Sarah Loguen Fraser

Sarah Marinda Loguen Fraser
Born Sarah Marinda Loguen
(1850-01-29)January 29, 1850
Syracuse, New York, United States
Died April 9, 1933(1933-04-09) (aged 83)
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Nationality American
Fields Allopathic medicine
Alma mater Syracuse University
Known for First female physician to practice medicine in the Dominican Republic

Sarah Marinda Loguen Fraser, née Loguen, (29 January 1850-9 April 1933) was a physician and pediatrician. Fraser was the daughter of Jermain Wesley Loguen, a noted abolitionist who had escaped slavery.

As her father's house in Syracuse, New York became an important stopping point on the underground railroad, eventually giving shelter to approximately 1,500 escaped slaves as they traveled to safety in Canada, Sarah gained experience from a young age in helping to treat the injuries and illnesses they had suffered as a result of their slavery or escape. She decided to become a physician after seeing a young boy pinned beneath a wagon, vowing "I will never, never see a human being in need of aid again and not be able to help." [1] Her 1873 enrollment in medical school was celebrated by a local Syracuse newspaper which wrote "This is women’s rights in the right direction, and we cordially wish the estimable young lady every success in the pursuit of the profession of her choice."[2]

In 1876, she became the first woman to gain an M.D. from Syracuse University School of Medicine and is believed to be only the fourth African-American woman to become a licensed physician in the United States, the second in New York, and the first to graduate from a coeducational medical school. She went on to intern in pediatrics and obstetrics in Philadelphia and Boston before opening her own practice in Washington, DC.

While she was in Washington, she met, and then in 1882 married, Dr. Charles Fraser, a chemist. She moved to his home in the Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic where she became the country's first female doctor and, as her husband's income was sufficient for the family, she was able to offer free treatment to the poor. By law however, Sarah was only allowed to treat women and children in the Dominican Republic because of her gender.

When her husband died in 1894, Sarah found that the task of managing his pharmacy and plantation as well as trying to continue her medical work was too great. She therefore sold up and returned to the United States with her daughter, Gregoria (born 1883), where she found she was unable to start the private practice she had hoped for or get her daughter into the schools she wished due to the increased discrimination and segregationist policies which had taken hold since the reconstruction period. She took her daughter to a school in Paris and when she returned to America, she practiced pediatric medicine from her home in Syracuse, New York and mentored black midwives. She later moved to Washington DC to be with her sister Amelia.

When Sarah Fraser died in 1933, the Dominican Republic declared a nine-day period of national mourning with flags flown at half-mast. A small park[3] in Syracuse honors the Loguen family while the Child Care Center at Upstate Medical University is named in Sarah’s honor.[4] Dr. Fraser is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.[5]


References

  1. ↑ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2003/02/sarah_loguen_fraser.html
  2. ↑ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2003/02/sarah_loguen_fraser.html
  3. ↑ http://loguenparkassociation.weebly.com/
  4. ↑ http://www.upstate.edu/directions/slc.php
  5. ↑ Dr. Sarah Marinda Loguen Fraser at Find a Grave
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