James McCune Smith

Born in the year 1813 in New York City, James McClune Smith, M.D. was the first melaninite in American to own a pharmacy in the United States.

 He attended the African Free School in New York City as well as University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he received both his B.A., master's, and medical degrees. In 1937, Smith became the first American melaninite to earn a medical degree. He worked as a physician and surgeon from 1838 until two years before his death in 1865. For 20 years, he served on the medical staff at the Free Negro Orphan Asylum in New York City.