He published 26 papers for the Journal of the National Medical Association on subjects ranging from tuberculosis in African-American populations, to the history of the black movement.

Garvin served in World War I (as a part of the Medical Reserve Corps) in the 92nd Division, a section designated for African-Americans due to segregation laws.

Feeling at home with the vibrant African-American community at school, he decided to remain in the area and attend Howard University College of Medicine in 1911.

While in office he helped secure a chapter house, appointed a special committee to consult with the president of Howard, and asked members to use every means possible to raise the moral and scholastic tone of the fraternity.

He did complain of the members' lack of effort in submitting dues, saying, "It is indeed to be regretted that an organization with a membership nearing three hundred cannot get forty dollars worth of printing done four months after a convention."

[12] When Garvin answered the military's call for physicians he was immediately given the rank of first lieutenant in the Army Medical Reserve Corps.

Along with his responsibilities as a surgeon, he was also in charge of making sure that the company had all the essential materials — such as the wagon, animals, waste disposal supplies, and medics — and was coordinated to evacuate efficiently.

The 92nd Division had been assigned to the trenches to assist the French troops there who had been facing aggressive assaults from the Germans for months.

Most African-American soldiers had been assigned to noncombatant engineer units that performed the dangerous and hard jobs of digging trenches and forming roads and fortifications against the Germans.

[14] One tactic the Germans used in the trenches was throwing constant gassing shells at the Allied troops,[15] causing the hospitals to be filled with me suffering from lung and breathing problems.

Garvin had a low tolerance for any slacking in his department; there were several instances where he demoted soldiers who did not display adequate performance.

He wanted to have his soldiers prove Pershing wrong and was frequently published in African American newspapers on the matter.

Immediately, these fresh African-American recruits were submerged into the harsh terrain of the trenches where the Germans had been sending aggressive assaults, such as frequent release of gassing shells.

At some point during the attack, the Germans learned that the opposing force that faced them, the 92nd Division, was composed entirely of African Americans.

Of course, some white folks and the lying English-American papers told you that the Germans ought to be wiped out for the sake of Humanity and Democracy.

Do you enjoy the same rights as the white people do in America, the land of Freedom and Democracy, or are you rather not treated over there as second-class citizens?

Why, then, fight the Germans only for the benefit of the Wall Street robbers and to protect the millions they have loaned to the British, French, and Italians?

You have been made the tool of the egotistic and rapacious rich in England and in America, and there is nothing in the whole game for you but broken bones, horrible wounds, spoiled health, or death.

[21] Garvin urged his colleagues to research and study illnesses found disproportionately among African-American populations, such as tuberculosis and pellagra.

He disagreed that attachment to the diseases was due to racial and biological inferiority, and wanted research to be conducted to disprove the idea.

He further remarked that "in the past, men of other races have for the large part interpreted our diseases, often tinctured with inborn prejudices.

Crowds came to the house and spread graffiti all over the property; one morning the family awoke to find "KKK" written on the windows.

The incident reached national headlines and the Garvin family was granted permission to utilize the police force as further protection.

The NAACP released a press statement to urge the Cleveland community to offer assistance to the Garvin family in their predicament.

He took a special interest in tracing the history of Africans and African-Americans in medicine and completed an unpublished manuscript on the topic which can be found in the Western Reserve Historical Society.

He rigorously led and advocated in groups that proposed integration, fought for the right to live and own property in a white neighborhood, and was the only black physician in an all-white hospital.

Although Garvin appreciated the benefits that integration provided, he believed that it was only necessary due to the unequal distribution of resources between the white and black communities.

[36] Garvin was a frequent writer in the Journal of the National Medical Association, publishing a total of 26 papers and leaving a large number unpublished when he died.

[37] In 1930 he is quoted as saying that to capitalize "Negro" in American Medical Association (AMA) publications would be an act "in recognition of racial self-respect for those who have been in the 'lower case' so long".

[39] His younger son followed in his father's footsteps and became a physician himself, graduating from Amherst College and Western Reserve Medical School.