Dr. Thornton Comes Home

On Saturday, May 21 Dr. Yvonne Thornton came to Frank Talk: Art Bistro and Books for a reading and signing of her newest book, Something To Prove. 

Thornton, who grew up in Long Branch and attended the Liberty Street School and eventually graduated from then Monmouth College in 1969, was, along with her sisters, something of a local celebrity.  In the 1960s she and her sisters, under the supervision of her father and mother, formed a successful doo wop band.  The Thornton Sisters, as they were known, successfully competed at successive Amateur Nights at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC and went on to appear on television and to play regular gigs throughout their youth.  

As if musical stardom was not enough for a family of black girls raised by a ditchdigger and his wife in the projects of Long Branch, Thornton and her siblings were encouraged, pushed if you will, by their father who held education above all things, to become doctors.  The Thornton sisters turned their attention away from doo wop and followed a path towards become highly successful and respected physicians. 

"Think of six dark skinned women from the projects in one family becoming what we became in one generation," Thornton told the standing room only crowd "It is an amazing story." A story that she has now penned into two books.  The first, The Ditchdigger's Daughters, a family biography, was published in 1995 and has never gone out of print.  It was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been published into 19 different languages.  In 1997 it was made into an award winning cable television film, nominated for four Cable Ace Awards and winning one. 

Her newest book, Something to Prove, published in December 2010, is a sequel to her first and follows her life after becoming a wife, mother and full time obstetrician in an academic/medical center.  Thornton is the only board certified African American woman in the country attending to high risk obstetrics. 

Frank Talk owner, Gilda Rogers, called Thornton a "personification of high achievement."  Thornton discussed and read a passage from her book detailing the difficult and delicate balance of  raising children to be smart and aware, while working long and laborious hours as a doctor. 

The event, both academic and inspirational, had a palpable feeling of homecoming.  Many in the crowd were good, old friends of Thornton, who knew her from her days in Long Branch.  Much of the chatter prior to and following the event was of long ago days in  Monmouth County.  When Rogers called Thornton a neighbor, she was quick to joke that she was from Long Branch and Red Bank, back when she was growing up, was considered a place for a different class of people.  The crowd laughed and suggested that with the revitalization of Long Branch, that the times and that town have certainly changed.

Following Thornton's remarks and a Q&A with the packed house, the author and doctor signed copies of her book.  For more information about Thornton's life and career head to your local library and check out her books or visit her on the web at www.doctorthornton.com.