Martin Delany Admitted to Harvard Medical School

Martin Delany and two other Black men were admitted to Harvard Medical School in November 1850 — after personally advocating to Dean Oliver Wendell Holmes. White students petitioned for their removal; the medical faculty voted to expel the Black students after one semester, citing the need to placate white enrollees. Delany completed his medical training elsewhere and practiced medicine, but the Harvard episode exposed Northern racial hypocrisy to national attention.