In 1909, Dr. Alonzo Potter Burgess Hollywood was the only African-American homeopath in Miami and possibly the state of Florida. Homeopathy is a system of medical practice based on the theory that a drug which will produce certain disease symptoms in a healthy person will cure a sick person with the same symptoms.

Born around 1864, Alonzo Holly was one of eight children born to the Reverend James Theodore Holly, D. D., LL.D. and his second wife. Of Haitian descent, Alonzo was born and raised in Massachusetts.

Dr. Holly was an author and scholar who wrote many articles and books with the same general themes: the Negro, medicine and religion. He also spoke French and English fluently.

Dr. Holly attended Harrison College in Barbados, British West Indies and Atherstone College in England. In 1884 he entered the New York Homeopath Medical College and Flowers Hospital and graduated in 1888. The following year, he was appointed by the Haitian government as consul to the Bahamas, where he remained for 12 years.

Dr. Holly practiced medicine in New York and West Palm Beach before moving to Miami, Florida for better educational advantages for his daughters. His office, located on Northwest 8^th Street was the birthplace o many today’s Miami residents.