Harriot Kezia Hunt was an early female physician.

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

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

, 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

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...

, near Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Her grave marker includes a statue of the Greek goddess of health, Hygeia, carved by the African American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis

Mary Edmonia Lewis was the first African American and Native American woman to gain fame and recognition as a sculptor in the international fine arts world...

.

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.