Elsie Jean Cowsert

Dr. Elsie Jean Cowsert was a white physician attempting to aid in the desegregation of the local hospital, the Mobile Infirmary, where she worked. As part of her desegregation efforts, she covertly provided information to officials from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare concerning the Mobile Infirmary’s efforts to prevent patient desegregation in its facilities. On January 29, 1967, Dr. Cowsert was found shot to death in front of her home in Mobile, Alabama. She was shot in the chest at close range and broken glass from a side window was found in her pocket. Local newspaper articles and her death certificate indicate that local law enforcement ruled her death to have been self-inflicted and accidental.