Dr Mildred Jefferson Portrait

In 1951 Dr. Mildred Jefferson became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. She later became a surgeon at Boston University Medical Center and a professor of surgery at the university’s medical school.

Dr. Jefferson, a prominent, outspoken opponent of abortion. She had served three terms, from 1975 to 1978, as president of the National Right to Life Committee, a federation of 50 state anti-abortion groups with more than 3,000 chapters nationwide. She had been one of the founders of the committee in the early 1970s. Besides also serving as director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Dr. Jefferson was a founding member of the board and a past president of the Value of Life Committee of Massachusetts and was active in Black Americans for Life.