Peoria’s first Black female physician was beloved pioneer

In 2018, a Peoria primary school was renamed in honor of Peoria’s first Black female physician. It was quite the change in a city where hospitals once were segregated.

In a July 2018 ceremony, the building at 1907 W. Forrest Hill Ave. was officially renamed Dr. Maude A. Sanders Primary School. The Peoria Public Schools board had voted earlier that summer to remove the name of the 28th U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson, from the school and rename it. Proponents of the change had cited Wilson’s legacy of racial discrimination and segregation.

In Wilson’s place, the board chose to honor the pioneering Sanders, known for her selfless care of others during a local medical career that spanned decades.

Who was Dr. Maude A. Sanders?

Sanders was born Jan. 9, 1903, in New Orleans, according to her obituary. In 1939, she graduated from Meharry Medical

College in Nashville, Tennessee. She was one of the first two Black women to intern at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis. She began her medical practice in Peoria in 1942. She married C. LaVerne Caldwell in 1948.

What was Dr. Maude Sanders known for?

Sanders had a reputation of never turning a patient away, the Peoria Journal Star wrote in 1982. At one time, she made house calls when no other doctors would. Most of her clients were Black, and many were on Illinois Public Aid. “You can’t imagine how hard it is for people, particularly those with a medical card to get someone to do something for them,” she told the newspaper. “Since many white doctors won’t accept them, I couldn’t refuse them if I wanted to.”

When Sanders started her practice, Peoria “was as segregated as any other town,” the paper wrote. Though she never had problems within the medical community, the hospitals were segre

gated and beds for Black patients were limited. “Now I can’t say any of my patients died because of that, but it would have made it more comfortable for them,” Sanders said then. Some employers would not accept her medical notes for patients. She couldn’t go to Peoria Medical Society meetings at the Jefferson Hotel because Blacks were not allowed.

Sanders came to Peoria, she said then, to fill a need. “Women were not too acceptable at that time and Peoria needed a black doctor. I chose to go where they had to have somebody.” She filled that need for nearly five decades.

Sanders retired in 1990. A city proclamation declared a “Maude Sanders Day” in Peoria, the Journal Star reported, adding she had delivered thousands of babies over the years.

When did Dr. Maude Sanders die?

Dr. Maude Alice Sanders-Caldwell died on Oct. 14, 1995, at her East Peoria residence, her obituary read. She was 92. She was a member of local, state and national medical societies. She was a past president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People. She received numerous awards during her long career and was inducted into the Downstate African-American Hall of Fame.

Haven on the Farm owner Ashley Wurzer built a massive 8,000 square foot barn on her North Peoria property near U.S. Rt. 150 and Trigger Road. The original old barn, which sits behind the new barn, has been deemed unusable.

Carol Caldwell Graham, center, stands embraced by her daughter, Arysha Graham, before a portrait of Carol Caldwell Graham's mother, Dr. Maude A. Sanders, during a ceremony Wednesday to rename Woodrow Wilson Primary School as Dr. Maude A. Sanders Primary School. Standing at left are Peoria Public Schools board members Doug Shaw, left, and Gregory Wilson.