Homecoming 2006: Leonard Medical School Commemoration

Shaw University will commemorate Leonard Medical School with a special program honoring the school at 11 a.m. on October 11 in the Thomas J. Boyd Chapel as part of the 2006 Homecoming festivities. The unveiling of a state historical marker will follow the hour-long program.

Dr. Clarence G. Newsome, president of Shaw, will be the master of ceremonies for the program that will include remarks from various guests including Dr. Brenda Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong is the associate Dean for Medical Education and Dean of Medical School Admissions Duke University School of Medicine.

“My uncle, LP Armstrong, was a graduate of the Leonard School, and the ties to Shaw in my family run very deep,” Dr. Armstrong said. “I am honored to participate in the program in October.”

The history of Leonard Medical School is featured in the September issue of Our State magazine. For the full text of Our State’s “Making History,” click HERE.

Leonard opened in 1882 as the nation’s first 4-year medical school and was the first medical school devoted to training African Americans in the South. Approximately 400 doctors graduated from Leonard bringing medical care to areas across North Carolina and the world that had a desperate need for doctors. In addition to the medical school, Shaw opened a hospital in 1911 and gave the African American community in and around Raleigh access to precious medical care that was hard for poorer citizens to find otherwise.

Leonard Hall will be open for tours from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. following the unveiling of the marker, and a slide presentation on the history of Leonard Medical School will be presented at approximately 12:45 p.m. by Dr. Todd Savitt, secretary-treasurer of the American Association of the History of Medicine and a professor of medical history at East Carolina University’s medical school. The slide presentation will take place in the restored cadaver room of the former medical school.

Prominent graduates of the school include Dr. M.T. Pope, a Raleigh physician and city leader; Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore, one of the founders of North Carolina Mutual Insurance in Durham; and Dr. John Taylor Williams, a Charlotte physician and an ambassador to Sierra Leone in 1897.

“My uncle was one of the proud, dedicated, courageous physicians trained at a place that taught the principles of medicine with the compassion and commitment that made them the integral parts of the communities into which they set up their practices,” Dr. Armstrong said. “I am sure that much of who I have become has been because of the legacy of the Leonard School passed down to me through him, and I am proud to have his example to follow.”