Reverand Jermain Wesley Loguen, King of the Underground Railroad, traveled throughout the state starting Black schools and churches.

"He becomes a Bishop actually in the AME church in the 1860's and goes to Binghamton and actually is quite successful in gathering enlistments of Black troops for the Civil War,” said Onondaga Historical Association History Curator Robert Searing. “Loguen's Crusaders I think is the name of the group."

On his travels, he brought his daughter, Amelia.

"Amelia came here we think in the mid 1860's and she taught for about two years at the first African American school in the City of Binghamton," said Broome County historian Gerald Smith.

There were two. The first was on Susquehanna Street and the second called School No. 8, where Columbus Park is now.

"The school that Amelia taught in was on Susquehanna Street,” said Smith. “Susquehanna Street has been since very early 1800's the center of the African American population in and around Broome County."

But as the city changed, so did the school.

"What we believe is that the school closed because of the population started getting a little bit more dispersed, probably the financing," said Smith.

Amelia moved back to Syracuse where she met her husband, Lewis Douglass, the son of Frederick Douglass.

As Black schools struggled in Binghamton, so did Black churches. Amelia's father, Reverend Loguen, came to assist with secretarial help from his other daughter, Sarah.

“A few months ago, I got an email from the curator at the Museum of African American History at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, said Susan Keeter, an artists, author and part of the Upstate Medical Marketing Department. “We have this unidentified photograph of a woman carrying a medical bag. We think it looks quite a bit like Sarah Loguen."

Born 1850, Sarah saw her family help runaways, which sparked her desire to become a doctor.

"You're doctoring people who are sick and injured," said Keeter.

"Coming from a well-educated family, she was already multi-lingual,” said Keeter. “She was reading for pleasure and preparation Germain textbooks in medicine."

In 1876, Sarah became the first Black woman to graduate from Syracuse University's Medicine School.

"She was embraced and nurtured and honored, a standing ovation when she crossed the line at graduation,” said Keeter. “One of the things that I like about Sarah Loguen is that she did not have to sacrifice home and heart to be a successful physician."

A fellow graduate proposed marriage to Sarah only if she would quit her practice.

"She said in very polite terms no thank you," said Keeter.

Then, one of Frederick Douglass' sons introduced her to Dr. Charles Fraser of what is now the Dominican Republic.

"His wedding present was a new set of medical tools and a horse, so that she could do house calls on horseback in the Dominican Republic,” said Keeter. This was a bit more supportive of her career."

Moving to the Dominican Republic, Sarah learned Spanish in six months, passed the medical exam, becoming the first female doctor in the entire country.

"Anybody who's a trailblazer, anybody who has the strength of character and the intelligence and the drive to do something as important as save lives and improve health in other people,” said Keeter. “How can you not honor them and feel that your own life is richer for what they gave to our civilization?"