Black Doctors vs. the Medical Profession

Black healers and physicians in Oxford County faced racial discrimination and many obstacles, including persecution by others in the medical profession.

By Megan Lockhart, Archives Technician

For any Oxford County resident reading this who has not yet read Joyce A. Pettigrew’s book “A Safe Haven: The Story of the Black Settlers of Oxford County” I highly recommend you do so. The book is a treasure trove of local Black history information and short biographies of the many significant Black residents of Oxford County are also featured. Any person interested in local history and wanting to become educated in the history of the Black community in Oxford County should consider giving the book a read.

The book also contains many fascinating stories. One example of such stories is the tragically lesser-known history of Black doctors and healers in Oxford County, and the obstacles and opposition they faced from other members of the medical profession. One such person I came across while conducting research for our new Black history of Oxford resource on our website, was Susan LeBurtis.

Susan LeBurtis was born in Grey County in 1857. In 1895, she and her husband William moved to Woodstock. Her husband was the minister of the British Methodist Episcopal Church and Susan worked as a milliner, a person who makes women’s hats. Susan was well known for her herbal remedies, which she gave to friends and neighbours when they were ill. Her remedies became so well known that she and William opened the LeBurtis Medicine Company at 331 Dundas Street in Woodstock. However, the company was only advertised under her husband’s name. After her husband passed in 1910, she continued to help people with her medicines. She was eventually prosecuted by the Ontario Medical Association for practicing without a license. Luckily, the case was dismissed as it was found that she did not prescribe medicines for illnesses that she diagnosed herself; she was simply selling her remedies to customers based on whatever was ailing them. She died in 1926, after many years of helping people from all over Canada, the United States, and even individuals from other parts of the world.

Susan was not the only Black healer or doctor in Oxford County. Dr. John Taylor was a respected physician in Innerkip and also faced opposition from the medical community. John Taylor was born in 1803 and escaped from slavery in the 1850s. He lived briefly in Tillsonburg in the early 1860s but lived the rest of his life in Innerkip until his death in 1884. During his time in Innerkip he became known for his skill with creating effective cures for all sorts of health ailments. Dr. Taylor had learned some of these cures from his father, who had been a doctor in Africa. Similar to Susan, he was eventually charged with practicing without a license by the medical profession. Dr. Taylor believed he was targeted and charged because he had cured a man who other medical professionals had stated was incurable; Dr. Taylor saved the man’s leg even though it was believed it must be amputated. He fought back at the physicians who were laying the charges stating that they were causing deaths by prescribing chemicals such as mercury and arsenic to their patients, and that their lack of pharmaceutical knowledge led to the accidental death of many people. Dr. Taylor instead used remedies found in nature, like herbs, bark, and roots. A book of his medical cures was published after his death by the Woodstock Sentinel Review Steam Publishing House.

Both Susan LeBurtis and Dr. John Taylor were able to provide their patients with proven and effective medical cures during a time when some physicians were sadly doing more harm than good. It is very unfortunate that other medical professionals chose to attack and create obstacles for Taylor and LeBurtis, instead of taking their medical knowledge seriously and learning from them. Perhaps if other BIPOC healers and physicians were more welcome in the medical community during that time, the greater diversity of minds may have led to advancements in medical knowledge being made earlier on in the field. However, this was during an era where Black students and students of colour were banned from applying to medical programs and universities in Ontario and Canada, with some universities not welcoming students of colour until the 1960s. Thankfully, both Dr. Taylor and Susan LeBurtis were able to help people despite the persecution they faced.

Source: Pettigrew, Joyce A. A Safe Haven: The Story of the Black Settlers of Oxford County. The South Norwich Historical Society, 2006, pp. 100-101, 111-113.

For more information on the racial segregation of Black people in Canada visit: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/racial-segregation-of-black-people-in-canada