Susan Smith McKinney Steward, MD
Dr. McKinney- Steward was born in Brooklyn, NY (in 1847). She graduated valedictorian from the New York Medical College for Women in 1870 and was the first African-American woman to ever earn a medical degree in New York state. Dr. McKinney-Steward was the third African American woman to earn a MD in the United States.
She practiced medicine in Brooklyn and Manhattan, specializing in prenatal care and childhood diseases. She founded The Women's Hospital and Dispensary in Brooklyn which later became The Memorial Hospital for Women and Children. Dr. McKinney-Steward was also licensed to practice medicine in Montana and Wyoming.
Dr. McKinney-Steward later joined Wilberforce University in Ohio as a resident physician and faculty member teaching health and nutrition. She was an accomplished public speaker and in 1911 addressed the first Universal Race Congress at the University of London, England, with a presentation “Colored Women in America.”
Dr. McKinney-Steward passed away at the age of 71 (on March 17, 1918) in Brooklyn, NY.
W.E.B. DuBois, notable African-American sociologist / historian and civil rights activist administered her eulogy. Dr. McKinney-Steward is laid to rest in the Green-Wood Cemetery in her native Brooklyn, NY.
Read more: New York Medical College
