Louisiana's First Black Female Physician
Louisiana's First Black Female Physician Dr. Emma Wakefield~Paillet
(November 21,1868-August 26, 1946)In 1897, Dr. Emma Wakefield became the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in Louisiana. Born and raised in New Iberia to state senator Samuel Wakefield & Amelia Valentine Wakefield, Emma graduated with honors from the medical department of New Orleans University and was licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana and California. She married Joseph Oscar Paillet of Opelousas in San Francisco in 1900.