Rice, Harriet Alleyne, 1866 – 1958

Dates:

Birth 1866

Death 1958

Biographical notes:

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. Early life Rice was born in Newport, Rhode Island. Rice graduated from Rogers High School in 1882. Career She was the first African-American graduate of Wellesley College in 1887. After attending University of Michigan medical school for a year from 1888 to 1889, 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. 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. She died in Worcester, MA in 1958 and is buried in Newport's Common Burying Ground.