African Americans in Medicine

By Devyn Hotop

Civil War was a time of many events. On one end, the Union was fighting to keep the state’s together as a whole nation. On the other end, the idea of freeing African Americans was sparked. During this time period, African Americans became more well respected. This is proven in the medical field. This was a time when the first African American doctors in America appeared and they started to become accepted in American Colleges to obtain medical degrees.

A man named James McCune Smith (1813-1865) was the first African American doctor. He was unable to obtain a degree in America, due to prejudice, so he went to Scotland instead. There he was the top of his class at the University of Glasgow. This soon paved away for many other African American doctors that would soon follow in his footsteps.

At the beginning of the upswing of African American doctors, many of them had to go to foriegn countries to obtain medical degrees such as James McCune Smith or become skilled through apprenticeship. This all changed when a man named David Peck was the first African Americsn to receive a medical degree in the United States. By the end of the Civil War, at least 22 African Americans had obtained degrees and were practicing medicine. At least twelve of these physicians served with the Union Army.

There are multiple primary sources showing how it was like for these fellow African American medical specialists. One medical professionalist, named James Jr., wrote a letter to his Uncle about his experience working in the battlefield as an African American. He wrote., “Uncle James I never worked so hard, and had so little rest, and felt so tired at night as I do now. Of my successes and failures, for I have both, it does not become me to speak, for your satisfaction and of those others who kindly feel an interest in me and my welfare I may venture to say that my mentality… so far stands approved by the Med. Director of the Department to whom I make daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly reports.” This shows that everyone treated him equally, even with the discrimination against African Americans at this time. There are also many pictures such as a picture of a chemistry class all working together as one, regardless of their race. This shows that African Americans were seen as their profession and not discriminated.

These sources prove that African Americans broke many barriers in this time period while working in medicine. They started becoming more accepted in American colleges instead of having to go to a different country or learning through apprenticeship. Although there were not many of these medical professionalism, they were still well respected for what they did. This paved a way for many African Americans to pursue their dreams. This topic is relevant today because although the number of African American medical professionalists increased, they are still a minority in this field with being only ten percent of that profession.

Slawson, Dr. “African American Physicians in the Civil War Era.” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, 21 Aug. 2017, www.civilwarmed.org/africanamericandrs/.

Thomas, James. “Letter by James P Thomas.” Nlm.nih.gov, 1864, www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/bindingwounds/pdfs/rapierletter.pdf.

“Race Relations” Classcapillary.jpg, 1864,

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