John Alcindor

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John Alcindor
Edinburgh University
Known forPresident of the African Progress Union

John Alcindor (8 or 9 July 1873 – 25 October 1924)[1] was a physician and activist from Trinidad who settled in London. He is known for his role in the African Progress Union, of which he became president in 1921.

Life and career

Alcindor was born in

Minnie Martin, a white British woman.[6]

Refused a place in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Alcindor was awarded a Red Cross medal for his work with the wounded at London rail stations during World War I.[7]

Alcindor served as senior district medical officer of the London borough of Paddington from 1921 until his death.[8][9] As a medical officer he worked under the Poor Law which meant that he could offer free treatment for poor people in their homes.[9] Alcindor was also the secretary of the Poor Law Medical Officers Association.[1]

He is the great-uncle of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr.).[10]

Research

Alcindor published articles on his research on influenza and tuberculosis. He also wrote about the correlation between cancer and poverty, examining the effects of unhealthy surroundings and poor diet.[9]

Activism

Alcindor associated in the late 1890s with the group around

African Association. They were behind the First Pan-African Conference in 1900, which he attended in London, as a delegate from the Afro-West Indian Society.[4][11][12] At the conference he met composer Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor and W. E. B. Du Bois with whom he later developed friendships.[13]

Alcindor became the second president of the African Progress Union in 1921, succeeding John Archer.[1]

Alcindor presided on the first day of the

3rd Pan-African Congress in 1923.[15][16]

Legacy

Blue plaque of John Alcindor

In July 2014 a blue heritage plaque in Alcindor's honour, organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, was unveiled at the site of Alcindor's surgery,[17][18] which is now the Medical Centre in Harrow Road, Paddington.[19][20][21]

References

Further reading