BY TAMECA JOHNSON
Freelance Writer

This Memorial Day we remember the service and sacrifice made by veterans across the country.

The family of one local veteran will not only spend this weekend reflecting on all their loved one gave to our country, but the legacy he leaves for the African American community.

The late Dr. Raleigh Howell Allen, Jr., was a Bay area native, born in Seffner in 1924.  He made history in the early 1950s as the first Black to pass the State Board Veterinary Medicine Exam in Florida.

That accomplishment was major, because in those days the white administrators of the test made passing it difficult for Blacks.

“When the Coloreds, as we were called then, went to get their license, the administrator would raise the required score needed to pass,” explains Dr. Allen’s daughter, Hollianne Allen-Wright, repeating a story passed through generations.

“My dad’s score was so high, that had they raised it just one notch, even the whites taking the test would not have passed.”

Dr. Allen’s impressive feat was featured years later in Jet Magazine.

He went on to practice at his own office in Keystone, near the area now known as Citrus Park, caring for bulls, horses and other large animals.  However, lack of demand for his expertise led him to relocate to Alabama, where he got a job at Tuskegee University as head of the school’s Veterinary Medicine Department.

Dr. Allen’s lists of accomplishments are many.  His first wife, Mary Frances Allen remembers the years prior to college when he served in the U. S. Navy.  “He was the youngest on the ship, the U. S. S. Decatur.  There were a lot of Black college men on board and they were all quite brilliant,” she says with pride.

Dr. Allen held the job of Quartermaster, meaning he was in charge of navigating the ship.  The tasks of the job were foreign to him, but Mrs. Allen says her ex-husband was a quick study at the young age of 21.

The time in the military afforded Dr. Allen the opportunity to attend Florida A&M University, where he earned his undergraduate degree.  Through the years, he spent time actively involved in many civic and social organizations, including Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.  He was also inducted into Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, for Outstanding Achievement.

Dr. Allen died in 2011, but his legacy lives on in the Tampa area through his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, including his great grandson, Raleigh Howell Allen, V.  This Memorial Day weekend holds an even more special meaning for his family.  His birthday was Thursday May 24.