The AMS is preparing to issue a letter of regret to 15 black medical students who were expelled from
Queen’s Medical School in 1918.
According to the Queen’s Encyclopedia, the incident is “perhaps the most extreme episode of racism in Queen’s history.” Victoria Freeman, an intern in the Social Issues Commission, has been working with Commissioner Allison Williams to research Queen’s archives to learn more about the expulsion so the AMS can issue a letter expressing regret for the incident. Freeman said she hopes to issue the letter by the end of the year.
Williams decided to take up the research project after Afua Cooper, author of the book “The Hanging of Angelique,” came to Queen’s as the Robert Sutherland speaker. “I visited the Queen’s archives with her, and we discussed the incident,” Williams said. “Speaking with her really inspired me to do something to bring this issue to light. I just want students to be aware of the history of the institution.”
According to the Queen’s Encyclopedia, the black students were expelled “when the Faculty of Medicine caved in to prejudiced patients.” Soldiers returning from the war refused to be treated by the black students and “medical officials did virtually nothing to resist their demands,” the encyclopedia said.
Instead, the medical school expelled all 15 black students in the faculty—even those who were not in years that required clinical work. A Journal article from Feb. 5, 1918, reported that, “there is a certain amount of hospital instruction and clinics which is required before graduation–in a
University where all the clinics are conducted on white patients, it is impossible to find sufficient work for students of other races.”
Williams said the findings are disheartening, but it’s also important for students to learn from the past.
“If we discuss and become aware of the incidents in our history that are racist or discriminatory, it makes us more aware of what we as an institution have been and what we want to become,” she said. Although the students’ expulsion is openly admitted in the Queen’s Encyclopedia, many of the specific details including the students’ names, can’t be released due to the Queen’s Archives’ compliance with
the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which states that personal information cannot be released until 100 years after the incident.
Lewis Tomalty, acting assistant dean of undergraduate medical education, said the 1918 expulsion
isn’t necessarily an indicator of racism on the University’s part: the students were expelled because they weren’t able to fulfill their requirements due to racism in the community—not racism at the University.
“The decision … had nothing to do with the school not allowing them,” he said. “I would suggest that, in terms of having diversity in the school, those values were already there.”
Ahmed Kayssi, president of the Aesculapian Society, Queen’s medical students society, said he first heard about the incident at AMS assembly and found it unsettling.“I was shocked, to be honest,” he said. “I had never heard of anything like this.” Because the society places emphasis on historical knowledge of the School of Medicine’s background, Kayssi said, it’s supporting what it sees as a positive initiative to sensitize people to the issue and to make sure that no one forgets about this chapter in Queen’s history.
“It’s encouraging to see that there are people who are working to ensure lessons of the past are not
forgotten and the medical students will support her in any way we can.
“Obviously, today’s School of Medicine is a very different place. Diversity is very recognized at our school and it’s important for people to recognize how far we’ve come.”
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