Harriot Kezia Hunt

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Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health, carved by Edmonia Lewis c. 1871-1872 for Harriot Hunt's grave

Harriot Kezia Hunt (November 9, 1805 – January 2, 1875) was an early female physican.

Hunt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1805, the daughter of Jacob Hunt and Kezia Wentworth Hunt. She and her sister, Sarah Hunt, studied medicine under Elizabeth Mott and Richard Dixon Mott. She was the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School, but was denied entrance in both 1847 and 1850. She worked practicing and as an advocate for the right for women to learn and practice medicine. Much of her career is described in her memoirs, Glances and Glimpses; Or, Fifty Years' Social, Including Twenty Years' Professional Life (Boston: J.P. Jewett and Company, 1856).

She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, near Boston. Her grave marker includes a statue of the Greek goddess of health, Hygeia, carved by the African American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis.

[edit] Sources

• A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography, by Howard Atwood Kelly, published 1912, vol.2 page. 22, at books.google.
• The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, by Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, Joy Dorothy Harvey, published 2000, page 630.
• Article on Harroit Kezia Hunt.
• Article on Elizabeth Mott which mentions Harriot.
• CT11 Boston Women's Heritage Trail marker noting Harriot Kezia Hunt.

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