By Sister Tarpley
NDG Columnist
2015 theme: “A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture.” This week I will highlight Robert Tanner Freeman, D.D.S. Dr. Freeman was the first professionally trained Black dentist in the United States in 1869.
Freeman was born in Washington DC in 1846. He was the son of slaves who had bought their freedom in the 19th century. Historical records are unclear but they probably adopted the surname Freeman in response to their transition, from slaves to “free men.”
In the very early days, many dentists learned their profession, truthfully, more properly thought of as a trade at that time, as apprentices and laboratorians. This “preceptorial system” was criticized by those who believed that theory, as well as practice, was vital in the education of a dentist.
The first three formal dental schools created in response to this need were the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery founded in 1840, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery founded in 1845, and the Michigan School of Dentistry.
These were all stand-alone schools, however, the medical schools and universities of the time refused to let dentistry become a part of their curriculum. They viewed dentistry as a trade rather than a profession requiring a university-based education.
Yet, it eventually became apparent that the public would best be served by making formal dental education part of the university system and on the same level as medical schools.
The first university-based dental school in the United States was Harvard Dental School, founded in 1867. Two other dental schools soon opened.
Robert Tanner Freeman had a strong interest in the health professions, and he sought work as a dental assistant and clerk from Dr. Henry Bliss Noble, his white dentist who tutored Freeman and encouraged him to pursue his own career in dentistry.
Dr. Noble hired Freeman to work in his office in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. At this time it is estimated that there were a total of 120 Black dentists in the entire United States.
Dr. Noble encouraged Freeman to pursue a dental career, pointing out that Freeman would be in a better position to help alleviate human suffering and serve the dental health needs of his fellow Black people.
Freeman applied to two of the independent dental schools. He was rejected on racial grounds. Dr. Noble set about the process of lobbing his colleagues for them to accept Freeman in the first class of their new school, at the age of twenty-one and Harvard’s Dental School inaugural class of sixteen.
On May 18, 1869, Dr. Freeman, became the first Black graduate of a U.S. dental school in history. After graduating from Harvard in 1869, Dr. Freeman returned to Washington, D.C.
He became a pillar in the D.C. Black community because of his commitment to mentoring other Black youth interested in the medical profession.
Dr. Freeman’s death in 1873 at 24, came only four years after dental school. He
contracted one of the water-borne diseases so common at that time, most probably cholera; and, the American Civil War ended four years before his graduation.
Dr. Freeman’s career also began a distinguished legacy for his family. His grandson, Robert C. Weaver, Ph.D., became the country’s first Black presidential cabinet member, serving as Lyndon B. Johnson’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
It has been said that the success of Dr. Weaver probably would not have happened without a small group of dentists listening to a few influential members who stood up for something that must have been exceedingly unpopular at the time.
It is also interesting and inspiring that the decisions of a relatively small circle of people in the 1860s could come down through time and influence a choice at the presidential cabinet level. Dr. Weaver would not have been able to reach his own success without building on that of his grandfather.
Dr. Freeman was honored by the National Dental Association, the all-Black dental group founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
The Association adopted the mission of Dr. Freeman to extend dental treatment and education to the impoverished, the disabled, and people of color as well as those who may not seek proper care due to age.
In 1907 the predecessor organization to the National Dental Association called itself the Robert T. Freeman Dental Society.
