Harriet Rice Explained

Harriet Rice
Birth Date:1866
Birth Place:Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
Death Place:Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Years Active:1891–1958
Profession:Doctor

Harriett Alleyne Rice (1866–1958) was the first African American to graduate from Wellesley College. During World War I, Dr. Rice served with the Service de Santé, the French Medical Corps.[1] She was awarded the Medal of French Gratitude for her medical service.

Early life

Rice was one of four children born to George Addison Rice and Lucinda Webster Rice.[2] The family owned their own home in Newport, Rhode Island. Her father worked as a steamer steward, and her older brother, George Rice II, also became a physician.[3]

Rice graduated from Rogers High School, an integrated public school in Newport, in 1882. She was reportedly the highest scoring student in her class in the subject of Greek.

Career

Rice was the first African-American graduate of Wellesley College in 1887.[4] After attending University of Michigan medical school for a year from 1888 to 1889, she suffered a severe fall and had to return home for treatment.[5] Later, 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.[6] In 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.[7]

She died in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1958 and is buried in Newport's Common Burying Ground.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Lemay . Kate Clarke . Votes for women! a portrait of persistence . Goodier . Susan . Jones . Martha S. . Tetrault . Lisa . 2019 . Princeton University Press . National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution) . 978-0-691-19117-1 . Princeton, New Jersey ; Woodstock, Oxfordshire . on1051137979.
  2. Korr . Mary . Jan 2015 . 100 Years Ago - Dr. Harriet Alleyne Rice of Newport: The struggles of an African-American physician . Rhode Island Medical Journal . 98 . 1 . 74–75 . ProQuest.
  3. Web site: McCarthy . Elizabeth . 2022-12-22 . Who was Harriet Rice? . 2023-08-31 . Jane Addams Hull-House Museum . en-US.
  4. Web site: Dr. Harriet A. Rice . Gilded Age Newport in Color . February 27, 2019 . February 10, 2015.
  5. Web site: December 22, 2022 . Who Was Harriet Rice? . June 20, 2024 . Hull House Museum.
  6. Web site: A Woman of Valor Eyes of Glory . eyesofglory.com . February 27, 2019.
  7. Web site: AMWA . American Medical Women's Association . February 27, 2019.
  8. Web site: History Bytes: Dr. Harriett Alleyne Rice . Newport Historical Society . February 27, 2019 . February 27, 2017.