Joseph Ferguson, M.D.

Joseph Ferguson, M.D., graduated from the forerunner of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the Detroit Medical College, in 1869, becoming the first African American in Detroit and in Michigan to earn a medical degree. From the time he started medical school, in Ohio in 1856, until his graduation in Detroit in 1869, 13 years passed. He was not required to hold a degree to practice medicine at that time, but he needed one to fulfill his dream. Dr. Ferguson practiced medicine in Detroit until his death March 5, 1887.

He was born in Virginia about 1821 to free parents. His name was originally Furgerson, but he changed its spelling when he became an adult. He moved his family from Petersburg to Richmond, Va., where he took up barbering. During this period barbers not only cut hair, they performed basic medical functions such as cupping and leeching. He was so adept in these practices that he decided to secure a formal medical education. He moved from Virginia to study medicine in Pittsburgh, Pa., around 1850 with his wife and two children, and apprenticed with a white doctor named George McCook, M.D.

Ferguson left Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio to attend medical school. He spent the academic year of 1856-1857 at the Cleveland Medical College. Then, without a degree, he moved his family to Detroit and began practicing medicine regularly. His father-in-law, William Webb, moved his family from Pennsylvania to Detroit around this time.

Ferguson was well received by Detroit’s African-American community. The Fergusons and the Webbs settled in the eastern part of downtown Detroit. Webb established and operated a grocery store at his home, while Ferguson practiced medicine.

Both Webb and Ferguson became involved in the struggle for freedom and justice. They were conductors for the Underground Railroad. They attended a secret meeting at Webb’s home with abolitionist Frederick Douglass and John Brown on March 12, 1859. Brown divulged his plan to take over the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. After lengthy discussion, Douglass decided not to participate. None of the other men who attended the meeting participated in the raid, and many of them went underground or left the country after the failed raid. Ferguson, however, became more visible. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Ferguson continued practicing medicine, providing community leadership and health care to African Americans. In 1863, when William Faulkner was falsely accused of attacking two 9-year-old girls -- one white and one black -- Detroit’s first race riot ensued. Ferguson entered the riot-torn area to administer aid, continuing to help the injured until the danger ended.

In 1868, Theodore McGraw, M.D., and four other Civil War veteran surgeons launched the Detroit Medical College. Ferguson seized the opportunity to upgrade his professional status by completing his medical degree. His studies did not prohibit him from practicing medicine or his community service. As a student in 1868, he joined a community petition drive to integrate Detroit’s public schools, already required under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The schools were forced to integrate. This decision was upheld Oct. 11, 1869, when the school system was forced to admit its first African American student, William W. Ferguson, Dr. Ferguson’s second son.