Cornelius Mckane

Cornelius McKane was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, on February 2, 1862. That’s in South America and is now called Guyana. He’s the great-grandson of King Mannah Funacai of Liberia, which is on the west coast of Africa. King Funacai’s granddaughter, Funisa, was stolen from Liberia and forced into slavery in Guiana. Funisa was Cornelius’s grandmother.

When he was 10, he went to visit Liberia with his parents. Before they left for the trip, his grandma made him promise he’d go back to Liberia again one day to help the people there. He moved to the U.S. for college, first in New York City. It was rough tho. He was broke! Homeless even. Moses F. Wester, a black Baptist deacon, took him in and sent him to grammar school.

Cornelius graduated with honors then went to Liberia, where he studied native languages and Arabic. While in Liberia, he met Chief Neal Caulker of the #Sherbro tribes. Caulker helped him meet Twahalla, his great-grandmother’s youngest sister. When she saw him, she said: ‘Tok-neh Ebena Allah!’ which means: You come to bring God!

He got that mamba mentality then. In 1888 (he was 26), he moved back to the U.S. for medical school at the Medical University of Vermont and Dartmouth. After graduating, he moved to Augusta where he met Alice Woodsby. Cornelius and Alice moved to #Savannah where they married and established the McKane Training School for Nurses at 202 Liberty Street. They also opened Mckane Hospital at 644 W. 60th Street–Savannah’s first black hospital that was owned and operated by black people; the name was later changed to Charity Hospital.

Some of the hospital’s trustees (group of decision-makers) were: William Royall (of Bynes and Royall funeral home), Dr. Simon P. Lloyd (Savannah’s first black city physician), and Sol C. Johnson.

Cornelius didn’t forget his promise to his grandmother tho. Alice agreed to go back to Liberia with him to start a hospital and training school for nurses there. They did that then moved back to Savannah.

Cornelius was described as a very intelligent and entertaining man, and great speaker. After making history damn near all over the 🌍, especially in Savannah, he died at the age of 50 in Boston.