Anderson Ruffin Abbott: First Afro-Canadian Doctor

Cynthia R. Comacchio is an associate professor of history at Wilfrid
Laurier University and the author of Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving
Ontario’s Mothers and Children.

Anderson Abbott (1832–1913) was the first Canadian-born person of
African descent to graduate as a physician in Canada. Not only a
physician and surgeon, Abbott was also a scholar and advocate for the
rights of Afro-Americans. Newby has made careful use of Abbott’s
diaries, correspondence, and articles written for publication; the
latter were mostly opinion pieces about contemporary affairs, especially
those involving racial discrimination.

Abbott’s father, a successful Virginia-born Afro-American
businessman, left the United States with his wife and three young
children to relocate in York, Upper Canada, in late 1835 or early 1836.
Abbott was evidently greatly influenced by his parents, who were devoted
activists in their small community. After graduating from the University
of Toronto in 1862, he spent four years under the tutelage of Dr. A.T.
Augusta, an Afro-American who trained at Trinity Medical College. When
his mentor returned to the United States to join the Union Army during
the Civil War, Abbott followed the same historic path. His account of
his experiences as a field surgeon (forced to perform in primitive
surroundings and subject always to racism) makes for fascinating
reading, as do his recollections of stay in Washington, during which
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. In 1871, he married Mary Ann Casey and
began the first of a series of relocations throughout southwestern and
central Ontario, beginning with Chatham, where he became Coroner for
Kent County. The latter part of his life is less well documented; by
1894, the family was residing in Chicago, where Abbott served as medical
superintendent of the Provident Hospital.

This well-written and engaging biography draws extensively on the
Abbott family papers, which are rich in some areas but unfortunately
sketchy when it comes to family life. Nevertheless, Newby’s book
contributes much to the social history of medicine and that of the
African-Canadian community in Ontario and Canada. It shows how racism
both impeded and inspired an intelligent and ambitious young man who was
determined to make a difference his community.