs in the album prominently feature Braxton (1953-2008)--a Black physician and military officer--as well as his parents, Maceo Braxton, Sr. (1922-1997) and Bernice Maiflorence Braxton (1924-2013), and his four siblings in their Los Angeles home. Many of the portraits feature Braxton's mother, Bernice, who worked at the University of Southern California as a reference librarian at the time.