"Solomon Fuller Carter"(1872-1953)

An early 20th century psychiatrist,researcher,and medical educator,was born in

Monrovia,Liberia.His parents,Solomon C. and Anna Ursilla (James) Fuller,were Americo-Liberians Solomon Carter Fuller was the first African American psychiatrist and did much research concerning degenerative diseases of the brain.Solomon's grandfather was a a Virginia slave who bought his and his wife's freedom and moved to Norfolk,Virginia.The grandfather then emigrated to Liberia in 1852 to help establish a settlement of African Americans.Solomon always showed an interest in medicine,especially since his grandparents were medical missionaries in Liberia.In 1889,he migrated to the United States to attend Livingston College in Salisbury,North Carolina.He then attended Long Island College Medical School and completed his medical degree at the Boston University School of Medicine in 1897.Solomon completed an internship at Westborouh State Hospital and stayed on as a pathologist.He eventually became a faculty member of the Boston University School of Medicine.In 1909 He married Meta Vaux Warrick,an internationally know sculptor,the couple had three children Solomon C.,William T.,and Perry J. Fuller.Solomon faced discrimination in the medical field in the form of unequal salaries and underemployment.His duties often involved performing autopsies,an unusual procedure for that era.While performing these he made discoveries which allowed him to advance in his career as well contribute to the scientific and medical communities.Solomon major contribution was to the growing clinical knowledge of Alzheimer's disease.As part of his post-graduate studies at the University of Munich,Solomon researched pathology and specifically neuropathology.In 1903 he was one of  the five foreign students chosen by Alois Alzheimer to do research at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital at the University of Munich.He also helped correctly diagnose and train others to correctly diagnose the side effects of syphilis to prevent black war veterans from getting misdiagnosed,discharged,and ineligible for military benefits.He trained these young doctors at the Veteran's Hospital in Tuskegee,Alabama before the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiments (1932-1972).Much of his early career professional career (1899-1933) Solomon was employed with Boston University's School of Medicine where he the highest position he attained  was associate professor.He died of diabetes in Framingham, Massachusetts.In 1974,the Black Psychiatrists of America created the Solomon Carter Fuller Program for young black aspiring psychiatrists to complete their residency.