In honor of Black History month,

We want to highlight the first African-American female and male dentists in America.

We, at A Child’s Best Smile by Dr. Dennis Dunne, DDS, PC, want to take the opportunity to celebrate and honor the life and achievements of the first African-American female dentist, Ida Gray Nelson Rollins, and the first African-American male dentist, Robert Tanner Freeman, in America.

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins

Ida was the first African-American woman to become a dentist in the United States. At a very young age, she became an orphan when her parents died. Later in her life, she became interested in dentistry when she went to work in the offices of Jonathan Taft, an early advocate for women to learn dentistry. After her apprenticeship in his office, Ida was able to pass the entrance examinations and then attended the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. When she graduated, it was widely published that she was the first African American dentist in the United States and she was promoted as a role model for women to follow. Ida practiced in Ohio before settling in Chicago, where she remained until her death.

Early life
Ida Gray was born on March 4, 1867, in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was an infant when her teenage mother Jenny Gray died. Her father, a white man, had no part in raising her when her mother died. Gray was sent to live with her aunt, Caroline Gray, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She, along with Caroline’s three children – Howard, Susan, and Mary – attended the segregated public schools. Though she worked from an early age as a seamstress, Ida persevered with her schooling and graduated from Gaines High School in 1887.

Career
During her schooling, Ida began working in the offices of Jonathan Taft, an early advocate of women being trained as dentists. He had been the dean of the Ohio College of Dentistry and was recruited by the University of Michigan to help found their first dental school. When he left Ohio to take up the post, Taft kept an office with William Taft in Cincinnati. Ida worked in the office for approximately three years, learning enough to pass the entrance examinations for the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, which she entered on October 1, 1887. Ida graduated in June 1890, becoming the first African-American woman dentist in the United States.

Ida’s accomplishment was widely published and she opened an office at 216 Ninth Street in Cincinnati. In her practice, she serviced both white and black patients and was repeatedly cited in black media as a role model for other women. In 1895, she relocated her practice to Chicago, after marrying James Sanford Nelson in March of that year. He was a naturalized American citizen, originally from Canada, who was a lawyer, captain, and quartermaster for the Illinois National Guard. He later worked for many years as an accountant for the city of Chicago.

As she had in Cincinnati, Ida served both black and white clientele, as well as both adults and children, though her reputation was for her gentleness with children. She inspired one of her patients, Olive M. Henderson, to become the second black woman dentist in Chicago. Though her office relocated several times, Nelson continued to practice until her retirement in 1928.

In addition to her dentistry, Nelson was involved in several clubs and her social activities were widely reported in the black press. She served as vice president of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago, vice president of the Eighth Regiment Ladies’ Auxiliary and was a member of the Phyllis Wheatley Club, a group organized to maintain the only black women’s shelter in Chicago.

Death and legacy
Ida died on May 3, 1953, in Chicago. An annual diversity award given in her name was established by the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. Though no comprehensive work has been done on a biography of Gray Nelson Rollins, she is often cited in works as “an example of achievement and inspiration for others to follow”.
Robert Tanner Freeman

Robert was selected as one of “the first six-persons” to enter Harvard’s Dental Program. He shortly became the first African American to graduate with a dental degree in the United States on March 10, 1869.

Biography
Freeman was born near Washington, D.C. in the year of 1846. He was the son of a carpenter who had bought his family’s freedom then moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. During his late teens, he found and worked for a mentor named Dr.Noble, a white dentist in Washington. Before Freeman was accepted into Harvard University School of Dental Medicine he was rejected by two other institutions because of the color of his skin. Harvard School of Dental Medicine introduced a new faculty with a new unbiased policy towards race, paving the way for racial discrimination in dental schools to be eliminated. Freeman was then accepted after being interviewed by the first dean, Dr.Nathan Cooley Keep alongside five others becoming one of “the first six” to study at Harvard Dental School. In the year 1869 on March 10, Tanner became the first African American to graduate from that school also becoming the first African American awarded a dental degree in the U.S.

Career
Freeman graduated from Harvard Dental School becoming a DMD (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry) by obtaining a dental degree. He then returned to Washington D.C to start off his dental practice where he practiced in the same building as his mentor Dr.Noble. Fours years removed from graduating and practicing professionally, Freeman, unfortunately, contracted a waterborne plague that resulted in his untimely death on June 10, 1873.

Legacy
Freeman’s success was influential in serving his African-American community, he paved the way for a much-needed cultural and political change. Freeman was a pioneer for dentistry for minorities. He was the grandfather of Robert C. Weaver, the first African American to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, serving as Lyndon B. Johnson secretary of Housing & Urban Development.