One such man is Dr. George Augustus Banks, a successful physician of Wheeling, W. Va.
Dr. Banks is a native of the sister State of Maryland, having been born at Oakland, Md., on September 16, 1883. His parents were Baker and Harriett (Robinson) Banks.
Young Banks pursued his elementary studies in the public schools of Oakland, from which he passed to Morgan College, Baltimore. After four years in that institution, he matriculated in the School of Medicine of Howard University. He spent three years there but took his fourth, or senior year in Medicine at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn., where he won his M. D. degree in 1912.
As previously intimated, Dr. Banks supported himself while in school. This he did by hotel work and the dining car service during vacations. While in school he was active in college athletics, both base ball and foot ball.
After his graduation, he spent one year at Boyd's Infirmary in Nashville, after which he practiced for two years in North Carolina. In 1916, he located at Wheeling, where he has since resided and where he has made for himself a place in the business, social, and professional life of his people. He does a general practice and is a member of the State and also the National Medical Association.
During the war, he volunteered for the M. R. C. but was not called. He is medical examiner for the National Benefit Insurance Co., and for the Supreme Life and Casualty.
Among the secret orders and benevolence societies Dr. Banks affiliates with the Pythians, the Masons and the American Woodmen, for all of which he is local medical examiner. He is also a member of the N. A. A. C. P.
In politics he is a Republican, in religion an Episcopalian.
On July 14, 1915, Dr. Banks married Miss Mary M. Key, an accomplished teacher of Baltimore.
Dr. Banks is of the opinion that the next great forward movement of the race should be along industrial and economic lines.