The Stories of Dr. Joseph Ferguson and Dr. Henry Fitzbutler

Detroit Public Library

Dr.  Anita Moncrease will discuss the lives of Dr. Joseph Ferguson and Dr. Henry Fitzbutler; The First Black Medical Graduates in Michigan.

Dr. Anita Moncrease, MD, MPH is the President of Moncrease &amp; Associates, LLC, a Professor of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) in Detroit, Michigan and the Historian of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church (HMBC) in Detroit, MI. and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Dr. Joseph Ferguson MD (1821-1887) had a long and distinguished career in medicine. He started as a barber in who also practiced basic medical procedures. He then apprenticed with Dr. George McCook in Pittsburg, PA. He wanted a formal medical education, so the studied at the Cleveland Medical College in 1856-57, without graduating. He then moved his family to Detroit and began regular medical practice. At the time, a formal education or license was not necessary to do this.Dr. Ferguson enrolled in the Detroit Medical College shortly after it opened, graduating in 1869. He was the first African American medical graduate in Detroit. He continued to practice medicine in Detroit. He served two terms as the city physician and was active in the Bethel AME Church. Click here for more information on <a href="https://alumni.med.wayne.edu/alums/800547" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">his amazing life</a>.Dr. Henry Fitzbutler (1842-1901) His family were slaves who fled to Amherstburg in Ontario, Canada, via the Underground Railroad, where he was born. He attended from Detroit Medical College in 1868. In 1871, he transferred to the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating in 1872. He was the first African-American to graduate from UMMS.He ultimately founded and became dean of the resulting Louisville National Medical College and hospital for more than two decades. In addition, he served as editor of a weekly newspaper in Louisville for African Americans, the Ohio Falls Express, from 1878 to 1901. More information on his life is available <a href="https://medicine.umich.edu/medschool/news/university-michigan%E2%80%99s-bicentennial-celebrating-william-henry-fitzbutler-md" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">here.</a> Photos courtesy of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

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The Stories of Dr. Joseph Ferguson and Dr. Henry Fitzbutler

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