Sarah Gertrude Banks

Dr. Sarah A. Gertrude Banks (June 1839 – January 10, 1926) was an American physician and suffragist. She was the second woman physician to practice in Detroit, caring for the upper- and lower-class; one of her patients was Clara Bryant Ford. An avid suffragist and friends with Susan B. Anthony, she earned her M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1873, and also became the resident physician of the Women's Hospital and Foundling's Home (now Hutzel Women's Hospital) in Detroit. In addition, Banks co-founded its Free Dispensary for Women and Children, which provided free medical care and improved staff training. She promoted the first free children's playground with sufficient supervision in that same city, and was among the first women to graduate from her university.

Life and career and William Bassett (d. 1667) on her mother's side, and Joseph Banks on her father's side. Sarah Gertrude Banks' parents, Amanda Bassett Banks and Freeborn Henry Banks, were one of Michigan's early pioneers and in 1833 built their home as part of the Underground Railroad. Her parents had six children. In her childhood, she worked as a farmer and attended her district's school.

Banks later joined the University of Michigan Medical School and eventually completed the two-year curriculum of three courses of lectures, facing sexism along the way. NoteTag|There are conflicting sources on the claim that Banks was a graduate of a class of the University of Michigan's medical school that women were officially allowed in. Some sources say that she was a graduate of the first class, while others say she was a graduate of the second. the American Medical Association, and the Detroit Medical and Library Association of the Michigan State Medical Society.

Banks died on January 10, 1926, due to pneumonia. Banks co-founded the all-women Free Dispensary for Women and Children at the Women's Hospital and Foundling's Home on March 1, 1893. It cared for people for free and helped to improve the staff.

Banks was also close friends with Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw, and attended a celebration of the former's 85th birthday, in which Banks read a poem dedicated to her. In 1912, she advocated for a ballot proposal for letting women vote, which failed, although women's suffrage in Michigan would be established six years later. It was moved from 999 Pontiac Trail, Walled Lake to 239 Common Street, Riley Park that same year to satisfy both parties. The farmhouse underwent renovation in 2021.

Walled Lake Consolidated Schools named one of their new middle schools built in honor of Banks in 1998 located in Wixom, Michigan.

Footnotes