Juneteenth 2022
A Celebration of Black Achievers (Click Here)

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 nurse to serve with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War (1862 – 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 was the third to earn a medical degree in the U.S.

Mary Elizabeth Mahoney

Mary Elizabeth Mahoney (1845 – 1882), a nurse, was the first to graduate with a nursing degree from the New England Hospital for Women and Children 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 the College of Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1916.

Dorothy Lavinia Brown

Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919 – 2004), a surgeon, Legislator and teacher, was the first surgeon in the South (Tennessee) after completing her residency at Meharry Medical College of Medicine in 1955. She was also the first to serve in the Tennessee legislature in 1966.

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. (Place in the category of Health and Medicine)

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 to be appointed Surgeon General of the United States by President Bill Clinton in 1993.


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