Robert F. Boyd

Boyd was born in Pulaski, Tennessee, on July 8, 1855, to two slave parents, Maria Coffey and Edward Boyd. His mother was moved south during the American Civil War, returning in 1866 to take Boyd and his younger brother to Nashville, where Boyd was sent to live with surgeon and confederate veteran Paul F. Eve. During this time, Boyd attended night classes at Old Fisk School (now Fisk University) while working during the day for real estate agent General James H. Hickman. Boyd began teaching in 1876 and became principal of the Public School for Negroes in Pulaski while still a student in himself, and also opened a night school around this time. Boyd received his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in 1882, where he was awarded additional qualifications in dentistry and pharmacy in the following years. He then obtained postgraduate education in surgery Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in women and children's diseases in Chicago, Illinois. Following this, he returned to Nashville and became assistant surgeon to Paul F. Eve. == Work and research ==

Boyd had an extensive teaching career at Meharry Medical College and he would work in a variety of departments; those known of which listed in the table below. Boyd noted the comparably higher mortality rates of African-Americans in cities in the south, and published a study containing some of the earliest observations regarding the disparity in health outcomes of African-Americans, and suggested medical solutions to the problems he identified. Towards the end of the 19th century, he was offered the office of surgeon-in-chief at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Towards the end of his life, he had surgical clinics in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee. == Personal life ==

Boyd never married nor had children. In the 1890s, Boyd acquired a house in Nashville of $14,000 value which was reputedly the most expensive house bought by a person of African descent in Tennessee up to that date. Boyd was also involved in a variety of fraternal societies and held high ranks within them; he held the title of Supreme Medical Register for the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He was also a longstanding member of various societies at Meharry Medical College, an active member of St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Nashville, had received an honorary membership at the Anthropological Society of London, and was a member of the Congress of Colored People. == Death ==

Boyd died suddenly on July 20, 1912, at the age of 54, after an "attack of acute indigestion". His funeral services were held in the Ryman Auditorium, and his body was buried in Nashville's Mt. Ararat Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was considered one of the leading African-American physicians in the United States, and amongst the wealthiest. == Historical context ==

Boyd lived at a time when newly freed African-Americans experienced racism, violence, and segregation. He came from a background of slavery and illiteracy, after struggling to achieve his early educational requisites, he was limited by the closed-door policies established by medical colleges and hospitals at the time. ==References==