University of North Carolina at Asheville
D. Hiden Ramsey Library
Special Collections/University Archives

Oral History Register
for

Dr. William S. Justice, 1900-

Biltmore Hospital, balln1563
Ewart M. Ball Photographic Collection
D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, 28804

Title

Creator

Subject

Subject

Keyword: Bynum, Eliza Shipp ; Biltmore Hospital ; Justice, Butler Alexander ; Pathology ; Bynum, Rev. William Shipp ; Mission Hospital ; Bynum, Curtis ; Urology ; British-American Tobacco Company ; Moore, Julian A., M.D. ; Medicine ; Racial equality ; Medical practice in Asheville ; Depression ; Botany ; Medicaid ; Wildflowers ; Photography

Description

Together with the late Dr. Julian A. Moore, Dr. Justice succeeded in establishing the first pathology department at the old Biltmore Hospital. Another first for Asheville hospitals at that time was the development of the urology department at Mission Hospital.

This interview is remarkable for its frank, and even blunt, assessment of the medical practitioners of Asheville during the years Dr. Justice conducted his practice. He also discusses the medical care available for blacks, the impact of the Depression, and his reactions to such Federal programs as Medicaid.

Transcript of interview only: no tape.

Publisher

D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 28804

Contributor

Date

Electronic Record Issued: 2001-07-19

Type

Text

Format

Identifier

Source

Dr. Bruce S. Greenawalt Oral History Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804

Language

English

Relation

Coverage

Acquisition

Donor number: 87 ; Acquisition date: 1979

Processed By

Interview Date

Biography

The son of Eliza Shipp Bynum and Butler Alexander Justice, Dr. Justice was born May 21, 1900, in Lincolnton, North Carolina, at the home of his grandfather, the Rev. William Shipp Bynum. He was a nephew of the late Curtis Bynum, of Asheville. His grandfather Justice was a Superior Court Judge. When he was seven years old his mother moved to Virginia, where he received his education from governesses; in private and public schools, and attended Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Virginia. He spent much of his boyhood at Arden, North Carolina, where his mother owned a summer home and where they had relatives.

He received a degree in Romance Languages from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1920, and was employed for a brief time as a foreign service management trainee for the British-American Tobacco Company. A year later he made the decision to return to Chapel Hill, becoming the second man from the two-year medical school at the University to transfer to Harvard Medical School, where he received his M.D. degree in 1926.

Dr. Justice opened his practice in Asheville in 1931, after having engaged in five years of internships and residencies in the Boston area, concluding with the position of resident surgeon at Boston City Hospital just prior to his move to Asheville. This background explains his reactions to primitive conditions he found in Asheville upon his arrival.

After retirement, Dr. Justice devoted his time to his hobby of wildflower photography. His photographs are used exclusively in Wildflowers of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press. His photographs also have been used for publication by the New York Botanical Garden, and others.

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