James Smith
Born into slavery in New York in 1813, the young James McCune Smith set his sight on becoming a doctor. He was denied admission to American colleges because he was Black. He was able to attend the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Medical degrees by the age of 24. Smith had a keen interest in languages. mastering Latin, Greek, and French and he also developed a working knowledge of Hebrew, Italian, Spanish and German.
1813
1865
Manhattan USA
African American
1827-
Became a free man
1837-
Became the first African American to establish a clinic and pharmacy
1940-
Married
1852-
Invited as a founding member of the New York Statistics Society
1853-
The first permanent national organization for Black people
1854-
He was elected as a member of the recently founded American Geographic Society
1863-
Smith was appointed as a Professor of Anthropology
Smith was born into slavery in 1813 and was freed on 4 July 1827 aged 14 years, by the Emancipation Act of New York. Smith’s mother, Lavinia, was an enslaved woman herself and was freed later in life. In 1855, Smith described her as a `self-emancipated woman’. She was born into slavery in South Carolina and had been brought to New York as a slave by his father Samuel Smith, a white merchant who was his mother’s master.
Smith earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and medical degrees at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, as American colleges denied him admission. In 1837 hee returned to New York City and established his own medical clinic and pharmacy, making him the first African American doctor in the United States to have his own practice. Smith had been a practicing physician for nearly 20 years at the Orphan Asylum in Manhattan.
He was a public intellectual who contributed articles, participated in learned societies and wrote numerous essays and articles to refute common misconceptions about race, intelligence, medicine, and society in general. Smith was invited to join as a founding member of the New York Statistics Society in 1852 and in 1854 he was elected as a member of the recently founded American Geographic Society. He was never admitted to the American Medical Association however, or to local medical associations.
Smith has been most well-known for his leadership as an abolitionist. He was a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and together with Frederick Douglass helped start the National Council of Coloured People in 1853, the first permanent national organization for Black people. Douglass called Smith the single most important influence on his life. In 1850, Smith was one of the Committee of Thirteen, which organised in Manhattan to aid refugee slaves through the Underground Railroad. From the 1840’s, Smith lectured on race and abolitionism and authored numerous articles to refute racist ideas about Black ability. In 1863, Smith was appointed as a Professor of Anthropology at Wilberforce College, the first African American owned and operated college in the USA.
In November 2018 the New York Academy of Medicine posthumously inducted Smithas a fellow of the Academy, 171 years after his death. At the 2018 Discourse and Awards Ceremony, NYAM President Judith Salerno presented a replica certificate of the fellowship to Professor Joanne Edey-Rhodes, who accepted on behalf of Smith’s descendants. The Academy also formally unveiled a portrait of Smith by the artist Junior Jacques in 2019. It was commissioned by Academy Fellow Dr Daniel Laroche and is now displayed at the Academy.
Smith’s Alma Mater, the University of Glasgow, has named its new Learning Hub building after James McCune Smith and it opened to students early in 2021. In addition to this, the University has established a scholarship and an annual lecture named after Smith
In the early 1840s, Smith married Malvina Barnet, a free woman of colour who was a graduate of the Rutger Female Institute. Of their eleven children only five survived to adulthood.
www.everydayhealth.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McCune_Smith
https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH24115&type=P
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/james-mccune-smith-america-first-Black-physician-180977110/
){kind=link}