Patrick Francis Healy

Patrick Francis Healy 1830 - 1910

Rev. Patrick Francis Healy lived a life worth remembering. While fair skinned enough to pass as white, Healy elected to acknowledge the African ancestry on his maternal side. In order to receive an education as a Black pupil, Healy’s father sent him and his siblings north to be taught by Quakers.

Though Healy was educated by Quakers, he was raised Catholic and his faith never faltered. When Healy joined the Jesuit order, he became the first Black American to do so. In addition to being the first Black Jesuit priest, Healy was the first Black American to earn his Ph.D. In order to accomplish this feat, the Quakers sent Healy to Europe to study at the Catholic University of Lueven in Belgium. Upon returning to the United States, Healy accepted a teaching position at Georgetown University.

After teaching at Georgetown for nearly a decade, Healy was named the prestigious university’s 29th president. This appointment in 1874 made Healy the first Black president of a predominantly white institution. Healy led Georgetown to its 20th century prominence. Under his leadership, Georgetown updated its curriculum, dramatically improved both the law and medical schools, and oversaw a large-scale transformation of the school’s physical layout. At the conclusion of his tenure, Georgetown College morphed into Georgetown University.