Women's Struggles to Practice Medicine in Antebellum America: The Troubled Career of Boston Physician Harriot Kezia Hunt

This essay discusses the failed efforts of Boston physician and woman's rights activist Harriot Kezia Hunt to study at Harvard's Medical School in 1847 and 1850. It explores the fractious and gendered nature of medicine in antebellum America and concerns about professionalism, gender roles, student retention, and interracial mixing at Harvard.