Black Doctor: A Biography of James McCune Smith, MD

Now Available for Pre-Order!

Forthcoming, November 2024
Mimbres Press, of Western New Mexico University

Dr. James McCune Smith was more than just a pioneer.

Born in slavery in New York City when slavery was still legal there, James McCune Smith managed to get a good elementary education in a Quaker school but was turned down by colleges because he was Black. Seeing his ability, his pastor raised funds to send him to Scotland where in five years he earned a BA, MA, and MD with honors.

He returned to New York with better training than most American doctors and established a practice serving Black and white alike. Smith took a leading role in the abolition movement, working closely with Frederick Douglass and writing a regular column for Douglass’s paper. James McCune Smith formed a rare Black-white friendship with Gerrit Smith, a wealthy white landowner in upstate New York; when Gerrit Smith, Frederick Douglass, and others formed a Radical Abolition Party to work to abolish slavery, McCune Smith served as chair of the party’s convention—the first time a Black American had chaired a national convention.

One of the most important voices in the pre-Civil War abolition movement, this biography brings him to vibrant life as a key figure in American history.

This is his story.

“On all occasions, in season and out of season, there were brave and intelligent men
of color all over the United States who gave me their cordial sympathy and support.
Among these, and foremost, I place the name of Doctor James McCune Smith; educated
in Scotland, and breathing the free air of that country, he came back to his native land
with ideas of liberty which placed him in advance of most of his fellow citizens of African
descent. He was not only a learned and skillful physician, but an effective speaker, and
a keen and polished writer. In my newspaper enterprise, I found in him an earnest and
effective helper. The cause of his people lost when he died.”
— FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Advance praise for Black Doctor

“Christopher L.Webber’s ‘Black Doctor’ is a remarkable biography of Smith. Long overdue, it is a welcome addition to the literature of the African American freedom struggle. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this definitive biography of Smith offers important historical insights on African American leadership, the abolitionist movement and antebellum era politics in America.”
— Professor Robert C. Smith, Ph.D. (retired)
San Francisco State University
Recipient of Howard University’s Distinguished Ph.D. Alumni Award

“This is an important book.”
— DR. JOHN R. KAUFMAN-MCKIVIGAN
Professor of History and Editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers
IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

“Christopher L. Webber’s Black Doctor: A Biography of James McCune Smith (1813 – 1865) is a vital work informing so many of us about the first fully trained and credentialed Black doctor in the United States. I was delighted to learn about Smith’s incredible achievements in light of the structure of racism surrounding his context. I highly recommend Webber’s thorough work and inspiring story into the challenge of being black in America.”
— THE REV. MICHAEL BATTLE, PH.D.
Herbert Thompson Chair of Church and Society & Director
of the Desmond Tutu Center General Theological Seminary

“A thoroughly gripping life story of rising from ashes and
becoming a true trailblazer. This is the important unsung
history of Dr. James McCune Smith— READ IT.”
— E. LISA FORTE-MASON, ESQ., SR.
Warden, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church