The First Black Women Medical Students at Howard and Meharry

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

The First Black Women Medical Students at Howard and Meharry

Early Black women physicians relied heavily on two medical schools, Howard University Medical Department and Meharry Medical College, to obtain their required training and medical degrees. My research examines the history of the first Black women to attend these schools, including their family and class backgrounds and premedical educations. Focusing on the nineteenth century, the poster will show all of the first Black women students to attend these schools. The history of Black women students at these two institutions demonstrates the importance of separatist medical schools in providing educations to Black women physicians.

Author

• Margaret Vigil-Fowler, Independent Scholar