List of African-American women in medicine

African-American women have been practicing medicine informally in the contexts of midwifery and herbalism for centuries. Those skilled as midwives, like Biddy Mason, worked both as slaves and as free women in their trades. Others, like Susie King Taylor and Ann Bradford Stokes, served as nurses in the Civil War. Formal training and recognition of African-American women began in 1858 when Sarah Mapps Douglass was the first black woman to graduate from a medical course of study at an American university.[1] Later, in 1864 Rebecca Crumpler became the first African-American woman to earn a medical degree. The first nursing graduate was Mary Mahoney in 1879. The first dentist, Ida Gray, graduated from the University of Michigan in 1890. It was not until 1916 that Ella P. Stewart became the first African-American woman to become a licensed pharmacist. Inez Prosser in 1933 became the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in psychology. Two women, Jane Hinton and Alfreda Johnson Webb, in 1949, were the first to earn a doctor of veterinary medicine degree. Joyce Nichols, in 1970, became the first woman to become a physician's assistant.

Nurses at Oak Ridge Hospital in the 1940s

This is an alphabetical list of African-American women who have made significant firsts and contributions to the field of medicine in their own centuries.

1800s

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Susie Baker, later Susie Taylor, a Civil War nurse

A

B

C

D

E

  • Matilda Evans in 1897 became the first African American woman to earn a medical license in South Carolina.[13]

F

G

H

J

M

P

R

S

T

W

1900s

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25th Station Hospital Unit, U.S. Army Black Nurses In Liberia during WWII

#

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

W

Y

  • N. Louise Young was the first African American woman practicing medicine in Maryland, beginning in 1933.[164]

2000s

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A

B

E

G

H

J

O

  • Elizabeth O. Ofili in 2000 became the first woman to serve as president of the Association of Black Cardiologists.[171]

R

S

  • Jeannette E. South-Paul in 2001 became the first African American to serve as permanent department chair at the University of Pittsburgh department of family medicine.[173]

W

References

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Sources

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