Dr. L.D. Britt

from Strides 2020

Mills E. Godwin Jr

Above, a plaque in honor of Dr. L.D. Britt at the Suffolk Health and Human Services Building; background image, the exterior of that building; opposite page, a painting by Jerome W. Jones featuring Britt (submitted) and Britt accepting the 2019 First Citizen Award by the Suffolk and North Suffolk Rotary Clubs.

BY JIMMY LAROUE

Staff Writer

He’s already in the Hall of Fame of medicine, so what more was there to accomplish for proud Suffolk native Dr. L.D. Britt?

Plenty.

Though he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the biggest honors in the health and medicine field, in 2016, Britt has remained true to the city that grounded and shaped him.

The Health and Human Services building downtown dedicated plaques just inside both of its main entrances in his honor in 2018, and last year, he received the Suffolk First Citizen honor.

Britt, born to parents Claretta White Britt and Vandious Britt on June 28, 1951, was the valedictorian of his class at age 16 at Booker T. Washington High School in 1968, and then graduated from the University of Virginia, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He became the first African American in the United States to have an endowed chair in surgery and the first African American professor of surgery in Virginia.

And, by most anyone’s standard, he’s had a storied and impactful career in medicine.

He credited his parents with helping shape his career. Both, he said, had an unbelievable work ethic.

“They focused on their children, and they gave us their work ethic,” Britt said, “and they gave us the commitment to do what’s right.”

But he has also said the influence of a prominent African American doctor in the city forged his path into medicine.

Britt, after suffering a football injury, was operated on by the son of the operator of Suffolk’s Hoffler Clinic, Dr. Oswald W. Hoffler. That helped lead to his interest in medicine.

But the high-regard in which people hold Britt transcends his profession.

“He just commands such respect,” Mayor Linda T. Johnson said. “He is a lesson in how to be human, how to be real and how to get things done, and how you are in this world and what you’re here for.”

When he gives presentations, he always starts with a photo of a railroad track that runs through Suffolk, which he says helps keep him grounded.

It was Suffolk, he said, which “gave me my roots. It became sort of a positive reflection. It’s a real anchor, (and) I will not forget my roots.”

Britt said none of his accomplishments and honors would mean anything if he were not a person of value. In his art collection at home, it is filled with people who appear to be in poverty. They all speak to him.

“It tells me how fortunate I am and how fortunate you are,” Britt said. “Sometimes the best things in life are simple. Artwork has helped me with that. It’s not perfect, but I’m still learning.”

Britt was the subject of an art piece as one of Jerome W. Jones Jr. and Jeromyah Jones’s 69 paintings outlining the 400-year history of African Americans in the United States. The art featured notable African Americans in many fields, including Britt.

“They put on canvas achievement and positive images in a community that was often not seen,” Britt said. “That was the legacy that they established, and it should be embraced. They wanted to emphasize achievement, and they consistently did that when other people did not see that. They should be applauded.”

The renowned surgeon has deflected praise of himself and his own legacy, but to many, that legacy is undeniable, as well as his humble nature.

“He doesn’t put himself above anybody or anything,” said Roland Wilson, who went to school with Britt at Booker T. Washington High School and was taught by Britt’s mother. “He just stays on that level. He’s been that way all his life.”