02/01/2024
Today is the first day of Black History Month! We want to celebrate by highlighting two pioneers in dentistry: Robert Tanner Freeman and Ida Gray Nelson Rollins.
Robert Tanner Freeman was the first professionally trained Black dentist in the United States who graduated from Havard Dental School's inaugural class in 1869. Him and his classmate George Franklin Grant were the first Black people to be accepted into Havard Dental School. Once becoming a dentist, he devoted his career to mentoring other Black youths interested in the medical profession in the Washington, D.C. community.
Ida Gray Nelson Rollins was the first Black woman in the United States to graduate with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree, making her the first recognized Black woman dentist in the United States. Upon graduating, she opened her own private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio that served patients of all races. She later moved to Chicago, Illinois where she became the first Black person to practice dentistry in Chicago.
