Toussaint Tourgee Tildon was aย physicianย andย psychiatristย with the Hospital for Sick and Injured Coloredย World Warย Veterans (1923), later named the Veterans Administration of Tuskegee,ย Alabamaย (1923) from October 1923 until his retirement as Hospital Director on January 31, 1958.
Tildonโsย writingย on African American veterans appeared in theย VA Medical Bulletinย (1925) and theย Journal of the National Medical Associationย (1895). Articles include โResidua of Encephalitis Lethargica Among Negro Veteransโ; โSyphilis of the Intrathoracic Vesselsโ; โCardiovascular Syphilisโ; โHeart Disease in Pulmonary Tuberculosisโ; and โCardiovascular Disease Complicating Neurosyphilis Among Negro Veterans.โ
Toussaint T. Tildon was born April 5, 1893 in Waxahachie,ย Texas, the son of high school teacherโthen physicianโDr. John Wesley Tildon, Sr. (- 1935) and Margaret Hilburn Tildon. He had two siblings: a brother, Dr. John Wesley Tildon, Jr., and a sister, Esther L. Tildon Alexander.
Tildon married Margaret Cecelia Greene on August 9, 1924. She had been working as a Disbursing Agent at the Tuskegee Veterans Bureau Hospital. The couple had four children: Helen Hortense, Toussaint, Jr., Elizabeth Virginia, and John Wesley.
At age 15, Tildon enteredย Lincoln University inย Pennsylvania. Graduating in 1912 at age 19, Tildon then entered Harvard University ostensibly to studyย medicine, as his father wanted. But Tildon wanted to be aย lawyerย and in preparation, he took a public speaking course. His father would not support him. Nonetheless, young Tildon put himself through the first year of college; the next year, heย taughtย school in Brunswick,ย Georgia, making $40 a month, not enough to pay for law school. He then agreed to go to medical school with his fatherโs support. For his first year, Toussaint T. Tildon went to Meharry Medical College (1876) in Nashville,ย Tennessee. Thereafter, he attended Harvard University School of Medicine, graduating in 1923.
After World War I, the Veterans Bureau built hospitals throughout the country; yet, there was a dearth of hospitalization for African Americans. This changed under the administration of President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), when in 1923ย Tuskegee Instituteย deeded land to the federal government to build a Veterans Bureau Hospital for African Americans. Toussaint T. Tildon was one of its first doctors.
During World War II, Tildon was a Lieutenant Colonel and later a full Colonel in the United States Medical Corps. He also served in WWI.
Tildon was a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); a member of theย Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the American Legion, the Alabama State Medical Association (1847), and the National Medical Association (1895). He was an elder in the Westminsterย Presbyterianย Church of Tuskegee Institute.
Tildon was survived by his wife Margaret G. Tildon; daughters Hortense T. Calhoun of Tuskegee Institute and Elizabeth T. Wood of Chicago,ย Illinois. Sons Dr. Toussaint T. Tildon, Jr. of Los Angeles and Dr. John W. Tildon of Tuskegee Institute; sister Esther L. Alexander of Orange,ย New Jersey, seven grandchildren, three nephews, and a niece.
