Dr solomon carter fuller death

We’re sorry, this site is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
Please try again in a few moments.
Exception: forbidden

In honor of Black History Month, we want to celebrate the landmark research, career, and life of Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller. Commonly recognized as the first Black psychiatrist in the US, the often untold story is the pioneering role Dr. Fuller played in identifying the brain pathology that typifies Alzheimer’s disease. His work at the turn of the twentieth century is critical in helping African Americans who today are disproportionately afflicted with and dying of Alzheimer's disease.

‍

The Early Life of Solomon Fuller, MD

Although his family had roots in America, Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was born in Liberia in 1872. His grandfather, John Lewis Fuller, was born a slave in Virginia. A skilled shoemaker, he saved his money and purchased both his freedom and that of a white indentured servant who became his wife. The couple settled in Norfolk and had eight children, one of whom was Solomon Fuller Sr., the father of Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, Jr. 

By 1852, racial persecution and deteriorating conditions in the Antebellum South became untenable. Utilizing the American Colonization Fund, John Fuller and his son Solomon fled to Africa, along with thousands of other free Black people hoping for better lives. In Liberia, the senior Solomon Fuller married Liberian-born Anna Ursula James, the daughter of two physicians and medical missionaries. They had a son who would grow up to be Solomon Carter Fuller, MD.

Solomon’s education was one of privilege. His mother home-schooled him and he became fluent in Latin by the age of 10. He then attended a private school run by Episcopalian missionaries, and at 12 years old he left home to attend a college preparatory boarding school.

As a teenager, the young Solomon triumphantly returned to his enslaved grandfather’s roots immigrating to the US to attend college and medical school. At first, he studied at Livingstone College, a historically black college in Salisbury, North Carolina. In the small town, Solomon reportedl

When you hear the name Alois Alzheimer, you don’t ever wonder who he was or what he discovered or invented. His name tells you all you need to know.

How about when you hear the name Solomon Carter Fuller? Not quite the same reaction.

It’s time for a little Boston University history lesson in honor of Black History Month, and in further recognition of the advancement of research about Alzheimer’s disease. As the world’s population ages, the number of people suffering from dementia—50 million in 2020—is expected to nearly double every 20 years.

• Solomon Carter Fuller (CAMED 1897) was born in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, in 1872. When he was 17, he moved to the United States to attend college at Livingstone College in North Carolina, and he went on to study medicine at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn.

• In the mid 1890s, he came to Boston to attend what was then the Boston University School of Medicine, graduating with an MD in 1897. Two years later, he joined the faculty of BU’s medical school as a full-time instructor in pathology. He would later become an associate professor of pathology and neurology.

• He furthered his work as a neurologist and a pathologist in the early 1900s, and he became the first Black US psychiatrist.

• From Boston, he went on to pursue more research in Europe. When Alois Alzheimer was searching for five foreign research assistants to join his Royal Psychiatric Hospital lab at the University of Munich in 1904, Fuller was among those selected. It was a pivotal achievement in his life.

• As the Washington Postwould write: “At this cutting-edge facility, Fuller helped conduct seminal research on physically observable abnormalities in the brains of victims of the disease that a few years later would become known as Alzheimer’s.” Armed with a wealth of knowledge about this new and mysterious disease, he returned to the United States in

Liberian neurologist and psychiatrist

Solomon Carter Fuller (August 11, 1872 – January 16, 1953) was a pioneering Liberianneurologist, psychiatrist, pathologist, and professor. Born in Monrovia, Liberia, he completed his college education and medical degree (MD) in the United States. He studied psychiatry in Munich, Germany, then returned to the United States, where he worked for much of his career at Westborough State Hospital in Westborough, Massachusetts.

In 1919, Fuller became part of the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine where he taught pathology. He made significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer's disease during his career. He also had a private practice as a physician, neurologist, and psychiatrist.

Early life and education

Solomon Fuller was born in Monrovia, Liberia to Americo-Liberian parents of African American descent. His father, Solomon, had become a coffee planter in Liberia and an official in its government. His mother, Anna Ursala (reported also as Ursilla or Ursula) James, was the daughter of physicians and medical missionaries. His paternal grandparents, John Lewis Fuller and his wife, had been slaves in Virginia. John Fuller bought his and his enslaved wife's freedom and they moved to the city of Norfolk, Virginia. The couple emigrated from there to Liberia in 1852, to a colony set up in West Africa by the American Colonization Society beginning earlier in the century. They helped establish the nation developed by African Americans and liberated African slaves.

Fuller's mother set up a school to teach Solomon and other children in the area. Fuller also studied at the College Preparatory School of Monrovia.

He had a keen interest in medicine given that his maternal grandparents were medical missionaries in Liberia. Fuller moved to the United States to study at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina