Mildred Fay Jefferson

Mildred Fay Jefferson (1927-) is an American doctor and activist, born in Texas. Her father was a Methodist minister. Growing up in the Jim Crow era, she nevertheless became the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1951. In addition, she was the first woman in the Boston Surgical Society, the first woman to be a surgical intern at the Boston City Hospital and the first woman to receive the Lantern Award for Patriotism. She has also received 28 honorary degrees.

In spite of all of these accomplishments, however, she is probably best known for her support for the right-to-life movement. She helped found the National Right to Life Committee and served three terms as its president. She is a member of Black Americans for Life and currently lives in Boston, leading the Right to Life Crusade, which is affiliated with the NRLC. She is held in high esteem by Feminists for Life and other pro-life feminists. She has unsuccessfully run as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in Massachusetts. She has expressed her concern about what she believes are hypocritical policies towards minorities and the poor in the Democratic Party.