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Concept
Harriot Kezia Hunt
Summary
Harriot Kezia Hunt (November 9, 1805 January 2, 1875) was an American physician and women's rights activist. She spoke at the first National Women's Rights Conventions, held in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Hunt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1805, the daughter of Joab Hunt and Kezia Wentworth Hunt. She was educated at home by her parents. Hunt's father died in 1827, leaving the family without financial support. Harriot Hunt and her sister, Sarah Hunt, opened a private school in their home in order to be self-sufficient. Though teaching brought in money, Hunt reportedly felt it was not what she wanted to do with her life.
Sarah Hunt soon fell ill and was unable to recover with the treatment offered by conventional doctors. Dr. Richard Dixon Mott was invited to treat Sarah. It was after this that Hunt began studying medicine under Elizabeth Mott and Dr. Mott in 1833. Rather than using the common methods of the time, the Motts used rest and relaxation as well as herbal remedies to help strengthen and cure patients. Hunt benefited greatly through clinical observation while working with Elizabeth Mott, who generally oversaw most of Dr. Mott's female patients. In 1835 Hunt opened her own consulting room, without a medical diploma.
In 1847, Hunt became the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. had recently been made Dean of the school and initially considered accepting her application. He was heavily criticized by the all-male student body as well as the university overseers and other faculty members, and she was asked to withdraw her application. Shortly after Elizabeth Blackwell's graduation from Geneva College in 1849, Hunt applied to Harvard again, but was denied. In the years following Hunt's application and denial, other women continued to be denied as well. It wasn't until 1945 that Harvard Medical School admitted its first class of women in a 10-year trial to measure productivity and accomplishment of women both during and after medical schooling.
Official source
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