James McCune Smith - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Smith was born in 1813 in New York City. His mother, believed to be Lavinia Smith, achieved her freedom later in life; she said she was a "self-emancipated woman." She was born in South Carolina and had been brought to New York as a slave. His father was Samuel Smith, his mother's master and a white merchant who had brought her with him to New York from South Carolina. The boy grew up only with his mother. As an adult, Smith alluded to other white ancestry, saying he had kin in the South, some of whom were slaveholders and others slaves.

Smith attended the African Free School (AFS) #2 on Mulberry Street, where he was described as an "exceptionally bright student". He was among numerous boys who went on to have brilliant careers, some of whom he worked with in the abolitionist cause. In the course of his studies, Smith was tutored by Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., a graduate of the African Free School who had been ordained in 1826 as the second African-American priest in the Episcopal Church. {Williams had founded St. Philip's African Church in New York City.} Upon graduation, Smith applied to Columbia University and Geneva Medical College in New York State, but was denied admission due to racial discrimination.

Williams encouraged Smith to attend the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He and abolitionist benefactors of the AFS provided Smith with money for his trip overseas and his education. Smith kept a journal of his sea voyage that expressed his sense of mission. After arriving in Liverpool and walking along the waterfront, he thought, "I am free!" Through abolitionist connections, he was welcomed there by members of the London Agency Anti-Slavery Society. According to the historian Thomas M. Morgan, Smith enjoyed the relative racial tolerance in Scotland and England, which officially abolished slavery in 1833. He studied and graduated at the top of his class. He obtained a bachelor's degree in 1835, a master's degree in 1836, and a medical degree in 1837. He also completed an internship in Paris.