Eliza Ann Grier: A Short Career with a Lasting Legacy
Image courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
How a tenacious young woman went from slave to Georgia’s first Black, female doctor
When Emily and George Washington Grier gave birth to a daughter in 1864, they must have seen her future as set in stone. As slaves in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, it would have been nearly impossible for them to assume anything other than a life of slavery for their daughter as well.
A year later, however, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery, setting the Grier family free and, in 1869, the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Not much is known about Mr. and Mrs. Grier beyond that point—except that their daughter, Eliza Ann Grier, MD, would go on to become the first black woman to practice medicine in the state.
A Long Road to Medical School
Dr. Grier threw herself into her education over the 20 years following her family’s emancipation. She enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, hoping to earn a teaching degree. But with no money for tuition, Dr. Grier had to alternate a year of attending classes with a year of picking cotton in order to afford school. It would take her seven years to earn her degree.
In 1890, hoping to find work to offset her tuition while not interfering with her studies, Dr. Grier wrote to the dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania saying, "I have no money and no source from which to get it…only as I work for every dollar,” and asking whether there was “any possible way...might be provided for an emancipated slave to receive any help into so lofty a profession." She was admitted to the medical college, and although she was able to secure some financial support from distinguished members of society (such as the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, who had written a recommendation supporting her application), Dr. Grier returned to alternating school with cotton picking to pay for it.
Seven years later, she became the first black woman in Georgia to receive a medical license.
Said Dr. Grier at the time:
“When I saw colored women doing all the work in cases of [childbirth], and all the fee going to some white doctor who merely looked on, I asked myself why should I not get the fee myself. For this purpose, I have qualified. I went to Philadelphia, studied medicine hard, procured my degree, and have come back to Atlanta, where I have lived all my life, to practice my profession. Some of the best white doctors in the city have welcomed me and said that they will give me an even chance in the profession. That is all I ask.”
A Career Cut Short
Still, Dr. Grier was plagued by financial hardship during her short career, and she had to battle not only racism but the prevailing belief that women couldn’t—and shouldn’t—be physicians.
Tragically, Dr. Grier fell gravely ill in 1901 and died a year later—only a few years into practicing medicine. Her hard work and legacy live on, however, and she’ll forever be remembered as the tenacious woman who went from enslavement to a top medical school to becoming the first black female doctor in Georgia.
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