Samuel Henry Dickson (September 20, 1798 - March 31, 1872) was an American poet, physician, writer and educator born in Charleston,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. Dickson graduated from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He was one of the founders of the Medical College of South Carolina. He also taught at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

and the

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania. Dickson was a popular published poet and a leader in Charleston intellectual circles. He was friends with Charleston poet

William Gilmore Simms William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was a poet, novelist, politician and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelis ...

and

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the '' New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poe ...

. He and his brother Dr. John Dickson played a significant role in the medical education of the US's first female doctor,

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was an English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the Un ...

. He was also active in organizing the first railway in the U.S. by helping bring the locomotive "the

Best Friend of Charleston The ''Best Friend of Charleston'' was a steam-powered railroad locomotive widely considered the first locomotive to be built entirely within the United States for revenue service. It was also the first locomotive to suffer a boiler explosion in ...

" into service. Dickson was a frequent lecturer; his addresses included a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Address at Yale in 1842. In recent years, he has received attention for his proslavery writings.S. Henry Dickson, Remarks on Certain Topics Connected with the General Subject of Slavery (Charleston, S.C. Observer Press Office 1845)
Dickson died in Philadelphia in 1872.

Selected works

''Hygiene : an introductory lecture'' (1848)

''On the progress of the Asiatic cholera during the year 1844-45-46-47-48'' (1849)

References

Sources

*Bain, R. et al. (1980) ''Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary'' LSU Press
Southern Writers on Google Books, p126
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Samuel Henry Physicians from Charleston, South Carolina American male poets American proslavery activists Writers from Charleston, South Carolina 1798 births 1872 deaths Yale University alumni Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Thomas Jefferson University faculty New York University faculty 19th-century American poets 19th-century American male writers