author
Matilda A. Evans
1866–1935
A pioneering physician in South Carolina, she opened doors for Black women in medicine while fighting to improve health care for children and families. Her life joined medical skill, public health work, and determined community service.
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About the author
Born in Aiken, South Carolina, Matilda Arabella Evans became the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina. She studied at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1897, and built a career at a time when both racism and sexism sharply limited opportunities for Black women in medicine.
In Columbia, she developed a busy medical practice and became known not only as a doctor but also as a public health advocate. She pushed for better care for Black children, carried out health surveys in local schools, and helped inspire a permanent school health examination program in South Carolina.
Evans also founded institutions to serve people who were often excluded from medical care, including the Taylor Lane Hospital and Training School for Nurses and the Columbia Clinic Association. Alongside her medical work, she wrote a biography of her mentor Martha Schofield, showing how deeply she valued education, service, and the chance to lift others as she advanced.