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The Visions of James Still
by Anita Maria Lopez
"Doctor Still! Thank the Almighty you came!"
The young woman picked up her petticoats and ran down the path to
Doctor Still's fine wagon. Doctor James Still, the black Pine
Barrens doctor dressed in gentlemen's clothes, grabbed his black
leather kit, and raced with the woman to her cabin.
"My babe is ailin', doctor; it looks like the fever!"
the woman wailed.
"Try not to fret, ma'am. I have just the remedy for your
young'un..."
"James!" James' brother Samuel grabbed the plow from
his hands.
"Daydreaming again! Look at this field; you should have done
twice this far by now. Better not let papa catch you
woolgatherin'!"
James watched as Samuel plowed swiftly through the field. James'
vision had vanished; his gentlemen's clothes were gone. In its
place stood the James Still of 1822: Ten years old, half-starved
and barefoot, wearing Samuel's cast-off ragged black pants, which
were two sizes too big. Someday, James thought, I'm
going to be a doctor, and perform great miracles.
James had dreamt of becoming a doctor ever since he was three
years old, when Dr. Fort rode to their woodscabin to vaccinate
the Still children. James watched intently as Dr. Fort used the
doctorin' tool he called a lancet. That day, James found a thin
piece of pine bark, shaped like Dr. Fort's lancet. He found a
piece of glass, and spat on it for virus. James was ready to
practice medicine! His brothers and sisters were not so eager to
be his patients; they ran from James and his pointy stick dipped
in spit.
But, James was a child then. Now he was older, and his family
depended on James to give his most earnest effort to work hard,
to help them survive. His folks had struggled to buy their
freedom when they were slaves in Maryland. Now they lived in a
cabin they built, on land that belonged to them, in the New
Jersey town of Indian Mill. But, these were poor times. Although
Papa labored hard, they often went hungry. And, slavery still
existed in New Jersey; their constant prayer was that their
freedom would not be taken away.
James tried to control his daydreaming, but his visions seemed so
real! While driving the yoke of oxen to nearby Medford, he'd see
his future as a country doctor, riding along the white sand roads
of the Pine Barrens. While pulling rails from cedar swamps to
make charcoal, he'd see the lame and the dying coming from all
over the country for his healing remedies. While chopping wood
for other folks, he'd see himself healing the sick and curing
diseases that stumped other doctors. James picked huckleberries
in the spring and cranberries in the fall, all the while drifting
into daydreams.
On days when he wasn't working and the weather was fit, James
loved to hunt deer, and fish in Medford lakes. James walked
spring forests alive with masses of white mountain laurel. He
waded barefoot through tea-colored streams and bogs filled with
lady slipper orchids. He wandered through the low, dense forests
of pine, and wondered:
The oak, the pine, and the cedar are so different from each
other, yet they grow together in harmony, and each one beautifies
God's earth in its own way. If the same Great God made both the
white and black race, why is there so much difference between
them?
"Mr. Buzzard! When do you mean to fly?" James' friends
teased. James, now a young man, smiled at his threadbare clothing
and replied, "There shall come a day when you shall call me
an eagle, and I will be flying high and looking sorrowfully down
upon you!" James confided to a few friends that he saved
every cent he could for his heart's desire, to get medical
training to become a doctor. But, his friends laughed at his
dream, reminding him that a black man would never be accepted
into medical school, and besides, he was the "wrong color to
be a doctor." After that, James kept his dream to himself,
and wondered how he could get the knowledge he needed to practice
medicine.
At age 31, James used his savings to buy land in Medford, books
on medical botany, and a still for distilling herbs. He taught
himself how to distill the medicinal herbs he found growing wild
in the Pine Barrens. He made oil from sassafras root and essenses
from peppermint, expanding his knowledge of herbs and their
healing properties. James sold his herbal remedies to a
pharmacist in Philadelphia, and dispensed remedies to family and
friends.
Word spread throughout the Pines about the "black doctor
with the gentle remedies." In those days, doctors often
prescribed harsh, dangerous treatments, such as bloodletting or
drinking poisonous mercury. As folks heard of James' gentle
cures, they came from miles around to be treated by
"Doctor" Still, never minding that he had no medical
certificate on his wall.
James built a wagon to call on his patients. It was made of rough
pine boards, with a white muslin cover arranged over old hoops.
Prejudiced folks and the local doctors laughed at the black
"doctor," his rickety wagon and his cigar box full of
medicines. But, as his reputation as a healer grew, the doctors
stopped laughing and tried to keep him from practicing medicine
without a license. James found a way around the law by charging
his patients only for "delivery of medicine."
"Doctor Still! Thank the Almighty you came!" James, now
37, rode the white sand roads in a rockaway carriage, dressed in
gentlemen's clothes. He was beloved by the people of the Pines as
a man of great heart and compassion, especially for children in
his care. No distance was too great for Doctor Still to travel,
no case too hopeless. James owned a fine home and office, and
eventually became the third largest land owner in Medford.
In 1877, James published his autobiography, Early Recollections
and Life of Dr. James Still, to inspire others in difficult
circumstances, not to "sit down and fold their arms,
[saying] 'I know nothing, and can do nothing'." Dr. Still
wrote, "A great mind is planted within us in the beginning
of our lives, and, like other plants, it needs cultivation and
watering from the best fountains. If these are out of reach,
cultivate and water as best you can, trust to the great Ruler of
the universe for a crop, and you will not be disappointed."
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SOURCES: Early Recollections and
Life of Dr. James Still (Facsimile Edition), by James Still,
Rutgers University Press, 1973.
Afro-Americans in New Jersey: A Short History, by Giles Wright,
New Jersey Historical Commission, 1988.
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