Charles Victor Roman

Charles Victor Roman (July 4, 1864 – August 25, 1934) was a surgeon, professor, author, and civil rights activist born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and raised in Dundas, Ontario. He was the first Black person to graduate from Hamilton Collegiate Institute, a high school located in Hamilton, Ontario.

Early life Charles Roman was the fourth child of James William Roman and Anne Walker McGuinn. His father was an enslaved man who escaped to Canada from Maryland via the Underground Railroad, and his mother was the daughter of two enslaved Americans who escaped to Canada and later became successful farmers and landowners in Burford, Ontario.

At 17, Roman was injured in a workplace accident at the mill, which resulted in his leg being amputated. This accident forced him to leave his job, but it allowed him to focus on his education. He enrolled in a four-year program at Hamilton Collegiate Institute, which he was able to complete in only two years. and to study ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology in London. He was the first African American physician to train in both of those disciplines.

He returned to Meharry Medical College after his graduation to teach ear, eye, nose, and throat diseases, as well as surgical technique. While working as a professor, he earned a Master of Arts in history and philosophy in 1913 from Fisk University, where he later became the head of the Department of Health.

Roman was the fifth president of the National Medical Association and edited the association's Journal of the National Medical Association for ten years, until 1919.

Lecturer Roman worked with the U.S. Army during World War I as a medical lecturer, where he primarily spoke to African American soldiers.

Activism In 1919, Roman was the associate editor of The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. He also worked with several organizations that dealt with race relations and peace, including the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Southern Sociological Congress, Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. At the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he held the position of lay leader. Roman wrote many books and articles, and one of his addresses to the Southern Sociological Congress about race relations earned him accolades in journals such as the Journal of the National Medical Association.

Personal life Roman and his wife did not have children, but he shared a close bond with his nephew, Charles Lightfoot Roman, who went on to attend McGill University.