Legacy
The fourth of eight children, Charles Bernard Cox was born in the foothills of Chillicothe, Ohio, to Fleming and Nannie Cox on November 6, 1879. The Cox family was well established in Chillicothe by the late 1800’s, and helped establish the Wendell Phillips Club (WPC) in 1891. Named after the famous orator and abolitionist Wendell Phillips, the club functioned as a safe space for the Black youths of Chillicothe to gather socially and celebrate the literary arts. It was at the WPC that Bernard honed his leadership skills. He held various offices and leadership roles during his high school years, including earning the title of “Toast Master” during the club’s 9th anniversary celebration, where he delivered a memorable speech titled “The Life of Wendell Phillips.”
After graduating from high school in 1897, Bernard prepared for a career in dentistry by studying under Dr. Charles Mills. In the summer of 1900, Bernard traveled to Columbus and enrolled into Ohio Medical University's (OMU) dental school (which would one day become Ohio State's College of Dentistry), becoming the school's first Black student and, three years later, the school's first Black graduate. After graduation, Bernard joined his older brother, Lyman, as a member of the small population of Black licensed healthcare professionals practicing in the early 20th century. Lyman worked as a druggist in Chillicothe and Columbus, and was reported to be the first Black man to pass Ohio's state pharmaceutical examination in 1896. Three years after Bernard's graduation, his older brother, Ernest, graduated in the OMU College of Medicine's Class of 1906.
By 1910, Dr. Cox had purchased a home on Hamilton Avenue in Columbus and a dental office nearby at 826 E. Long Street, serving as a dentist for Black and immigrant patients. In the summer of 1914, he married Alice Davis. Two years later, Alice gave birth to their daughter, Lois Ann. Soon after, Dr. Cox enlisted as a first lieutenant in Company F of the 372nd infantry 93rd Provisional District during World War I in 1918. In February of 1919, after he sojourned at Camp Upton, 1st Lt. Cox returned home. Not long after, the Cox family was expecting their second daughter, named Alice, after her mother.
Sadly, Bernard and Alice eventually divorced. Despite the changes in his home life, one thing remained constant: Dr. Cox continued to serve his community out of his E. Long Street office for over thirty years. He provided important and needed dental services to an ethnically diverse clientele in a time when discrimination outside and within the healthcare system was rampant.
Bernard passed away on July 5, 1945, but his legacy remains an important part of Columbus’ Black medical history. Ostensibly, the precedent established after being the first to achieve something noteworthy is one’s greatest contribution to society. However, Dr. Cox’s legacy is felt today through the lives and actions of the patients he served and, furthermore, the lives and actions of the family he helped build.
Phillip T. Chapman, '21 BS, is now a first-year pharmacy student at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy.