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Biographical Description

Bessie Bookrum Small (née Badham) was born in Chowan County, North Carolina, on July 8, 1898. By 1925, she had earned a doctorate and was working as a pharmacist in Hampton, Virginia. A Shaw University graduate, Small relocated to Tennessee and later to Maryland with her husband Horace L. Small and children Sylvia and Shelba. Small was active in fundraising and in advocating for improvements to Black education and health institutions. She died on September 11, 1977, and is buried in Federalsburg, Maryland.

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