Essie Davis Morgan

Essie Davis Morgan (December 31, 1919[1] – February 27, 1990) was an American social worker. She received the Federal Woman's Award in 1971, for her work on community services for disabled veterans.

For the Australian actress with a similar name, see Essie Davis.
Essie Davis Morgan
A smiling middle-aged Black woman with short curly hair, wearing a jacket with a wide dark collar
Essie Davis Morgan, from a 1971 publication of the US federal government
Born
Essie Mae Davis

December 31, 1919
Waycross, Georgia, US
DiedFebruary 27, 1990
Washington, D.C., US
OccupationSocial worker
RelativesOssie Davis (brother), William Conan Davis (brother), Guy Davis (nephew)

Early life

Essie Mae Davis was born in Georgia, the daughter of Kince Charles Davis and Laura Jane Cooper Davis. Her father worked in railroad construction. Actor Ossie Davis and chemist William Conan Davis were two of her brothers. She graduated from Alabama State College, and earned a master's degree in social work at Atlanta University.[2]

Career

Davis worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, where she worked on community projects involving veterans with psychiatric disabilities and veterans who required dialysis.[3] In 1965 she joined the social work staff at the Veterans' Administration (VA) offices in Washington, D.C. She was named chief of Community Services, then chief of Rehabilitation and Staff Development in the VA's Spinal Cord Injury Service,[4] and manager of the Washington, D.C. regional office.[5] She was the first Black woman to head a regional office of the VA. She retired in 1986.[6]

Morgan won the Federal Woman's Award in 1971,[7] "for her outstanding and original work in developing the social and emotional aspects of the care and treatment of veteran patients and their families."[8] She also received honors from the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Morgan was recognized as a national authority on community services and rehabilitation for veterans with spinal cord injuries. She gave workshops at VA facilities across the United States,[9][10] presented at professional conferences,[11] and published her research and policy findings in academic journals, including Rehabilitation Psychology[12] and Journal of the National Medical Association.[13][14] She co-wrote a chapter for Joseph Stubbins, ed., Social and Psychological Aspects of Disability: A Handbook for Practitioners (1977).[15]

Personal life and legacy

Essie Davis married World War II veteran William Spencer Morgan in 1949. They had two children. He died in 1984. Morgan died from a brain tumor in 1990, aged 70 years, in Washington, D.C. Her gravesite is with her husband's, in Arlington National Cemetery.[16] The Essie Morgan Excellence Award (later the Essie Morgan Lectureship) was established later that year by the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals, in her memory.[17][18]

References
  1. Some sources give 1920 as her birth year; her grave record in Arlington National Cemetery gives December 31, 1919.
  2. "Essie D. Morgan, Retired VA Official, Dies". The Washington Post. March 4, 1990.
  3. Moore, Jacqueline (1971-04-25). "World of Women". Oakland Tribune. p. 202. Retrieved 2022-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Sawislak, Arnold E. (May 25, 1973). "Disabled Veterans--What do you do when you have no feet". Traverse City Record Eagle. p. 35. Retrieved February 1, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  5. "Named to VA Post". Alabama Journal. 1978-07-25. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Morgan, Essie D." Social Welfare History Project. 2011-01-21. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  7. "People". Jet: 20. March 25, 1971.
  8. Jones, Dorothy B. (September 1971). "Presenting the Honored Six". Civil Service Journal: 19.
  9. United States Veterans Administration, Department of Medicine and Surgery (1972). A Source Book Rehabilitating the Person with Spinal Cord Injury. Veterans Administration Department of Medicine and Surgery. p. 2.
  10. "VA Hospital to Celebrate 40th Birthday". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1970-07-19. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Veterans Administration Spinal Cord Injury Conference (1969). Proceedings - Veterans Administration Spinal Cord Injury Con.
  12. Morgan, Essie D.; Hohmann, George W.; Davis, John E. (1974). "Psychosocial rehabilitation in VA Spinal Cord Injury Centers". Rehabilitation Psychology. 21 (1): 3–27. doi:10.1037/h0090822. ISSN 1939-1544.
  13. Thompson, Daniel J.; Capel, Wallace; Mosley, Edward R.; Evans, E. Warren; Morgan, Essie D. (November 1955). "Some Clinical Observations on the Ulcer Syndrome". Journal of the National Medical Association. 47 (6): 376–383. ISSN 0027-9684. PMC 2617690. PMID 13272033.
  14. Morgan, Essie D. (March 1962). "Intake, a Function of Clinical Social Work". Journal of the National Medical Association. 54 (2): 222–224. ISSN 0027-9684. PMC 2642397. PMID 14475953.
  15. Joseph Stubbins (1977). Social and Psychological Aspects of Disability: A Handbook for Practitioners. Inc American Printing House for the Blind. University Park Press.
  16. "ANC Explorer". Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  17. "PSWC Awards Program". Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals, Inc. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  18. Krause, James S. (September 2015). "40 Years of SCI Research: Essie Morgan Lectureship". The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 38 (5): 645–670. doi:10.1179/1079026815Z.000000000435. ISSN 1079-0268. PMC 4535807.
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