Harriet Rice
Harriet Rice | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1866 Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Died | 1958 (aged 91–92) Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Years active | 1891–1958 |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Doctor |
Harriett Alleyne Rice (1866–1958) was the first African American to graduate from Wellesley College. She was awarded the Medal of French Gratitude for her contributions in World War I.[1]
Early life
Rice was born in Newport, Rhode Island. Rice graduated from Rogers High School in 1882.[1]
Career
She was the first African-American graduate of Wellesley College in 1887.[2] After attending University of Michigan medical school for a year from 1888 to 1889,[1] she obtained her MD in 1891 from the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. However, as an African-American woman in this era she was unable to practice medicine in any American hospital, and so she joined the social worker and suffragist leader Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago, where she provided medical treatment for the poor.[3] In 1897 she joined Chicago Maternity Hospital and Training School for Nursery Maids as the only doctor. When World War I broke out Rice traveled to France and practiced as a medical intern at a hospital in Poitiers, staying for almost four years. For this she was recognized by the French Embassy and awarded the Medal of French Gratitude.[1]
She died in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1958 and is buried in Newport's Common Burying Ground.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d "AMWA". American Medical Women's Association. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "Dr. Harriet A. Rice". Gilded Age Newport in Color. February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "A Woman of Valor | Eyes of Glory". eyesofglory.com. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "History Bytes: Dr. Harriett Alleyne Rice". Newport Historical Society. February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- 1866 births
- 1958 deaths
- Wellesley College alumni
- 19th-century American women physicians
- 19th-century American physicians
- African-American women physicians
- 20th-century American physicians
- 20th-century American women physicians
- People from Newport, Rhode Island
- Physicians from Rhode Island
- 20th-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American physicians