Dr. Edwin Clarence Joseph Turpin Howard was born free in Boston in 1846. He entered Harvard Medical School soon after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. In 1869, he became the first African American to graduate from Harvard Medical School. He subsequently relocated to Philadelphia where he distinguished himself during the city’s smallpox epidemic in 1870, not losing a single patient to the disease.
Along with Nathan Mossell he was a co-founder of Frederick Douglas Memorial Hospital in 1895 (the first hospital for African Americans in Philadelphia) and Mercy Hospital in 1905. The two hospitals merged to become Mercy-Douglas Hospital in 1948. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Sigma Pi Phi Society, the first black fraternity in the United States. Over the years he built up a sustaining practice in Philadelphia and was described as the “Dean of the Medical Profession in Philadelphia”. He died in 1912 at 66 years of age at which time his obituary in the Journal of the National Medical Association identified him as the oldest practitioner in the city of Philadelphia.
Along with Nathan Mossell he was a co-founder of Frederick Douglas Memorial Hospital in 1895 (the first hospital for African Americans in Philadelphia) and Mercy Hospital in 1905. The two hospitals merged to become Mercy-Douglas Hospital in 1948. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Sigma Pi Phi Society, the first black fraternity in the United States. Over the years he built up a sustaining practice in Philadelphia and was described as the “Dean of the Medical Profession in Philadelphia”. He died in 1912 at 66 years of age at which time his obituary in the Journal of the National Medical Association identified him as the oldest practitioner in the city of Philadelphia.