Lawson Andrew Scruggs was born into slavery, but rose out of that to become a doctor, pharmacist, and writer and one of the first three black licensed physicians in North Carolina.
He was born to slave parents in 1857 in Bedford, Virginia. He grew up on a tenant farm and while there were few educational opportunities for black children, he studied every night after working all day.
Hoping to get off the farm, he took work with the Atlantic & Mississippi Railroad and the Western Union Telegraph Company. In the fall of 1877 he enrolled in the Richmond Institute, a Baptist school, and graduated second in his class in 1882.
Scruggs entered the Shaw Institute in the fall of 1882 where he took medical courses in addition to his literary studies. White Raleigh doctors composed the faculty and six students graduated in the first class in 1886, with Scruggs as valedictorian. M.T. Pope of Rich Square, J.T. Williams of Charlotte, and Scruggs took the licensing exam and passed.
Dr. Scruggs became resident physician at Shaw and an instructor and worked at Leonard Hospital, which was partnered with the school. He also became a registered pharmacist, working at Capital City Pharmacy in Raleigh, a black owned drug store that later became known as Love’s Drug Store.
In 1890, Dr. Scruggs went into private practice and soon moved to the faculty at St. Augustine’s in Raleigh. He became the first attending physician at St. Agnes Hospital for Negroes when he opened next door to the college.
He was one of the four co-founders of the Old North State Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Society. He was recognized by Raleigh’s health superintendent for his work in reducing mortality rates in the black community.
In the 1890s, he left Raleigh to run a hospital in the Southern Pines area. He returned to the capital in 1913, only a few months before he died.
He helped establish a reading room and library in Raleigh, published several articles, and he edited a book about women writers. Dr. Scruggs was married three times and widowed twice.
Sources:
Jones, H.G. “L.A. Scruggs, North Carolina’s First Black Doctor.” Scoundrels, Rogues and Heroes of the Old North State.”
Murray, Elizabeth Reid. “Lawson Andrew Scruggs” NCPedia
Fascinating.