Dorothy Boulding Ferebee

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee, Class of 1920 (1898–1980), was an African-American obstetrician, physician, and civil rights activist. After graduating at the top of her class from The English High School (Boston) in 1915, she came to Simmons to pursue a medical secretarial course of study. At Simmons, Boulding Ferebee joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the first collegiate historically African American sisterhood. She went on to study medicine at Tufts University, and in 1927 graduated among the top five students of her class.

Given that Boston’s hospitals were white-dominated, Boulding Ferebee moved to Washington D.C. to take a position at the Black-owned Freedmen’s Hospital (now Howard University Hospital). At Freedmen’s she became an OB/GYN and was a proponent of contraception and sex education. In 1925, Boulding Ferebee joined the faculty of Howard University Medical School. Throughout her life, she was a tireless advocate for Black Americans, women, and girls. As President of the National Council of Negro Women, she fought against racism and misogyny in America. Boulding Ferebee also became involved with UNICEF, the International Council of Women, and the World Health Organization.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and government public records