As we celebrate Black History Month, we are honored to recognize history makers with ties to Montgomery County.

Today, we spotlight Dr. Webster Sewell (1901-1998)

Webster Sewell was an African American physician who operated a medical clinic in Norbeck, Maryland. In January 1960, the Montgomery County Sentinel described Dr. Sewell as “the only Negro doctor in the county,” and reported that he was sentenced to a one-year prison term for performing an abortion on a White woman, thereby losing his medical license and depriving his patients of medical care.

Throughout his career, Webster Sewell represented the enterprising spirit of the Black hospital movement. On the local level, he served as an important resource in a 1947 Montgomery County survey on race relations and he was among the unnamed professionals who documented racial disparities in health care, among other issues. The survey concluded that “the system is apparently one of discrimination which relegates all Negroes to the lowest stratum of economic, political and social life.”

Sewell’s first love was the practice of medicine and, according to his daughter, Dorita Sewell, he “respected medicine and had a somewhat romantic view of it.”19 She remembers that he was an “excellent diagnostician … and read medical journals eagerly,” noting that his practice was large and that the majority of his patients were “the poor and neglected people of Montgomery County [many of whom] he cared for free.”20 Sewell planned to raise money to build a non-discriminatory hospital, and he had a building site and architectural plans for the facility in Norbeck.21 Dorita notes that “the community was raising money for it,” but he donated the funds in the 1960s to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda “where they had more liberal policies.”

Excerpts from https://montgomeryhistory.org/montgomery-county-story-african-american-topics/

Odessa M. Shannon (1928-2020) was born in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 1928, to Gladys and Raymond McKenzie. She was educated in Washington’s public schools, graduating from Dunbar High School as Valedictorian with a perfect SAT score. The only black student in her class, she earned her B.A. from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduating on the Dean’s List.

She was the first black woman elected to the Montgomery County School Board in 1982 and served there until she was appointed Special Assistant to the County Executive in 1984. She was the first woman ever to hold this position. From 1995 to 2008, she served as Executive Director of the Montgomery County Human Rights Commission.

She was the founder of the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame and is included in the Women’s History Archives of the Montgomery County Commission for Women. Ms. Shannon received numerous awards throughout her career for her many accomplishments and advocacy including the Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteerism from President Obama, the Distinguished Community Leadership Award from County Executive Leggett, Maryland’s Hornbook Award for Outstanding Service to Education, the MCPS Award for Distinguished Service to Public Education, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Award for Exceptional Achievement in Advancing the Rights of Minorities and Women. 

Excerpt from https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshallfame/html/index.html

As we celebrate Black History Month, we are honored to recognize history makers with ties to Montgomery County.

Today, we spotlight Dominique Dawes. 

Dominique Dawes is an Olympic Gold Medalist, three-time Olympian, brand ambassador and motivational speaker. She is the only American gymnast to medal at three different Olympic Games in the team competition and the first African American gymnast to win an Olympic Gold medal. Dominique paved the way for other young African American gymnasts to strive for Olympic glory. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Dominique became the first female African American gymnast to win an individual medal, capturing bronze with her floor exercise performance, helping solidify her place in the USOC Hall of Fame.

Dominique, appointed by President Barack Obama, served as the co-chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition alongside NFL Quarterback Drew Brees. Through this program she worked closely with the First Lady to help promote the Let's Move! initiative, educating children on fitness and nutrition while motivating them to get moving.

Dominique was born in Silver Spring, MD on November 20, 1976. Today, she is a highly requested keynote speaker who delivers powerful and inspiring messages on leadership, personal drive, building your foundation for success and living a healthy lifestyle. She has the unique ability to empower audiences, from corporate executives and small business owners to women's groups and moms, universities, and youth organizations.

Excerpt from msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshallfame/html/index.html

The Maryland House of Delegates tip credit bill hearing scheduled for February 14th has been cancelled.

The Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce partnered with local Chambers in Maryland and the Restaurant Association of Maryland to defeat this legislation in the Maryland General Assembly.

 Statement from the Restaurant Association of Maryland:
The hearing for House Bill 467, which would phase out Maryland’s tip credit, has been cancelled because the bill sponsor will be withdrawing this legislation. This decision comes after nearly 100 servers, bartenders and restaurant operators showed up at a February 1st hearing in Annapolis to oppose the State Senate version of this legislation as part of our industry’s SAVE OUR TIPS campaign. The Senate Finance Committee heard persuasive testimony from tipped employees and restaurant operators who spoke against the bill. As a direct result of our industry’s strong turnout and powerful testimony, this legislation does not have the support needed to pass this Senate committee.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we are honored to recognize history makers with ties to Montgomery County.

Today, we spotlight Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland. He is Maryland’s first Black Governor in the state’s 246-year history and is just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States.

Wes was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, to Joy and Westley Moore.  Wes is a combat veteran, bestselling author, small business owner, Rhodes Scholar, and former CEO of one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations. 

Moore built and launched a Baltimore-based business called BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long-term success. BridgeEdu was acquired by the Brooklyn-based student financial success platform, Edquity, in 2018.

It was Moore’s commitment to taking on our toughest challenges that brought him to the Robin Hood foundation, where he served for four years as CEO. During his tenure, the Robin Hood foundation distributed over $600 million toward lifting families out of poverty, including here in Maryland.

Excerpts from https://governor.maryland.gov/leadership/Pages/governor.aspx