Tufts University: 175 Years of Innovation

Josefa Zaratt, M05, was one of the first known female graduates of the Tufts University School of Medicine, as well as one of the first people of color to graduate from a Tufts institution. An Afro-Latina woman born on March 19, 1871, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zaratt went on to pursue practicing medicine in her homeland, but was denied a license due to bureaucratic hurdles. Upon her return to the U.S., Zaratt worked at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, an institution founded to provide healthcare to the city’s Black residents and provide opportunities for Black medical professionals. Records show Zaratt also exercised her right to vote on August 20, 1920, only two days after the women’s suffrage amendment was ratified.