Dr. Barnes Birthday Scholarship Fundraiser

African - American First Ladies of Distinction

(Health - Medicine)

"We cannot accurately comprehend either our hidden potential or full range of problems that besiege us until we know the successful struggles that generations of Foremothers waged against virtually insurmountable obstacles."
– Darlene Clark Hines



Susie King Taylor

Susie King Taylor (1848 – 1912), a writer and a teacher, was the first Black nurse to serve with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War from 1862 to 1865.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895), a medical doctor, was the first to earn a medical degree in 1864 from now Boston College School of Medicine.

Susan McKinney-Stewart

Susan McKinney-Stewart (1847–1918), a physician and author, was the first to earn a medical degree in New York State in 1873 and the third in the US.

Mary Elizabeth Mahoney

Mary Elizabeth Mahoney (1845–1882), a nurse, was the first to graduate with a nursing degree from the New England Hospital in Boston in 1879.

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins (1867 – 1953), a dentist, was the first to earn a dental –surgeon degree when she graduated in 1890 from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Ella Phillips Stewart

Ella Phillips Stewart (1893–1987), a pharmacist, was the first to graduate from University of Pittsburgh College in 1916 and was appointed to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.

Dorothy Lavinia Brown

Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919–2004), a surgeon, legislator, and teacher, was the first surgeon in the South (Tennessee) and the first woman to serve in the Tennessee legislature.

Florence Small Gaynor

Florence Small Gaynor (1920 – 1993), a registered nurse, was the first to head a major teaching hospital, Sydenham Hospital in Harlem, NY, as the executive director in 1971.

Faye Wattleton

Faye Wattleton (b. 1943) is the former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood—as well as the first African-American, first female and youngest president of Planned Parenthood in 1978.

Alexa Canady

Alexa Canady (b. 1950), a surgeon and educator, was the first neurosurgeon in the United States after she completed her residency at the University of Minnesota in 1981.

Joycelyn Elders

Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933), a medical doctor, was the first U.S. Surgeon General, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and advocated for health equity and teen pregnancy prevention.


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