Dorothea Dix — April 4, 1802 – July 17, 1887
Dorothea Lynde Dix was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Clara Barton — December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912
Clarissa “Clara” Harlowe Barton was a pioneering nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. Nursing education was not very formalized at that time and she did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care.
Rebecca Lee Crumpler — February 8, 1831 – March 9, 1895
Rebecca Lee Crumpler, née Davis, was an African-American physician and author. Becoming a Doctor of Medicine in 1864 after studying at New England Female Medical College, she was the first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States.
Mary Eliza Mahoney — May 7, 1845 – January 4, 1926
Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States, graduating in 1879. Mahoney was one of the first African Americans to graduate from a nursing school, and she prospered in a predominantly white society.
Eliza Anna Grier — 1864 – 1902
Eliza Anna Grier was an American physician and the first African-American woman licensed to practice medicine in the State of Georgia.