Nannette Stafford facts for kids

Nannette Stafford (born June 20, 1853 – died May 2, 1933) was an amazing doctor. She was born into slavery but went on to become one of the first Black women to earn a medical degree from Howard University. After her studies, she moved to Europe. There, in 1907, she even started and ran her own medical center!

Early Life and Freedom

Nannette Stafford, also known as Nancy or Nannie, was born into slavery on Cumberland Island, Georgia, on June 20, 1853. Her mother, Juda, was enslaved on the Stafford Plantation. Juda was a nurse on the plantation and taught herself about medicine using plants. Nannette had an older sister named Cornelia.

The Stafford Plantation on Cumberland Island, GA in 1916

During the Civil War, Nannette and Cornelia were secretly taken out of Georgia. In September 1863, they boarded a ship with missionaries going to Fernandina, Florida. This city had recently been taken by the Union army. In Fernandina, the girls went to a school set up by the Army for the families of freed slaves. Missionaries helped the Army provide education and improve living conditions. These schools were special because they had integrated classrooms, meaning Black and white students learned together.

In 1864, the sisters traveled to New York City and then to New Jersey. There, a wealthy and anti-slavery family, George and Eliza Webb, adopted Nannette and Cornelia. The Webb family lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They made sure the girls had a home and an education. In 1870, Nannette was listed in the US Census for the first time at 17 years old. It is believed that Nannette began her medical training with Sarah Webb, the Webb's adult daughter, after Eliza Webb passed away in 1872. Sometimes, Nannette even used the Webb last name on official papers.

Education and Medical Training

During Nannette's time, it was very hard for women to become doctors. Before the Civil War, most women who helped with healthcare were older and didn't have formal training. But during the war, many more women became nurses. This made it even harder for women to get medical education and training because many male doctors didn't want them in the field.

Stafford attended the University of Zurich in Switzerland from 1879 to 1887.

Howard University was one of the first universities to welcome Black students into its medical program. It also had a gender-blind policy, meaning men and women learned in the same classrooms, and women could be professors. Nannette Stafford attended Howard from 1876 to 1878. She graduated in just two years instead of the usual three because she transferred credits from classes she took at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. In 1878, she became one of the first Black women to earn a medical doctorate from Howard University.

Right after graduating, Stafford moved to Osnabrück, Germany, to practice medicine. But she soon moved to Switzerland. In 1879, she enrolled at the University of Zurich for more education, staying until May 5, 1883. Many American medical students went to universities in German-speaking countries during the late 1800s. These universities offered better medical facilities and did not limit education based on gender, unlike in the US. From late 1884 to 1887, Stafford studied in the medical department and even became an assistant to some professors.

While working at the university, she helped with research on typhoid fever. Sadly, she caught the disease herself in 1887 and was paralyzed for many years afterward.

Medical Career

In 1906, when she was 52, Stafford moved back to Germany from Zurich. In 1907, she opened her own medical practice in Bad Dürrheim, a small German town. Her medical center was special because it welcomed sick children and their mothers, which was not common at the time. In 1908, she bought a property called Villa Rheiner and took over managing the entire healthcare facility.

Karoluhaus medical facility in Duerrheim Germany, founded and managed by Stafford.

Nannette Stafford wanted to use homeopathic remedies and the natural hot springs of Dürrheim to help sick people. Her property had three acres of land and a two-story house for patients. Stafford strongly believed in hydrotherapy (water-based treatments). However, these treatments were often too expensive for most people in Dürrheim, even though Germany had expanded healthcare to cover more people.

In the early 1900s, some doctors thought Stafford's treatments were just "vacation therapy" and not very effective. But Dr. Stafford was determined to treat her patients like guests and promoted hydrotherapy. Today, doctors use these types of treatments as alternative therapies for people with long-term health problems. Dr. Stafford's medical facility eventually became a private hospital called Karolushaus. It continued to operate until 2005 when it closed due to economic reasons.

Personal Life

The Washington Post newspaper described Nannette Stafford when she graduated from Howard University:

Dr. NANNIE W. STAFFORD, of Elizabeth, is a deep brunette about 22 years old, tall and imposing in presence, weighing probably 160 pounds, large black eyes and very handsome features. She was dressed in a rich black silk, cut high neck and en traine. Her luxuriant black hair was twisted up and worn in artistic style at the back of the head and ornamented with a pink bon soline rosebud, festooned with a spray of smilax. Button gaiters, No. 2 in size, enclosed her feet, and diamond earrings hung pendant from her ears. Her other ornaments were a handsome gold watch chain and bracelets, and cameo gold encircled finger rings. A rich lace collar, four inches deep, surrounded her neck. Upon receiving her diploma, she was presented with thirteen or fourteen bouquets.

Lost and Found posting by Nannie Stafford in the Evening Star on December 24th, 1877

Stafford married Gustav Arnold Gassmann, who was from Switzerland, in 1887. They had a son named Georg Arnold Gassmann on October 28, 1888, in Zurich. It is thought that Georg was named after George Webb, who had passed away in 1883. Georg later became a doctor in London, England.

Their marriage was difficult. Gustav tried to get control of Stafford's money. In 1889, a judge froze her bank account during a trial. It became clear that Gustav had married Stafford for her money. She was granted a divorce and the right to control her own money in late 1889.

It seems Stafford visited Washington, D.C., in late December 1877, perhaps to see old friends from Howard University. During that visit, she lost a "gold watch and chain" with "Nannie Stafford" engraved on it. She put ads in Evening Star newspaper, asking anyone who found it to return it to "N.S.F. Freedman's Hospital," which is now Howard University Hospital.

In the 1920s, Stafford retired from managing her healthcare center in Germany. She began traveling to England more often to visit her son Georg. She passed away in 1933 at her home in England at 80 years old. Her burial place is not known, but it is believed to be somewhere in London.