Famous African American Women in STEM

NAPE developed a handout, Famous African American Women in STEM, that highlights the following African American women who have made significant contributions to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Susan McKinney-Steward (First African American Female MD in NY)
Rebecca Lee Crumpler (First African American Female to Earn an MD)
Mary Eliza Mahoney (First African American Graduate Nurse)
Sarah Boone (Patent Holder for Improved Ironing Board)
Lydia O. Newman (Inventor: Hairbrush with Detachable Brush and Bristles)
Madame C.J. Walker (Born: Sarah Breedlove Walker, Inventor: Straightening Comb and Cosmetics)
May Edward Chinn (First African American Female Intern in Harlem Hospital, Cancer Research)
Ruth Ella Moore (First African American Female PhD in Bacteriology)
Roger Arliner Young (First African American Female Zoologist, Marine Biologist)
Helen Octavia Dickens (First African American Female in the American College of Surgeons)
Dorothy Lavinia Brown (First African American Female Surgeon in the South)
Dorothy McClendon (Microbiology Research, US Army)
Mabel K. Staupers (Desegregation Nurse, US Army)
Jewel Plummer Cobb (PhD Cell Physiology, Melanin Research, Cancer Treatment)
Bessie Blount (Patent Holder for Handicapped Feeding Device)
Jocelyn Elders (US Surgeon General)
Jane Cooke Wright (First African American Female to be Associate Dean of a Medical School and President of the NY Cancer Society)
Alexa Canady (First African American in Neurosurgery)
Mae Carol Jemison (First African American admitted to the Astronaut Training Program)
Patricia Bath (Patent Holder for Laserphacoprobe for Cataracts)
Dale Emeagwali (NTA’s Scientist of the Year in microbiology, molecular biology and biochemistry)