ces since the early French settlement, had given rise to a
thrifty and progressive class of mixed breeds, many of whom at that
time had the privileges and immunities of freemen. Durham was not long
in acquiring a rudimentary education, and soon learned several modern
languages, speaking English, French, and Spanish fluently. Beginning
his medical education early in his career, he finished his course,
and by the time he was twenty-one years of age became one of the most
distinguished physicians[1] of New Orleans. Dr. Benjamin Rush, the
noted physician of Philadelphia, who was educated at the Edinburgh
Medical College, once deigned to converse professionally with Dr.
Durham. "I learned more from him than he could expect from me," was
the comment of the Philadelphian upon a conversation in which he had
thought to appear as instructor of the younger physician.[2]

[Footnote 1: Brissot de Warville, _New Travels_, vol. i., p. 223.]

[Footnote 2: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc., p. 17.]

Most prominent among these brainy persons of color were Phyllis
Wheatley and Benjamin Banneker. The former was a slave girl brought
from Africa in 1761 and put to service in the household of John
Wheatley of Boston. There, without any training but that which she
obtained from her master's family, she learned in sixteen months to
speak the English language fluently, and to read the most difficult
parts of sacred writings. She had a great inclination for Latin and
made some progress in the study of that language. Led to writing by
curiosity, she was by 1765 possessed of a style which enabled her to
count among her correspondents some of the most influential men of her
time. Phyllis Wheatley's title to fame, however, rested not on her
general attainments as a scholar but rather on her ability to write
poetry. Her poems seemed to have such rare merit that men marveled
that a slave could possess such a productive imagination, enlightened
mind, and poetical genius. The publishers were so much surprised that
they sought reassurance as to the authenticity of the poems from such
persons as James Bowdoin, Harrison Gray, and John Hancock.[1] Glancing
at her works, the modern critic would readily say that she was not a
poetess, just as the student of political economy would dub Adam Smith
a failure as an economist. A bright college freshman who has studied
introductory economics can write a treatise as scientific as the
_Wealth of Nations_. The student of