The Achievement
In 1837, James McCune Smith received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He was the first Black American to earn a medical degree.
He returned to New York City, where he opened a medical practice and pharmacy in Lower Manhattan. He became the first Black physician published in U.S. medical journals, contributing research that challenged the scientific racism used to justify slavery. He also became the first Black pharmacist in the United States.
This article covers Smith as the primary subject and addresses two high-volume related searches: "first Black woman doctor" (Rebecca Lee Crumpler, 1864) and "first open-heart surgery" (Daniel Hale Williams, 1893).
Life Before Glasgow
James McCune Smith was born on April 18, 1813, in New York City. His mother was a formerly enslaved woman who had gained her freedom; he was born free in New York, even though the city did not formally abolish slavery until 1827.
He attended the African Free School in New York, founded by the New York Manumission Society to educate free Black children. He was, by all accounts, an exceptional student.
When he was ready for higher education, he applied to Geneva Medical College in New York and to Columbia College. Both rejected him on racial grounds. American medical schools in the 1830s barred Black applicants without exception.
He was sponsored by abolitionists to travel to Scotland, where the University of Glasgow had a different admissions policy. He arrived there as a young man and did not return to America for years.
The Path to a Medical Degree
Smith studied at Glasgow from approximately 1832 to 1837, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1835, a Master of Arts in 1836, and a Doctor of Medicine in 1837. He graduated with honors from one of Europe's leading research universities.
This pattern of going abroad because America said no runs across the history of Black American achievement. Bessie Coleman traveled to France in 1920 to earn a pilot's license because American flight schools refused her. Eugene Bullard flew combat missions for France in World War I because the U.S. military would not accept him. The systemic exclusion drove some of the country's most talented people to find their opportunities elsewhere.
Smith returned to New York after 1837. He opened a pharmacy on West Broadway in lower Manhattan, the first Black-owned pharmacy in New York City. His medical practice included service as physician to the Colored Orphan Asylum for more than two decades.
He pursued abolitionist work alongside medicine. He was a close colleague of Frederick Douglass and contributed analysis and research to Douglass's publications, using scientific evidence to counter arguments for slavery.
Breaking the Barrier
Smith's 1837 achievement did not open American medical schools to Black applicants. The exclusion continued for decades.
The first medical institutions to accept Black students in significant numbers were Howard University College of Medicine (founded 1868) and Meharry Medical College (founded 1876). These institutions were necessary because mainstream American medical schools continued to deny Black applicants well into the 20th century.
Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman to earn an MD in the United States in 1864, 27 years after Smith. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College in Boston. After the Civil War, she traveled to Virginia to provide medical care to freed people. Her 1883 book, A Book of Medical Discourses, is considered one of the first medical texts written by a Black American physician.
The gap between Smith's individual achievement and the structural opening of medical education to Black Americans represents the difference between determination and systemic change.
Impact and Legacy
Smith used his medical platform as a vehicle for intellectual combat against the scientific racism of the era. His published medical journal articles deployed evidence directly against claims about biological differences between races, arguments that were used to justify slavery and segregation.
He served as physician to the Colored Orphan Asylum for more than 20 years, providing care to hundreds of Black children. He was an active contributor to abolitionist publications.
He died on November 17, 1865, months after the Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery. His contributions were largely forgotten for most of the 20th century. Historians of Black medicine and science have worked in recent decades to restore him to his proper place in the history of American medicine.
Black Pioneers in Medicine: The Full Story
James McCune Smith (1837): First medical degree held by a Black American. First Black pharmacist. First Black physician published in U.S. medical journals.
Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1864): First Black woman to receive an MD in the United States. Graduated from the New England Female Medical College in Boston. After the Civil War, provided medical care to freed people in Virginia.
Daniel Hale Williams (1893): Performed the first documented successful open-heart surgery at Provident Hospital in Chicago. He also founded Provident Hospital, the first interracial hospital in the United States.
Charles Drew (1940): Developed large-scale blood preservation and storage techniques that made blood banking possible. Directed the first American Red Cross Blood Bank. Publicly criticized the Red Cross policy of segregating blood donations by race.
Vivien Thomas (1944): Surgical technician with no medical degree who developed the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt for correcting "blue baby" syndrome. His contributions were uncredited for decades because of his race and lack of formal degree. Johns Hopkins University eventually awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Percy Julian (1935): Synthesized physostigmine, a breakthrough in pharmaceutical chemistry. Developed affordable cortisone from soy plants. Held more than 130 chemical patents.
Jane Cooke Wright (1955): Pioneered modern chemotherapy by developing techniques for testing cancer drugs on human tissue cultures, dramatically improving drug development speed.
Alexa Canady (1981): First Black neurosurgeon in the United States.
Patricia Bath (1988): First Black woman to receive a medical patent. Invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract surgery, still in use today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first Black doctor in America?
James McCune Smith was the first Black American to hold a medical degree. He earned his MD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1837, after being denied admission to U.S. medical schools.
Who was the first Black female doctor?
Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman to receive an MD in the United States in 1864, graduating from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.
Who was the first Black woman to earn a medical degree?
Rebecca Lee Crumpler, in 1864. She was the first Black woman to graduate from a U.S. medical school, 27 years after James McCune Smith earned his degree in Scotland.
Who performed the first open-heart surgery?
Daniel Hale Williams performed the first documented successful open-heart surgery in 1893 at Provident Hospital in Chicago.
Was James McCune Smith the first Black pharmacist?
Yes. Smith opened the first Black-owned pharmacy in New York City after returning from Glasgow, making him the first Black pharmacist in the United States.