Samuel Edward Courtney

Samuel Edward Courtney (c. 1860 – June 1, 1941), also known as S. E. Courtney, was an American physician, teacher, and politician in Boston. He was a founding member of the National Negro Business League.

Early life and education Samuel Edward Courtney was born enslaved in c. 1860, in Malden, West Virginia. His father was a wealthy white planter, and his mother was an enslaved biracial servant. He was one of the pupils colloquially known as "Booker Washington's boys", students who Washington paid special attention to and he considered to have promise. the Westfield Normal School (1880–1882, now Westfield State University) in Westfield, Massachusetts; and Harvard Medical School (M.D. 1892, or 1894). He was an early Black graduate of Harvard Medical School. He enrolled in Harvard Medical School in 1888. She was one of the founders and first teacher of the Cotton Valley School in Fort Davis, Alabama. The university President Robert J. Aley claimed the incident was hazing related, and not race related; both brothers transferred to other universities.

In 1895, Courtney became a licensed physician in Massachusetts. He interned at Boston City Hospital, and followed by work as a House Physician at the Boston Lying-In Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Hospital).

Courtney attended the 1896 Republican National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri as an alternate delegate-at-large and represented Massachusetts in the 8th congressional district. He served two terms on the Boston School Committee. He had surgery days prior to his death.