Eliza Ann Grier

Eliza Anna Grier (1864–1902) was an American physician and the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Early life and education Grier was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1864 to Emily and George Washington Grier. Although she was born after the Emancipation Proclamation, she was born enslaved as she resided in the part of North Carolina not occupied by the Union Army. In order to be able to afford her tuition fees, she alternated every year of studying with working; after enrolling in 1884, she graduated in 1891. She was accepted into the college in 1893 and once again worked in between periods of studying to support herself.

Career After graduating from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1897, Grier moved to Atlanta, Georgia and applied for a license to practice medicine in Fulton County, making her the first African American woman to hold a medical license in the state of Georgia.

After graduating from medical school, Grier "struggled to build a private practice," supplementing her income with teaching jobs.

Grier moved to Albany, Georgia, where her brother Richard Edgar Grier, also a physician, worked. She died in 1902, five years after beginning to practice medicine, and was buried in Charlotte, North Carolina.