Emma Wakefield-Paillet

Emma Wakefield-Paillet (November 21, 1868 – August 26, 1946) was an American physician. Wakefield-Paillet was the first African-American woman to graduate from medical school and to practice medicine in Louisiana.[1]

Biography

Wakefield-Paillet was born on November 21, 1868, in New Iberia, Louisiana,[2] the fourth child of Samuel Wakefield and his wife, Amelia Valentine Wakefield.[1] Her father was a state senator from 1877 to 1879, and an older brother, Adolph J. Wakefield, served as Clerk of Court for Iberia Parish between 1884 and 1888.[3][4] The family fled New Iberia not long after her younger brother was lynched and the family home was terrorized by a mob of angry white citizens.[5] They settled in New Orleans.[5]

Wakefield-Paillet graduated from Flint Medical College in 1879, becoming the first black woman to graduate from medical school in Louisiana.[6][3] She earned her license from the Louisiana state medical board that same year.[7] Later, she became the first African American woman in the state to work as a physician, when she opened her own medical practice in New Orleans by 1898.[8] In 1900, she moved to San Francisco, where she was married to Joseph Oscar Paillet.[2] She was licensed to practice medicine in California in 1901.[2] She remained in California for the rest of her life, dying there in 1946.[1]

A play about her life, The Forgotten Healer, by Ed Verdin, was performed in 2018.[9] Also in 2018, a historical marker describing her significance was erected.[2]

References
  1. Hayes, Phebe (30 August 2019). "Emma Wakefield-Paillet, MD". 64 Parishes. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. "Honoring Louisiana's First Black Female Physician". Iberia African American Historical Society Journal. Iberia Travel. 2018-10-02. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  3. "Louisiana's First Black Female Physician Dr. Emma Wakefield~Paillet Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  4. Hayes, Phebe (14 July 2020). "Lettres d'amour: Uncovering History". Iberia African American Historical Society Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  5. Copp, Dan. "Play to spotlight Louisiana's first black woman doctor". Daily Comet. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  6. Rhodes, Desha (2007). A History of Flint Medical College, 1889–1911. iUniverse. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-595-43808-2.
  7. "A Colored Female Physician". The Baltimore Sun. 1897-04-22. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-05-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "A Celebration of N.O. History-Making Women". The Louisiana Weekly. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  9. "The Forgotten Healer". Playwrights' Center. 2018-10-30. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
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