Marie B. Lucas

A portrait of Marie B. Lucas, which accompanied an article in The Crisis on her graduation as the only woman in her class at Howard University College of Medicine. Marie Bernadette Lucas ( – February 23, 1935) was an African American physician, one of the earliest women to practice medicine in Washington, D.C.

As a young woman, she worked in public schools in Washington, having studied at the Miner Normal School, a teachers' college for African American students. She married M. Grant Lucas, who at one time was principal of Blanche Kelso Bruce Elementary School and the Wormley School. The couple had one son, in 1907.

Lucas studied medicine at Howard University, a historically Black university, that from its founding accepted both male and female students. While at Howard, she was awarded the George N. Perry prize for her high grades in pediatrics, She graduated with an M.D. in 1914, the only woman to graduate from the program that year, and was subsequently licensed to practice medicine in the District of Columbia. She would go on to practice medicine for twenty years. She worked in the hospital's pediatrics department. She was the founding chairwoman of the Harriet Tubman Branch of the local Red Cross. Later, she was examining physician for the Teachers' Benefit and Annuity Association. She was also involved in the Frelinghuysen University, an education initiative for Black students, as a trustee at the Hannah Stanley Opportunity School, which was within the Frelinghuysen system. Additionally, she was a longtime member of the Public School Community Center Council.