Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward

Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward (1847-1918), born in Weeksville, was the first African American female doctor in New York State and the third in the United States. She entered New York Medical College for Women when she was 20 years old and graduated in 1870 as valedictorian of her class. She practiced medicine in Brooklyn and Manhattan from 1870 to 1895. During her medical career, she founded the Memorial Hospital for Women and Children and served as the physician for the Brooklyn Home for Aged Color Aged people, one of Weeksville’s many institutions. Her first husband was Reverend William G. McKinney, who became ill and died. Her second husband was Reverend Theophilus Gould Steward. Rev. Steward was the chaplain of the 25th Colored Infantry (known as the Buffalo Soldiers). She traveled to many forts to treated African American soldiers. She also often lectured on women’s rights and the progress of Black women, as well as on issues of public health, nutrition and medicine. She is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn