Daniel Laing Jr. (died 1869) was a doctor in the United States and Liberia. He was one of the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

physicians in the United States.

Biography

Laing was born a free black in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He tried to make a living as an independent printer before deciding to emigrate to

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

, which advocated settling America's free blacks in Liberia, convinced Laing that he should study medicine because Liberia needed doctors more than printers. Laing and another free black,

Isaac H. Snowden Isaac Humphrey Snowden (1826–1869) was one of the first three African-American students admitted to Harvard Medical School, in 1850, along with Martin Delany and Daniel Laing, Jr. Snowden and Laing were sponsored by the American Colonization Soc ...

, then studied under Horace Clarke, a surgeon at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

. They both applied for admission to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1850, on the sponsorship of the Society and under the promise that they would emigrate to Liberia after earning their degrees. A third free black,

Martin Delany Martin Robison Delany (May 6, 1812January 24, 1885) was an abolitionist, journalist, physician, soldier, and writer, and arguably the first proponent of black nationalism. Delany is credited with the Pan-African slogan of "Africa for Africans." ...

, also applied separately. The Harvard faculty voted to admit all three, and Laing, Snowden and Delany attended during the 1850-51 winter semester. A majority of the school's students protested their admission and petitioned for their removal, with many students threatening to transfer. The faculty eventually bowed to the students' pressure, so Laing and the other blacks were expelled. Laing subsequently left the U.S. to study for two years under the French surgeon Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He returned to finish his education at

Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...

, receiving his medical degree in 1854. Laing became a specialist on remittant fever and moved with his wife, Anna Bicknell Parker, to Liberia, where he spent the next decade working as a physician for the American Colonization Society.. His son Joseph was born in

Monrovia, Liberia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

in 1860; Laing also had a daughter, Mary. Laing contracted a fever in the mid-1860s, and moved his family to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, where he died in 1869. His family would later claim that he was poisoned at a banquet held in his honor, by whites who opposed his plan to open a medical clinic for blacks. After her husband's death, Anna moved her children to

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. Mary died there in 1880. His son Joseph married and had four children. His daughter, Ada, eloped in 1914 with Fritz Pollard, to whom Joseph had rented a room the year before.. Pollard later became one of the first African-American players in the NFL, and the first African-American head coach.

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Biography

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