Thomas's Career in Washington D.C.

After Thomas graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio he continued his education at Harvard in Massachusetts where he was accepted into medical school. This was a huge accomplishment, as he became one of the first African Americans to graduate from Harvard in 1869. After graduating from Harvard he moved to Washington D.C. where he opened his own medical practice. While he lived in Washington D.C. he was a prominent member of the local community, and among opening up his own medical practice he also opened up his own church. Like Samuel J. Datcher, another attendee of New York Central College, Thomas Dorsey had ties to Frederick Douglass. Douglass gave Dorsey the title of Deputy Marshal which was described as the “personified authority of the federal government and civilian enforcers of the law”. Dorsey held this title until he passed away in the year 1881. In his will he left two thousand dollars to his local community church in hopes that it wouldn’t meet the same fate as New York Central College.