Born in 1847 - died in 1918
Dr. Steward was the first black woman to enter the profession of medicine and be recognized for her successes. Not only did she succeed as a black professional but also as a female.
She graduated from New York Medical School for Women and Children with a focus in homeopathy in 1870. She became the first African-American female physician in New York and only third in the world.
According to Answers.com, “Steward's name is not widely known, but during the 1970s and 1980s, efforts were made to honor her. In 1974, her grandson William S. McKinney succeeded in getting the New York Board of Education to name a Brooklyn junior high school the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Junior High School. During the 1980s, African-American women doctors in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut named their medical society after Steward.”