Before the Civil War and four decades ahead of other Ivy League colleges, Black men were entering Dartmouth to learn the practice of medicine.
So recounts the 2022 exhibit, "Blacks @ Dartmouth: 1828 to 1860", which was funded by the Dartmouth Class of 1968 and curated by Forrester "Woody" Lee, a Dartmouth 1968 alumnus.
Among those commemorated in the online exhibit are Dr. William Baldwin Ellis, one of 30 African Americans who served as a physician during the Civil War.
After the war, Dr. Ellis worked at Freedman's Hospital in Washington D.C., the first U.S. public hospital for African Americans. Among his patients and friends were Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, whom he treated at the hospital after she was accosted by a white train conductor.
Former Geisel School of Medicine student Kenneth Williams '21 provides this video biography of Dr. Ellis.
Another doctor in the Blacks @ Dartmouth commemoration is Dr. Samuel Ford McGill, the first person of African descent to graduate from a U.S. medical school. According to his biography in the exhibition, Dr. McGill was one of the few university graduates of African descent in the medical profession in the world when he graduated in 1839 from Dartmouth at the age of 26.
Notable alumni like these are not lost on Teresa Dean Malcolm, MD, FACOG, MBA, System Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), Dartmouth Health.
“From Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, to Dr. Charles Drew, whose groundbreaking work in blood banking saved countless lives, Black physicians, researchers and healthcare professionals have advanced medicine in extraordinary ways,” she says.
"This Black History Month, we honor the physicians who have broken barriers, advanced medicine and continue to fight for health equity. Their dedication, resilience, and brilliance inspire us all to build a more just and inclusive healthcare system. Health equity is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right. We must confront the systemic disparities that persist in healthcare. The fight for justice includes ensuring every person receives the care, respect, and dignity they deserve. True progress means breaking barriers, closing gaps, and uplifting every community with the healing power of medicine."
The Black, Indigenous and People of Color Employee Resource Group will hold their 3rd Annual Community Impact Social Justice Award in Nashua, New Hampshire on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 6 - 9pm.