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. 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.

African-American women have continued to make major contributions to the field of medicine throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, who in 1986 became the first African-American woman to direct a public health service bureau, led groundbreaking research on sickle cell disease that transformed federal screening programs for newborns. Dr. Joycelyn Elders became the first African-American woman to serve as U.S. Surgeon General in 1993, advocating for comprehensive health education and public health reform. Dr. Mae Jemison, a physician and astronaut, made history in 1992 as the first Black woman to travel into space, integrating her medical training with scientific exploration. In recent decades, African-American women have also led major institutions—Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice became the first woman president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine in 2014, while Dr. Ala Stanfordfounded the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium in 2020 to address racial disparities in pandemic care. Their achievements reflect a long legacy of resilience and innovation among African-American women in medicine, who continue to expand access, equity, and representation in health care today.

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

A

Caroline V. Still Anderson set up a successful clinic and dispensary in Philadelphia. B

Anna DeCosta Banks, who graduated nursing school in 1891, had a long and successful career as a nurse in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Lucy Hughes Brown in 1894 became the first African American woman physician in North Carolina,“The New Doctors” Wilmington Messenger, May 20, 1894, p. 1 and then later in the decade, the first in South Carolina. Mary Louise Brown graduated from Howard University Medical School in 1898 and went on to do post-doctorate work in Edinburgh, Scotland.

C

Consuelo Clark-Stewart graduated from Boston University School of Medicine in 1884 and was the first African-American woman to practice in Ohio. Rebecca J. Cole in 1867, became the second African-American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States and the first to graduate from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler in 1864 was the first African-American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States.

D

Sarah Mapps Douglass became the first woman to complete a medical course of study at an American university in 1858 when she graduated from the Ladies' Institute of the Pennsylvania Medical University. Juan Bennett Drummond, 1888 graduate of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, became the first African American woman doctor licensed in Massachusetts.

E

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

F

Sara Iredell Fleetwood graduated from the Freedmen's Hospital Nursing Training School in 1896. Louise Celia Fleming in 1891 became the first African American woman to enroll in the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia. Martha Minerva Franklin graduated from nursing school in 1897 and worked to improve racial equality in nursing. Sarah Loguen Fraser in 1879 became the first woman and African American to graduate from the Syracuse College of Medicine and became the fourth African American woman to become a doctor.

G

Artishia Garcia Gilbert in 1898 became the first African American woman to register as a licensed physician in Kentucky. Mildred Wilborn Gildersleeve served as a nurse and midwife in Florida during the Reconstruction Era. Born enslaved in 1858, she was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 2019. Ida Gray became the first African American woman to become a dentist when she graduated from the University of Michigan in 1890. Eliza Ann Grier in 1897 became the first African-American woman to practice medicine in the state of Georgia. H

Julia R. Hall in 1892 became the first African American woman to work as a resident in the gynecology clinic of Howard University.

J

Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson was an American physician and the first woman to be licensed as a physician in the U.S. state of Alabama.Mossell, N. F. (1908). The Work of the Afro-American Women. United States: G.S. Ferguson Company.["Mrs. Halle T. Dillon; Bishop B. T. Tanner; Dr. Dillon; Tuskegee"]. Southern Argus (Baxter Springs, Kansas), October 8, 1891: 2. Readex: Readex AllSearch. Sarah Garland Boyd Jones in 1893 became the first woman physician licensed in Virginia. Sophia B. Jones was a Canadian-born American medical doctor, who founded the nursing program at Spelman College. She was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School and the first Black faculty member at Spelman.

M

Mary Mahoney was the first African-American to graduate from nursing training, graduating in 1879. Biddy Mason, a slave, worked as a midwife and later set up a day care and a nursery in Los Angeles. Alice Woodby McKane the first African-American woman to practice medicine in the state of Georgia. Mary Susan Moore became the first African-American woman physician to practice medicine in Texas between 1898 and 1901. Verina Morton-Jones in 1888 became the first woman to be licensed as a physician in Mississippi.

P

Georgia E. Lee Patton, 1893 medical school graduate who went on to practice medicine in Africa. Beulah Wright Porter, in 1897 became the first African American woman physician in Indianapolis.

R

Sarah Parker Remond earned her medical license in 1871 in Italy. Emma Ann Reynolds was a teacher who had a desire to address the health needs of her community. Refused entrance to nurses training schools because of racism, she influenced the creation of Provident Hospital in Chicago and was one of its first four nursing graduates. Continuing her education, Reynolds became a medical doctor serving at posts in Texas, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. before permanently settling in Ohio and completing her practice there. Harriet Rice in 1887 was the first African American to graduate from Wellesley College.

S

Eunice P. Shadd was the first African-American woman to graduate from Howard University College of Medicine. Nannette Stafford, 1878 medical school graduate from Howard University. Susan Smith McKinney Steward in 1870 became the third African-American woman to become a physician and the first to graduate from a New York medical school when she graduated from the New York Medical College for Women. Ann Bradford Stokes in January 1863 was enlisted as a ships' nurse in the United States Navy. 2nd Lt. Nurse Abbie Sweetwine of 494th Medical Group of the United States Air Force ran triage at the 1952 Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash based on her military field experience. The success of the team's response is credited with inspiring the development of the use of paramedics in Britain.

T

Susie King Taylor, first African-American to serve as a U.S. Army Nurse in the Civil War. Sojourner Truth worked as a nurse while she was enslaved. Later, she advocated for formal training.

W

Emma Wakefield-Paillet in 1898 became the first African American woman physician in Louisiana. Georgia E. L. Patton Washington in 1893 became the first woman to earn a medical degree from Meharry Medical College. Marie Imogene Williams in 1896 became the first African American female dentist to graduate from Howard University's dental school. Alice Woodby McKane in 1892 earned her medical degree and later went on to open the first hospital in Monrovia, Liberia in 1895 with her husband, Cornelius McKane.

1900s

25th Station Hospital Unit, an all African-American unit as part of the Army Nurse Corps, was the first Black medical unit sent overseas during World War II.

A

Lucile Adams-Campbell in 1983 became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in epidemiology in the United States. In 1995 as director of the Howard University Cancer Center in Washington D.C., she became the first Black woman to head a cancer center. Clara Adams-Ender in 1967 became the first woman to be awarded the United States Army's Expert Field Medical Badge. Virginia Alexander was a public health official and physician in Philadelphia who founded the Aspiranto Health Home in 1931 for the poorest members of her community. Ludie Clay Andrews became the first registered nurse in Georgia in 1920. L. Eudora Ashburne in 1912 became the first African-American woman to graduate from Howard University School of Medicine and the first general practice physician in Virginia. Byllye Avery in 1984 founded the National Black Women's Health Project.

B

Margaret E. Bailey in 1970 became the first African American nurse to attain the rank of colonel in the United States Army. Cynthia Barnes-Boyd was an academic administrator, professor, and nurse. She was the director of the Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and executive director of the University of Illinois Mile Square Health Center. Edwina Margaret Barnett in 1973 was one of the first two African-American women to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. (The other was Patricia Ann Jenkins.) Patricia Era Bath, first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. Sandra Dian Battis in 1975 was one of the first two African-American women to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. (The other was Diane Loren Pemberton.) Lillian Beard is a pediatrician and has served as a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sabrina Ann Benjamin in 1981 was the first African-American woman to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Maryland). Elizabeth Bertram in 1977 became the first African-American woman to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Hattie Bessent in 1976 became the first African American to serve as graduate dean at Vanderbilt University Graduate School of Nursing. JudyAnn Bigby served as director of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women's health. Bessie Blount Griffin was a writer, nurse, physical therapist, inventor and forensic scientist. Juliann Bluitt Foster became the first African American full-time faculty at the Northwestern University Dental School in 1967. Frances Jones Bonner in 1949 was the first African-American woman to train and to become a faculty member at Massachusetts General Hospital