[4] On October 2, 1863, he was commissioned Regimental Surgeon of the Seventh U.S. Alex Thomas (Rose) See Photos. Augusta wrote again, appealing the rejection and was finally allowed to take the qualifying exam. This collection contains wartime letters (1861-1863) written by various members of the Garber Family of Augusta County. Augusta was born in 1825 to free people of color in Norfolk, Virginia. What he had in mind was virtually out of the question for a Black man in mid19th century America. According to the colleges president, John McCaul, he was one of [my] most brilliant students.. Gerald S. Henig, The Indomitable Dr. Augusta, 30. In 1956 Dr. Brown became the first single woman to be an adoptive parent in the state of Tennessee. Troys principal arranged a foster family for her, and they became a major source of support for her medical career.66. Augusta fought anti-Black discrimination throughout his life. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Our company includes development, construction, property management and investment management. When the American College of Surgeons was founded in 1913, Dr. Williams was one of its first members.38 He would remain the only black fellow until 1934. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNW1-4HX, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZFZX-1QT2, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZFZX-1Q6Z, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6CW-F2L, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7TQ-VLJ, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CGYD-Z56Z, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W6ZD-DVW2, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8SW-R1V, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles. In 1865, after the Civil War had ended, President Lincoln invited him to the White House. In the coming years, he also continued in private practice, founded the nations first African American medical society, and helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become the National Medical Association. James McCune Smith (foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.), Thomas M. Morgan, The education and medical practice of Dr. James McCune Smith (1813-1865), first black American to hold a medical degree,. The threat of slavery forced him to leave for Canada. He successfully argued that as a medical examiner he deserved more than the $7.00 per month normally given to a black enlisted man. By 1850, Augusta and his wife moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he was accepted by the Medical College at the University of Toronto where he received an M.B. He was tutored by a family friend in his youth, a crime because of his color, and worked as a barber before turning to medicine. Wright enrolled at Clark University, his stepfathers school, and graduated valedictorian in 1912.50 He then applied to Harvard Medical School. Dr. Despite the financial hardships of the young institution, Augusta remained there until 1877. He was the United States Army's first African-American physician (of a total of eight) and its highest-ranking African-American officer at the time. Augusta was born to free African-American parents in Norfolk, Virginia. We'll take a look at how Naval Medical Center San Diego is honoring the history of women in military medicine and their role in how far medicine has come along. Moved to Toronto in the 1850's. After graduation, his applications to major Boston hospitals were rejected, so he took a position at Freedmans (Howard) Hospital.53 Here he researched the use of the Schick diphtheria test on darker skin, publishing his results and disproving those who said the test would not be effective. He was awarded a promotion to lieutenant colonel in March 1865. In 1904 Fuller was invited along with four other doctors to study under Dr. Alois Alzheimer.39 There he performed autopsies40 and prepared and examined samples.41 This intimate view of the brain helped him discover the plaques indicative of Alzheimers disease.42. Description . In 1853, he moved to Toronto, where he studied medicine at Trinity College. He testified before a Congressional Committee The primary care home was also awarded an additional certification. She pursued a years internship at Harlem Hospital, but was turned down when applying for surgical residence there. Boileau, J. As a result, in 1863 Lincoln appointed him as head of the Freedmens Hospital in northwest Washington, D.C. He was also the first African American head of a hospital (Freedmens Hospital) and the first black professor of medicine (Howard University in Washington, D.C.). The first mention of his name is found in Hume's Old Field Book, page 53, "survey for James McClure, corner to Jno. Date of birth : 1825-03-08 History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. For the next six years, he endured the rigors of medical school, meanwhile working side jobs as a chemist and pharmacist, selling, as one advertisement announced, Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Dye Stuffs, etc., as well as services such as tooth extraction, the filling of prescriptions, and the application of leeches. After establishing a successful private practice in Canada, in 1862 Dr. Augusta returned to an America on the verge of Civil War. "Alexander Thomas Augusta. He was attacked by an angry mob in Baltimore in May 1863, for wearing his military officer's uniform in public. Denied admission to the University of Pennsylvania, he traveled north to Canada where he studied at the University of Toronto, and after graduating he established a medical practice in Canada. He was fluent in Greek, Latin, and French and proficient in four other languages. But the safety and prosperity he found in his new home unfortunately didnt define the world over, and it definitely didnt match conditions for Blacks in his native land, where the election of President Abraham Lincoln had sent the country spiraling on a path to civil war. Augusta passed with flying colors and received both an appointment as the United States Armys first Black surgeon and a commission as a major, making him the highest ranking African American officer in the U.S. military. The Army Medical Board reconsidered and invited him to take the examination. [1], On 12 January 1847, Alexander Thomas Augusta was married to Mary O Burgoin in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. Lee. (Photo: National Park Service), Dr. Alexander Augusta was the first African American to be an Army doctor. At the age of 65, Augusta died in Washington, D.C. Arlington National Cemetery. Rep. Com. Another black physician, A. W. Tucker, was proposed on June 23, but was also rejected. Meet some of the pioneers of women in military medicine and how they changed the course of American medical history. Although he faced institutionalized racism throughout his career, the university cited inadequate preparation in its rejection of him. When Augusta attempted to enter the tram, the conductor pulled him outside, forcing him to walk. Alexander Thomas Augusta (March 8, 1825 - December 21, 1890) was a surgeon, veteran of the American Civil War, and the first black professor of medicine in the United States. In 1853, Augusta and his wife moved to Toronto, where he enrolled in the medical faculty at Trinity College. First African-American to hold a medical degree: brief history of James McCune Smith, abolitionist, educator, and physician., McCune Smith, James (foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.), Morgan, Thomas M. The education and medical practice of Dr. James McCune Smith (1813-1865), first black American to hold a medical degree., Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons., Ozarin, Lucy. As young man he first made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a barber. Growing up in Baltimore, he worked as a barber while he pursued his dream of attending medical school. Dorothy Lavinia Brown From Orphan to Surgeon to Teacher in, Weisse, Allen B. When his white assistants, also surgeons, complained about being subordinate to a black officer, President Lincoln placed him in charge of the Freedmans Hospital at Camp Barker near Washington, D.C. Augusta wrote a letter to his commanding general protesting his segregation on trains when he left Baltimore and requested the protection of the President for other black soldiers and families In 1865, Augusta was promoted to lieutenant colonel, at the time the highest-ranking black officer in the U.S. military. As a youth, he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a barber to pay for a medical education, a childhood dream of his. to wear them, anywhere, I am not fit to hold my commission.. On another occasion when in uniform, Augusta was attacked on a Baltimore train. In 1863 he was no longer able to see patients, and he died two years later. Augusta moved to Baltimore while still in his youth. Colored Troops, 1861-1866", database, FamilySearch (, "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (, "District of Columbia Deaths, 1874-1961," database with images, FamilySearch (, "United States Deceased Physician File (AMA), 1864-1968", database with images, FamilySearch (, "United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, 1890," database with images, FamilySearch (. Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta was born free in Virginia in 1825. of Alexander Thomas Gordon and Augusta (Whitaker) Gordon Brother of Alexander Frederick St. John Gordon [half] and Julia Elizabeth Gordon [half] Died 11 Apr 1879 in Culmore, County Londonderry, Ireland In 1847 he married Mary O. Burgoin, a Native American. of the 7th Regiment Infantry, US Colored Troops. He also served on the staff of the local Freedmen's Hospital, which he had directed for a period during the war. And although he was omnivorous when it came to subject matter, he nevertheless had a favorite topicmedicine. Howard University was established in 1868, and Meharry Medical School opened in Nashville in 1876, both historically black medical schools. Augusta read anything he could find. Join Facebook to connect with Alexander Augusta and others you may know. "Alexander Thomas Augusta Physician, Teacher and Human Rights Activist". Their dedication to the art and science of healing makes them a living record of the challenges many have faced in their pursuit of medicine, and role models for those who face challenges of their own today. From Norfolk, Virginia, as a young man Alexander Augusta first made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a barber. Despite continued racism and discrimination, Augusta encouraged Black medical students Not surprisingly, Augusta enjoyed Toronto, which was known for its racial tolerance. She served as a consultant for the National Institutes of Health in 1982, received a humanitarian award from the Carnegie Foundation in 1993, and received the Horatio Alger Award in 1994.68. Alexander T. Augusta (1825-1890).. The History of Americas Premier Independent Black Medical School., Ruffin II, Herbert G. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931)., Shumacker Jr, Harris B. On 26 Oct 1863 was commissioned a regimental surgeon of 7 regimental of USCT Freedman's Hospital at Camp Baker in Washington D.C. National Cemetery. [12] Augusta feared such exclusion from a professional society would impede the progress of younger African-American physicians in the city, and worked against such racial discrimination. and tells about that regiment's actions in and . From then on, suspicion and distrust reigned over the Black communityfree and enslaved. '. The young Augusta served as an apprentice with a local barber, where his reading . week later, Augusta wrote to the president asking that he be appointed to one of the new colored regiments. Nevertheless, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to plead his case and was finally accepted. He became Chief of Surgery at Harlem in 1938. After gaining his medical education in Toronto, Canada West from 1850 to 1856, he set up a practice there. Have you taken a DNA test? Brevet Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers, March 13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious services-mustered out October 13, 1866."[2]. He was appointed head of the Toronto City Hospital and was also in charge of an industrial school. Born: 8-Mar-1825Birthplace: Norfolk, VADied: 21-Dec-1890Location of death: Washington, DCCause of death: unspecifiedRemains: Buried, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, Gender: MaleReligion: African Methodist EpiscopalRace or Ethnicity: BlackSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Doctor, Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: First black battlefield surgeon, Military service: US Army; to Lieutenant Colonel (1863-66). In 1943, returning to Harlem, he was once again selected as chief of surgery. After earning his medical degree in Canada, Dr. Augusta offered his services to the U.S. military. She spent much of her childhood in an orphanage.63 At the age of five she underwent a tonsillectomy, which reportedly sparked her interest in medicine.64 When she turned thirteen, her birth mother returned to the orphanage hoping to take her in, but the two did not get along.65 At age fifteen she ran away, attempting to enroll in Troy High School without guardians or an address. He was one of eight Black officers in the Union Army, and the highest ranking Black officer in the army at that time. His letter was printed in New York and Washington newspapers. While he was still a medical student, Augusta opened a drugstore on Yonge Street, which also advertised tooth extractions and the application of leeches. Once he completed his training, he opened a private practice as a surgeon across the street from He was mobbed in Baltimore while wearing his officer's uniform during May 1863 (where three people were arrested for assault), and in another incident in Washington. Alexander Thomas Augusta. Alexander T. Augusta was freeborn in Norfolk, Virginia in 1825. Augusta fought anti-Black discrimination throughout his life. people, then referred to as the deserving poor. Some sources refer to the House of Industry as the Toronto City Hospital and subsequently confused it with Toronto General Hospital. (Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images), ust beyond the Old Post Chapel entrance gate at, But Augusta lived in an age of slavery and slave uprisings. Here, he settled down temporarily, and always with an eye toward doing more than reading. I have therefore been compelled to walk the distance in the mud and rain, and have also been delayed in my attendance upon the court. On April 14, 1863, Augusta was commissioned (the first out of eight other black officers in the Civil War) as a major in the Union army and appointed head surgeon in the 7th U.S. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. Growing up in Baltimore, he worked as a barber while he pursued his dream of attending medical school. Infants or toddlers are more at-risk for exposure since they can put cracked paint chips in their mouths. Peter B. 131, United States. As young man he first made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a barber. On 4 April 1863 he was commissioned Surgeon of Colored Volunteers with rank of major. Howard University had been founded the previous year as a university for the higher education of Black students. Twenty years later, hospital corpsmen share memories of their deployments in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Beneath these impressive credentialschiseled in bold lettersis the name AUGUSTA. While there, he encouraged African-American self-help, urged the freedmen to support independent institutions, and gained respect from the city's white physicians. He was the first of eight Black officers to serve during the war. Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919-2004)., Byrd, W. Michael, Linda A. Clayton. P. Preston Reynolds Dr Louis T. Wright and the NAACP, 886-890. He became president of The Association for the Education of Colored People of Canada. history. Enslaved Africans received no education.1 During the first half of the nineteenth-century medical schools in the North would admit only a very small number of black students. At military medical facilities all over the world, there's a good chance that a beneficiary will be treated by female physicians, but it wasn't always like that. W. Montague Cobb, Louis Tompkins Wright, 1891-1952,. https://www.historynet.com/meet-the-u-s-armys-first-black-surgeon-alexander-augusta/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, Why? Paper 360. In the case of an emergency, site visitors would be able to visit the news page for addition information. He retired from Howard University in 187721 and continued to practice medicine until his death, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.22, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was born in Pennsylvania23 and moved with his family to Baltimore, where he first became a shoemakers apprentice, then a barber in Janesville, Wisconsin.24 He then worked as an apprentice with Dr. Henry Palmer and graduated from Chicago Medical School in 1883.25 He began practice in Chicago, where he was one of only four black physicians in the city.26 In 1889 he was named to the Illinois State Board of Health, improving public sanitation to control scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, and yellow fever.27 The following year Williams was approached by Reverend Louis Reynolds, whose sister had been denied admittance to nursing schools because of her race. Daniel Hale Williams, MD:A Moses in the profession., Jordan, Karen. In February, Augusta was on detached service from his original unit, the 7th Regiment of U.S. Heather Butts, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management, first encountered Alexander Thomas Augusta as a master's student in public health, coming across his story while researching a paper on the health of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.Right away, she was captivated by the magnitude of Augusta's accomplishments: the first Black surgeon commissioned in the Union . African American Medical Pioneers.American Experience produced by, Bourlin, Olga. Over the next few years, Augusta remained in Toronto reading headlines that dissolved from one seemingly earth-moving event to another: the Rebel bombardment of Fort Sumter; the Battle of Antietam; and, in 1863, President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation. By most accounts, Augusta was saving money to finance his next move, which took him and his wife to Toronto, Canada. In September 1868, he joined the faculty of Howard Universitys Medical School, becoming the first Black professor of medicine in U.S. history. In 1865 Augusta wrote a letter to Major General Lewis Wallace, protesting the unequal treatment of African-American train passengers, who were forced to sit in segregated sections. National Doctors Day is March 30 to honor physicians for their dedication and contributions to the health and wellbeing of society and the community in which they serve. He received honorary degrees of M.D. He supported local antislavery activities, which supported the American movement. He moved to Baltimore and there married Mary O. Burgoin in 1847. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. Despite being denied recognition as a physician by the American Medical Association, Augusta encouraged young black medical students to persevere and helped make Howard University an early success. The state had restricted rights of free people of color following the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, MB Medicine, University of Toronto (1856), Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile. Alexander Thomas Augusta was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1825. Alexander Augusta is a part of US Black history. No. Alexander Thomas Augusta was born free in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 8, 1825. Augusta, however, vigorously pursued his ambitions; one of them was reading. Doctor and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander T. Augusta was the first African-American field surgeon, and at the time of his US Army service during the Civil War, he was history's highest-ranking black officer. Furious, Augusta reported the incident to the provost marshal, whose men managed to arrest a handful of the perpetrators. As Augusta later recalled: [W]hen I attempted to enter, the conductor pulled me back and informed me that I must ride on the front as it was against the rules for colored persons to ride inside. Alexander Thomas Augusta. Colored Troops where he served as regimental surgeon during the Civil War. John S. Giffin of Brighton, MA formerly of Delray Beach, FL and Orono, ME died peacefully after a brief illness on March 23, 2023 at the age of 87. Mustering out of the service in October 1866, Augusta accepted an assignment with the Freedmen's Bureau, heading the agency's Lincoln Hospital in Savannah, Georgia. She faced almost universal opposition to her pursuit of surgery, as it was believed women were not capable of performing surgery.67 In the end she completed her surgical residency at Meharry College. Augusta continued to work at Freedmans Hospital and served at the Smallpox Hospital. A Missed Opportunity for Psychology: The Story of Solomon Carter Fuller., Warren, Wini. Augusta taught anatomy in the recently organized medical department at Howard University from November 8, 1868, to July 1877, becoming the first African American appointed to the faculty of the school and also of any medical college in the U.S. He immediately wrote a letter that was published in several newspapers. In a letter to President Abraham . In 1863 was posted with the 7th U.S Colored Troops. Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map. Dressed in his U.S. Army officer's uniform, Augusta was physically ejected from the streetcar. Dr. Alexander Augusta was a surgeon, the Army's first Black physician during the American Civil War, and the first Black professor of medicine in the United States. In 1847, he married Mary O. Burgoin. Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown was born in 1919. Daniel Hale WilliamsPioneer and Innovator., ________. American physician who was the first black surgeon in the U.S. Army. He was reassigned, and then served in a rotating capacity until the wars end.18 He was the highest ranking black officer in the Union Army.19 By 1868 Dr. Augusta had moved to Washington D.C. and had applied for a faculty position at the newly established Howard University20 where he became the first African American professor of medicine. Born a freedman in Norfolk, Virginia, Augusta studied under private tutors and, in 1856, earned a medical degree from Trinity Medical College in Toronto. During the American Civil War, Augusta was appointed surgeon of colored volunteers . Augusta applied to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania but was refused . Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton forwarded Augustas correspondence to the Army Medical Board in Washington, D.C., which summarily rejected him for several reasonshis skin color foremost among them. Alexander Thomas Augusta was born in 1825 to so-called "free persons of color" in Norfolk, Va. A naturally intelligent boy, he was curious about the world, hungry for knowledge and improvement, and, most important, driven by an unstoppable spirit. Boileau, John. He published the first case report by a black physician in America in the New York Journal of Medicine.14 In 1846 he published a pamphlet on the effect of climate on health.15 Many of his works used medicine and statistics to combat untruths about race, and he addressed the errors and biases of the US census of 1840.16. Increasingly well read, Augusta set out for Baltimore, Md., in 1847. Dr. Williams opened the chest, rinsed the wound, and repaired a tear in the pericardium.29 The patient survived surgery then returned for a second surgery to drain the wound, and he lived for years afterwards.30 While this was not the first surgery on the heart,31 at that time any cardiac surgery was considered impossible and indecent. Since July 3, 1863, there have been many calls for Confederate flags to be returned to their home states, and in particular, for the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment flag return to Virginia. He helped draft petitions against anti-Black candidates for the Canadian parliament, arranged events featuring abolitionist speakers, and served as the president of the Provincial Association for the Education and Elevation of the Coloured People of Canada. Augusta was also president of the Association for the Education of Coloured People in Canada, which provided books and school supplies to Black children. A a member of the faculty taught him privately. She would go on to pioneer diagnostic techniques for breast cancer in the 1960s62 before dying in 1977. This made him one of the first African American physicians working as faculty at a college other than Meharry or Howard.45 He was instrumental in training psychiatrists to treat veterans at the Tuskegee VA hospital.46, Dr. Fuller was an early member of the American Psychiatric Association.47 He retired from Boston University in 1937, but continued to practice privately until 1953 when he died from complications of diabetes. Bridgeport, CTThomas Alexander Willis, Jr, 79, died October 8, 2021 at home with his family. Still, Augusta had never cowed to prejudicewhether it was encountered in learning how to read, going to medical school, or serving his native country in the fight for the Union and emancipation. Madison Gray, Dr. In 1856, Augusta was accepted to the College of the University of Toronto. In response, he traveled to Washington, DC, to plead his case. So reads the tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery of Alexander Thomas Augusta, the first black surgeon commissioned in the Union Army during the Civil War and the first black officer-rank soldier to be buried at Arlington Cemetery. Almost a century before Rosa Parks defied Alabama's racial segregation laws, Trinity graduate Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta refused to give up his seat in the "whites only" section of a Washington DC streetcar. Log In. Dr. Denied admission to the University of Pennsylvania because of his race, he studied medicine in Toronto at Trinity Medical College.17 He practiced in Toronto, treating both black and white patients.