Smith, James McCune
1813-1865 · Contribution: 1837
Physician, apothecary, and abolitionist
First African American to earn a medical degree (University of Glasgow, 1837); also the first African American to own and operate a pharmacy in the U.S. and the first to publish in peer-reviewed medical journals
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1813, New York City
- Active since
- 1837
- Category
- Science & Medicine
- Best known for
- First African American to earn a medical degree
Impact on the world
Smith combined a pioneering medical career with rigorous scholarship that dismantled racist pseudoscience, becoming one of the most formidable Black intellectuals of his era.
Sources
- Smithsonian Magazine
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