November 9, 2009

With her confirmation in 1993 as the U.S. surgeon general, Howard County native Joycelyn Elders became the second African American in the history of the United States to serve in a Cabinet-level position. Nominated by President Bill Clinton, she had previously served as the director of the Arkansas Department of Health when Clinton was governor. She is shown here teaching as chief resident at what is now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in the early 1960s.