Two of Canada’s first Black doctors commemorated: Toronto Star

The University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Heritage Toronto recently co-presented two commemorative plaques celebrating two of Canada's first Black doctors - Alexander Augusta and Anderson Abbott  - at Seeley Hall, the Toronto Star reports . The plaques, set to be installed in May, are intended to "take a step towards equity," Nav Persaud told the newspaper. A staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital and an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Persaud co-authored a paper in the Canadian Medical Education Journal last year examining the legacies of Augusta and Abbott and calling for the 19th-century physicians to be included in medical curricula to teach trainees about the history of racism in medical schools and how that contributes to modern-day health disparities. Rejected by U.S. medical schools, Augusta became the first Black medical student in Canada West when he was granted admission to University of Toronto's Trinity College in the early 1850s. After receiving his degree in 1860, Augusta worked for several years as a physician in Toronto before returning to the U.S. to serve in the Civil War, becoming the first African-American surgeon in the Union Army. Abbott, one of Augusta's mentees, earned his medical licence in 1861, becoming the first Canadian-born doctor of African descent. Read more at the Toronto Star. Statement of Land Acknowledgement We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates.