1848, 1861, 1926 - Which Came First?

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
1848, 1861, 1926 - Which Came First?
Abstract
A discussion on who was the first Canadian-born Black medical doctor. Most claim that it was Anderson Ruffin Abbott (1837-1913) of Toronto. He became a doctor in 1861, when he received a licence to practise from the Medical Board of Upper Canada. According to McGill University's Medical Faculty, the Montreal university did not welcome Black medical students until the 1920s. The Jamaican-born Kenneth Melville (1902-1975) graduated with a medical degree from McGill in 1926. Forgotten, according to the author, is the Quebec City-born William Wright (1827-1908), the grandson of a Black drummer in the British Army, who graduated as a doctor of medicine and surgery from McGill University on May 5, 1848. For thirty years, Wright served as the university's Chair of Materia Medica (Pharmacology). In 1864, Wright embarked on a second career when he was ordained a deacon of the Anglican Church, and ordained a priest in 1871. He juggled both his medical and ministerial careers until 1883, when he was forced to resign from McGill following a student boycott for his failure to keep up to date with medical advancements.
Publication
Connections: Journal of The Quebec Family History Society
Volume
Vol. 40
Issue
no. 3
Date
July 2018
Pages
7-10
Language
en
Notes

For another article on William Wright, see: Stock, Sandra. "An African Inheritance: Rev. Dr. William Wright, 1827-1908." Quebec Heritage News. Vol. 12, no. 3 (Summer 2018): 21-25.

Citation
Mackey, Frank. “1848, 1861, 1926 - Which Came First?” Connections: Journal of The Quebec Family History Society, July 2018.
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