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Samuel E. Courtney, second from right at the round table in the foreground, was born in Malden, West Virginia in 1861. His father was a wealthy white planter and his mother was his father’s slave. Courtney attended public schools in Malden, and then entered the Hampton Institute where he received a degree in 1879. He then attended the Westfield State Normal School for further education, graduating in 1885. He served as a teacher of mathematics at the Tuskegee Institute and then went to Boston and entered Harvard Medical School in 1888, graduating in 1894. He became a prominent physician in Boston, and member of the Boston School Committee. Courtney also served multiple terms as Vice President of the National Medical Association and co-founded the National Negro Business League. He was a close personal associate of Booker T. Washington and a prominent leader in the African American community. Courtney Hall on the Westfield State University campus is named in his honor. |
Alumni Dinner, Westfield Normal Alumni Association of Eastern Massachusetts, Copley Square Hotel, 1907