Background
Hunt, Harriot Kezia was born on November 9, 1805 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Joab and Kezia (Wentworth) Hunt. Practiced medicine (with her sister Sarah) under influence of a Doctor and Mistress Mott, 1835 (advertised themselves as physicians).
Career
Harriot"s sister soon fell ill and was unable to recover with the treatment of conventional doctors. Rather than using the common methods of the time. Mr. and Mistress Mott used rest and relaxation as well as herbal remedies to help strengthen and cure patients.
Harriot benefited greatly through clinical observation while working with Elizabeth Mott.
In 1835 she opened her own consulting room, without a medical diploma. As the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School in 1847, Harriot was denied entrance.
Shortly after Elizabeth Blackwell"s graduation from Geneva College in 1849, Harriot applied again to Harvard, but was once again denied. lieutenant wasn"t until 1945 that Harvard Medical School admitted its first class of women, due to the decreased amount of qualified male applicants as a result of World War ll.
Despite not being accepted to Harvard, Harriot continued to practice medicine.
She became so widely known that in 1853 she received an honorable Doctor of Medicine from the Women"s Medical College of Philadelphia. Throughout her career Harriot worked practicing medicine along with advocating for the right of women to both learn and practice medicine. Much of her career is described in her memoirs, Glances and Glimpses.
Or,Fifty Years" Social, Including Twenty Years" Professional Life (Boston: Justice of the Peace Jewett and Company, 1856).
Her office was at 32 Green Street. She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, near Boston.
Her grave marker includes a statue of the Greek goddess of health, Hygeia, carved by the African American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis. She is commemorated on the Salem Women"s Heritage Trail.