Collection: Scalpel & Sword: The Unbreakable Legacy of Dr. Alexander T. Augusta

(On Display: Indian War Era Medical Field Surgeon’s Kit (Small), Civil War Era Surgical Bone Saw & Civil War Era Handcrafted Wooden Medical Crutches)

Before he donned a surgeon’s coat or a Union Army uniform, Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta was a man shaped by the chains of injustice and the fire of Black resilience. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia in 1825 (when Black freedom was still treated like a myth) Augusta knew early that his birthright alone would not shield him from the cruel architecture of white supremacy. He moved north to Baltimore, where he began apprenticing as a barber to support himself, all while nursing a powerful dream: to become a physician. But in the so-called “land of opportunity,” medical schools in the U.S. slammed their doors in his face because of the color of his skin.

Did that stop him? Not a chance !

Dr. Augusta left America and sought his destiny in Canada, where he enrolled at Trinity College in Toronto and earned his medical degree in 1856. In Canada, he didn’t just become a doctor, he became a pillar of the community: opening a thriving medical practice, serving as an assistant surgeon at the Toronto General Hospital, and becoming a fierce abolitionist voice in the fight against slavery. He was proof that given access, Black excellence would not just survive, it would soar.

But he wasn’t done. With war erupting in the U.S. and the future of Black freedom on the line, Dr. Augusta returned to his birthplace to serve his people and his country. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed off on his commission as a major and surgeon in the U.S. Colored Troops, making him the first African American commissioned medical officer in the history of the United States Army and the highest-ranking Black officer during the Civil War. Let that breathe for a moment.

But even in uniform, racism didn’t let up. White officers tried to block his promotion. Southern mobs attacked him. And when he dared to wear his officer’s uniform in public, he was arrested, not because he broke the law, but because he defied the lie that a Black man couldn’t be brilliant, bold, and in command.

Still, Dr. Augusta pressed on. He supervised Freedmen’s Hospitals, trained the next generation of Black physicians, and in 1868, he became the first Black faculty member at Howard University’s newly formed Medical Department, laying the foundation for what would become a sanctuary of Black medical excellence for generations to come.

His presence in the medical field and the military was more than just a personal achievement, it was a radical act of defiance against centuries of exclusion. He didn’t just heal wounds: he opened doors. He didn’t just make history; he gave Black America a mirror to see ourselves reflected in positions of power, intellect, and integrity.

In honoring Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta, we are honoring the will of a man who refused to be boxed in by the world’s limited view of Black potential. His legacy is etched into every Black doctor who walks across a graduation stage, every military officer who wears the uniform with pride, and every student who dares to believe their Black mind is worthy of greatness.

This exhibit stands not just as a tribute: but as a testimony!

To perseverance.

To excellence.

To a brother who carved out space in history with scalpel, pen, and unshakable purpose.