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Robert was born in 1846 in Washington DC to parents who were enslaved. After the Civil War, his parents were released from bondage and chose the name Freeman, as did so many people. He became Robert Tanner Freeman.
When Robert was a child, a white dentist named Henry Bliss Noble took a liking to him. Robert began by running errands for him, but as he got older he took a liking to the actual work. Dr. Noble was pleased and apprenticed him Robert worked in Dr. Noble's office until he was a young adult.
Geroge Grant was born in 1847 in Oswego, NY. His parents had escaped enslavement. There is some disagreement amongst sources, about his early life. Some suggested he had a fight with his parents about the clothes he wore and he left home at fifteen, others say he left home at nineteen.
Either way, George started working for a white dentist in Oswego named Dr. Albert Smith.
Back in DC, Dr. Noble was encouraging Robert Freeman to apply for dental school. Robert did so, and ran afoul of the whole - we don't accept black applicants - thing. Dr. Noble did not want his protege to give up.
Harvard opened its dental school in 1867. It was the first dental school affiliated with a university and its medical school.
Freeman applied to Harvard and his original application was rejected. Luckily, Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, who was the dean and founder of the new dental school, petitioned the school to change its policy of not admitting African Americans or other people of color. His petition was granted.
Freeman was offered a place at Harvard Dental School in 1867 at the age of twenty-one.
As for George Grant, he decided Oswego did not offer him what he was looking for and moved to Boston, MA. when he was nineteen. He found work as a dental assistant in Boston. Then, he applied to Harvard Dental School.
Grant was offered a place at Harvard Dental School in 1868 at the age of twenty-one.
Robert Freeman excelled at Harvard. He graduated with honors in 1869 and became the first trained accredited black dentist in America. He moved back to Washington DC and opened his own practice.
He mentored young men in his community and encouraged them to go into the medical fields.
Dr. Freeman worked with anyone who needed dental care and reached out to marginalized communities and people who might not seek dental care for any reason.
George Grant worked hard at Harvard, and he too graduated with honors. He was the second trained and accredited African American dentist.
Some of the work Dr. Grant had done before coming to Harvard had been in labs making dental appliances. When he graduated, Harvard hired him to work in their mechanical dentistry program.
Dr. Grant turned out to be quite inventive when it came to making dental appliances. He developed inserts for patients with cleft palates. In his day, he was well-known and highly respected in medical circles.
He left Harvard and started his own practice.
Dr. Freeman's life was cut short. In 1873, four short years after earning his dental degree. He died of a waterborne illness.
Despite his short life, he had a profound effect on his community. In 1907 a group of black dentists banded together to create the Robert T. Freeman Dental Society. They are still in existence. Their mission is still to do outreach to populations that suffer from a lack of access to dental care. This includes the disabled, people of color, the elderly, and the impoverished. They also strive for excellence in dental care.
The Robert T. Freeman Society was the precursor to The National Dental Association.
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Dr. Grant made a good life for himself. One of his favorite pastimes was golf.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, golfers were given a box of wet sand when they set off on the course. They would make a small mound of sand and put the ball on top of it.
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He only had a few of them made. He handed them out to family and friends. He used them on the course he'd built beside his summer home. He never tried to have them manufactured en masse, and he didn't see a penny from his creation.
In 1910, Dr. Grant died of liver disease.
He might have passed quietly into the past, except for his little patent.
After years of designs based on Dr. Grant's work, an announcement was made:
In 1991, The United States Golf Association officially credited Dr. George Grant as the original inventor of the wooden golf Tee.
Two amazing dentists born to enslaved people a year apart, graduated Harvard dental school a year apart, were both very successful in their own rights and left us with enduring legacies of education, medical devices, professional organizations, and golf.
What are the odds?
Celebrate Black History!
Celebrate Black History!
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