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Eliza Grier, M.D. [July 1864 –April 15 1902]  [Date of death – Letter from Adella H. Logan to Emily Howland] [Photo] 1897 – The year of her graduation from Woman’s Medical College [p-2971c Eliza Grier]

Eliza Grier, born a slave, became the first African-American woman physician licensed to practice medicine in the state of Georgia. She was born in North Carolina in July 1864. [Black Women in America D.

She spent seven years working and studying to complete her undergraduate degree at Fisk University in Nashville, TN. She matriculated at Fisk University for the 1884-1885 session. She graduated in 1891. In 1890 Grier sent a letter to Woman’s Medical College expressing her desire to become a physician and asking for further information. “I am a Negro woman- a fair representative of my race….I desire to be of the most possible benefit to my race and to my fellow creatures. I think I can accomplish more by having a medical education.” http://xdl.drexelmed.edu/item.php?object_id=1274&search_param=keyword&search_by=grier\&t=womanmd pg. 2-3

Her concern with financing a medical degree is demonstrated as the letter continues. “I have no money and no source from which to get it, only as I work for every dollar…How much does it take to put one through a year of your school? Is there any possible chance to do any work that would not interfere with ones studies.” [Eliza Grier letter to WMC  Dec. 6, 1890. Page 3] http://doctordoctress.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A971 After her graduation from Fisk in 1891 she taught at the Paine Normal School and Industrial Institute in Augusta, GA during the 1891-1892 school year. She attended the Meharry Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Departments of the Central Tennessee College, in Nashville TN, in 1893. [pg. 9 of Central Tennessee College Meharry School (correct name ??).

Eliza Grier began her medical education at WMC in 1894. [Forty-fifth Annual Announcement of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania Session of 1894. Pg. 29] She did receive a scholarship of $100. [Minutes of Faculty Meetings June 1880 June 1896 pg. 186] However, the tuition and other educational expenses at that time totaled $141.50, which did not include room and board. Overcoming the financial hardships, Eliza Grier graduated in a ceremony held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on May 19, 1897.

When the Rev.O.W. Whitaker was asked to supply a reference for Grier he wrote to the Dean of WMCP, [Dr. Ruth Webster Lathrop????] to ask about Grier’s academic standing. Dr. Lathrop replied “I would say that Eliza Anna Grier had a “respectable standing” as a student of medicine; how much better work she would have done had she not been constantly harassed by want of adequate means of support is difficult to say.”   Eliza seemed to struggle to pass Physiology but otherwise her grades were adequate and in some cases better than most of her classmates.

She tried to set up a practice in Greenville, SC but many of her patients were poor and she struggled to make a living. When she became seriously ill she had no resources to fall back on. She wrote to Susan B. Anthony asking for assistance. “ I write to you because I believe you will listen to my appeal and in some way help me. I am a young Negro woman I am engaged in the practice of Medicine in this city. ...I have been quite ill for six weeks with La Grippe(influenza) I have not been able to make a single dollar. My expenses go on just the same…Please help me in this my time of severe trial & want, for I need assistance in a financial way.”  [Letter dated 3-7-1901 from Eliza Grier to Susan B. Anthony.]

Anthony was not in a position to help her financially but did contact WMCP on her behalf. “ To the President of the Women’s Medical College, Philadelphia PA. I send you the enclosed letter because Miss Grier claims to have graduated from your college, and because I think you can help her better than anyone else. She has undertaken a herculean task in that little old town of Greenville. If she is a woman of thrift and management she ought to have help to get started, but her getting the grippe is certainly bad. My sympathies are very strong for all these women, but my purse is not equal to helping them financially. Cannot you suggest to the girl some way out of her trouble?” It does not appear that there was a response.

After a visit, Grier decided to relocate her practice to Thomasville, GA. She became the first African-American woman to pass the licensing exam in Georgia. The examination board was astonished, but found her “to be thoroughly informed in her profession.” On April 15, 1902 Eliza Grier died a few days after suffering a stroke. She was buried in Charlotte, NC. [Letter from Adella H. Logan to Emily Howland.]