James Derham was enslaved at birth in Philadelphia in 1762. As a child, Derham was transferred to and enslaved by, Dr. John Kearsley Jr. under whom Derham studied medicine. From Dr. Kearsley, Derham learned about compound medicine with a focus on curing illnesses of the throat, as well as patient bedside manner. Upon Dr. Kearsley’s death, Derham, then fifteen years old, was moved between several different enslavers before finally ending up with Dr. George West, a surgeon for a British regiment during the American Revolutionary War. He was eventually transferred again, this time becoming enslaved to New Orleans doctor Robert Dove. As an assistant at Dove’s practice, Derham and Dove became friends, and Dove eventually granted Derham his freedom. With some financial assistance from Dove, Derham opened his own medical practice in New Orleans. By 1789, his practice is reported to have made about $3,000 annually. In 1788, Derham and Dr. Benjamin Rush met each other in Philadelphia, and corresponded with one another for twelve years. Derham's final letter to Rush in 1802 is the last record of his existence. It is believed that after the Spanish authorities restricted Derham to treating throat diseases in 1801, Derham left his practice in New Orleans.
Ed Note:
The man pictured above also comes up on a google search as Dr James McCune Smith, the first black man in America to hold formal certification as a Medical Doctor (although, even as a free black, he was denied schooling here, and had to go to Scotland and then France to be trained in medicine).
One of the enduringly shitty things about our beloved country is the fact that we've played so fast and loose with people lives - to the point of rendering very large percentages of our fellow Americans virtually invisible - all while telling ourselves the reassuring lie that we care about what happens to every individual.
In some ways, America is the Disney-fied version of a very dark fairytale.
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