Although mainly known as the founder of Louisville National Medical College, Dr. Henry Fitzbutler was an exceptional physician and educator. Fitzbutler and his wife Sarah Helen McCurdy became activists in their community of Essex County, Canada and later when they returned to the United States. Henry Fitzbutler was born in Virginia on December 22, … Read MoreHenry Fitzbutler (1842-1901)
Dr. James Durham has been widely acknowledged as the first recognized African American to be a physician in the United States. Due to lack of detailed documentation of his life, little is known about him including the date and manner of his death, as he would go … Read MoreJames Durham (1762-1802?)
Audrey Forbes Manley, who would eventually be acting Surgeon General of the United States, was born in Jackson, Mississippi on March 25, 1934 to Ora Lee Buckhalter Forbes and Jesse Lee Forbes. In 1955, Forbes earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia … Read MoreAudrey Forbes Manley (1934- )
The first African American woman to be admitted as a fellow to the American College of Surgeons (1950), Helen Octavia Dickens dedicated her career to women’s health and well-being, with a particular focus on the lives of young women, low-income women, and women of color. A board-certified obstetrician/ … Read MoreHelen Octavia Dickens (1909-2001)
An accomplished scientist, physician, and educator, Dr. Julian Herman Lewis challenged racism in the American medical and scientific communities in his prominent 1942 text Biology of the Negro. Drawing on his background as both a doctor and as a recipient of a Ph.D. in physiology and pathology, Lewis demonstrated … Read MoreJulian H. Lewis (1891-1989)
An inventor, abolitionist, and trained medical professional, Dr. Thomas Elkins played a significant role in supporting the Underground Railroad in Albany, New York, during the 1840s and 1850s. He also made an important contribution to the development of refrigeration techniques and patented several inventions for other household furniture items during the … Read MoreThomas Elkins (1818-1900)
Dr. Ada M. Fisher is a retired physician and a recurrent Republican candidate for office. Fisher was born on October 21, 1947, in Durham, North Carolina, the daughter of Rev. Miles Mark Fisher, a son of a former slave and his Seminole Indian wife. Rev. … Read MoreAda M. Fisher (1947- )
Right-to-Life activist Mildred Fay Jefferson was born in Pittsburgh, Texas, on April 4, 1926, but raised in the town of Carthage, Texas. She was the only child of Millard Jefferson, a Methodist minister and chaplain in the U.S. Army, and Guthrie Roberts, a teacher. A … Read MoreMildred Fay Jefferson (1926-2010)
Emmanuel Abu Kissi, a prominent convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), was born in 1938 in Abomosu, Ghana. He married Benedicta Elizabeth Bamfo in June 1970, and they are the parents of seven children. Kissi attended medical school in London, … Read MoreEmmanuel Abu Kissi (1938– )
Dr. Charles Victor Roman was an author, physician, historian, medical school professor, and civil rights activist. He was also the first physician of African ancestry from North America to receive training in both ophthalmology and otolaryngology. Roman was born on July 4, 1864, in Williamsport, … Read MoreCharles Victor Roman (1864–1934)
