Dr. James McCune Smith was the first African-American to obtain a medical degree in 1837. Born in Manhattan, he graduated from Glasgow University and completed a residency in gynecology, before returning to the United States and opening up a practice in general surgery and medicine. He is also considered the first African- American to be published in a scientific journal and owning a pharmacy. Beyond medicine, he was an abolitionist working with the likes of Frederick Douglass.