her own right,” Shorefront Journal 7, no. 4 (Summer-Fall 2006)
Florence Frye-Winfield was an Evanston physician who worked on behalf of those that other doctors tended to overlook or, worse, to actively mistreat. As a Black woman who had suffered the indignities of discrimination, she not only worked to heal the sick, but to heal their surrounding communities as well.
Florence Frye was an Evanstonian through and through. Born in 1926, she attended Dewey Elementary School, Haven Middle School, and ETHS, from which she graduated in 1944. (1) She was a Girl Scout and a junior officer of the Evanston Y.W.C.A., and later in her teenage years, an “office girl” for Evanston doctor Elizabeth Webb Hill. (2) Florence’s future husband, Arnold Winfield, was another lifelong Evanstonian and a childhood classmate, but they didn’t start dating until college. (3) Florence graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1947, and she and Arnold got married in 1951. (4) In 1952, when “Mrs. Florence Frye-Winfield” earned her M.D. from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, her achievement made the local news—though the Evanston Review only printed a photo of the white woman, Patricia Ownbey, who had graduated from the same school at the same time. (5)
Florence and Arnold moved back to Evanston, and Dr. Frye-Winfield completed her residency at three local hospitals, including Evanston Hospital, which had been a segregated, whites-only institution until not long before. (6) In 1954, Frye-Winfield joined the staff at Community Hospital, where Dr. Elizabeth Webb Hill had become the first Black woman to serve as a hospital chief of staff in the state of the Illinois. (7) For several years, the two women also shared a private practice (Hill saw the adults, and Frye-Winfield saw the children). (8) And when Hill took a step back from hospital leadership, Frye-Winfield took her place as chief of staff. (9)
All in all, Frye-Winfield practiced medicine in Evanston for 17 years, while also raising two children (and ETHS graduates). (10) In the late 1960s, she began to volunteer at a then-rather-dilapidated pediatric clinic near the Cabrini-Green public housing project in Chicago, and in the early 1970s, she was hired to work there full-time. (11) The transition was not an easy one, but she later told her family that she knew she’d made the right decision when she heard from “the father of one of her pediatric patients that he had ‘never before seen a black doctor.’” (12) Frye-Winfield began to inspire innumerable Chicago families like that one, while also expanding the Cabrini-Green clinic’s community outreach efforts and kickstarting its many necessary renovation projects. (13) Eventually, she became its medical director. (14)
All the while, Frye-Winfield and her husband also became more involved in Evanston local politics. Arnold served as an alderman for the 2nd ward from 1963 to 1977. (15) In 1973, Florence ran for a position on the District 65 Board of Education, touting her experience as a healer and protector. “‘I am a pediatrician,’” she declared, “‘and as such have a commitment to be the child’s advocate.’” (16) She ran as an independent candidate—rather than as a pre-vetted member of the Evanston caucus system—and won the second-most votes of any school board candidate that year. (17) In her one term, she helped facilitate the integration of Evanston’s public schools, and even joined young Black children on their daily bus rides “to ensure their safety and fair treatment.” (18) (She did not run for reelection.) (19)
Frye-Winfield continued to work at the Cabrini-Green clinic until 1991. (20) By that time, under Frye-Winfield’s leadership, it had become a non-profit community health center, and one with a well-earned reputation for treating anyone and everyone who came its doors. (21) By that time, too, it had been renamed in Frye-Winfield’s honor. The Winfield-Moody Health Center still sees patients to this day.
by Serena Covkin, PhD, for the Evanston Women’s History Project
(1) “Winfield enters Dist. 65 race,” Evanston Review, March 1, 1973, 7; “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141; “Seven ETHS Alumni Recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award,” Evanston Township High School, December 16, 2022, accessed March 6, 2025, https://www.eths.k12.il.us/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&PageID=1&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316-3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=8521.
(2) “With the Girl Scouts,” Evanston Review, February 17, 1938, 107; “Tripella Girl Reserves Plan Recognition Tea,” Evanston Review, April 3, 1941, 17; “Picnic Will Close Year for the Ti-Teen Girls,” Evanston Review, June 4, 1942, 28; “Dr. Elizabeth Webb Hill,” Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1996, accessed January 15, 2025, https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/11/17/dr-elizabeth-webb-hill/.
(3) “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield: A legend in her own right,” Shorefront Journal 7, no. 4 (Summer-Fall 2006): 10.
(4) “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield,” Shorefront Journal, 10; Harvey D. Long, “African-Americans at the University of Wisconsin (1875-1969), University of Wisconsin-Madison, accessed March 10, 2025, https://www.library.wisc.edu/archives/exhibits/campus-history-projects/african-americans-at-the-university-of-wisconsin-1875-1969/.
(5) “Two Evanston Women Awarded M.D. Degrees,” Evanston Review, June 26, 1952, 11.
(6) “Winfield enters Dist. 65 race,” Evanston Review, March 1, 1973, 7; “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield,” Shorefront Journal, 13.
(7) “Dr. Elizabeth Webb Hill,” Chicago Tribune.
(8) “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield,” Shorefront Journal, 9-13.
(9) “Woman, Biochemist Challenge Incumbent,” Evanston Review, March 21, 1963, 17; “Community Hospital to Hold Open House,” Evanston Review, November 21, 1968, 8.
(10) “Winfield enters Dist. 65 race,” Evanston Review, March 1, 1973, 7; “More answers from District 65,” Evanston Review, April 5, 1973, 13; “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141.
(11) “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141; “Painstaking Care,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1992, accessed January 14, 2025, https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/04/29/painstaking-care/.
(12) “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141.
(13) “Painstaking Care,” Chicago Tribune; “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield,” Shorefront Journal, 14.
(14) “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141.
(15) “Woman, Biochemist Challenge Incumbent,” Evanston Review, March 21, 1963, 16-17; “16 Seek Four-Year Terms on Council,” Evanston Review, March 30, 1967, 76; “Dr. Florence Frye Winfield,” Shorefront Journal, 15.
(16) “Winfield enters Dist. 65 race,” Evanston Review, March 1, 1973, 7.
(17) Meg Moritz, “Caucus loses school elections,” Evanston Review, April 19, 1973, 1.
(18) “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141.
(19) “It’s nine for five – candidates vie for school board seats,” Evanston Review, March 25, 1976, 30.
(20) “Dr. Florence Winfield,” Evanston Review, August 8, 2002, 141.
(21) “Painstaking Care,” Chicago Tribune.