Rebecca Cole

The second African American woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., advancing public health for underserved communities.

Dr. Rebecca Cole (1846–1922) broke racial and gender barriers in medicine decades before the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Philadelphia, she graduated from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1867, becoming only the second Black female physician in U.S. history.

Cole co-founded the Women’s Directory Center in 1873, providing medical care and legal aid to poor women and children. She worked alongside Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first white woman medical graduate, in New York’s slums, challenging the era’s racist pseudoscience that blamed health disparities on biology rather than poverty.

Later, Cole ran a Philadelphia orphanage while advocating for sanitation reforms to combat infant mortality. Though her achievements were long overlooked, modern scholars recognize her as a trailblazer in intersectional public health. Her legacy is celebrated at institutions like the Rebecca Cole Pre-Health Society at the University of Pennsylvania.