Person

John Edward West Thompson

Graduate of Yale School of Medicine, 1883

John Edward West Thompson - Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Dr. J. E. W. Thompson, Permanent Chairman." Accessed via New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1860, John Edward West Thomspon moved to Providence, Rhode Island with his family around the age of ten. His parents had emigrated from Haiti. He later attended Weston Military Institute and Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA. In 1883, he graduated from the Yale School of Medicine. That same year, Thompson married Elizabeth Augusta McLinn, a daughter of the head carpenter at Yale, Charles McLinn. Thompson continued studying medicine in France, England, and Ireland.

In 1884, Thompson began practicing medicine in New York, becoming one of the first Black physicians in the city. From 1885 to 1889, he was made U.S. Minister Resident/Consul General to Haiti and Chargé d'Affaires to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, appointed by President Grover Cleveland. In 1890, Thompson resumed practicing medicine in New York and served for a few years as a medical inspector for the health department. He also practiced medicine in Mount Hope, New York, Atlanta, and Bridgeport, Connecticut. He died in 1918 in Bridgeport, after he was stabbed by a patient in mental distress.

Full Name

John Edward West Thompson

Family Name

Thompson

Yale Affiliation

Graduate of Yale School of Medicine, 1883

Birth Date

1860

Birth Place

Brooklyn, New York City, United States

Educated At

Yale School of Medicine
Lawrence Academy

Places Lived

Groton, Massachusetts, United States
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Mount Hope, New York, United States
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States
Brooklyn, New York City, United States

Death Date

1918

Gender

male

Decade(s) at Yale

1880s
Media
John Edward West Thompson - Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Dr. J. E. W. Thompson, Permanent Chairman." Accessed via New York Public Library Digital Collections. John Edward West Thompson - Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Dr. J. E. W. Thompson, Permanent Chairman." Accessed via New York Public Library Digital Collections.