In Their Own Words: Jessie Gideon Garnett, Boston's First Black Woman Dentist

In the mid 1970s, Jessie Gideon Garnett, Boston's first Black, woman dentist shared her story with the Boston 200 oral history project.

"My uncle lived in Roslindale and we came to live with him. Roslindale was more like country. It wasn't very well built up. His family was the only Black family in Roslindale....and he had a small restaurant. We worked - my mother and sisters - in that restaurant." - Jesse GIdeon Garnett, first Black woman to graduate from Tufts Dental School and the first Black woman to practice dentistry in Boston.

In 1911, young Jessie Gideon moved with her family from Nova Scotia to Boston's Roslindale neighborhood. The Gideon family moved in with Jessie's uncle. Jessie worked in her uncle's restaurant with her mother and sisters. Jessie recalled her years in Roslindale, telling her interviewer, "My uncle lived in Roslindale and we came to live with him. Roslindale was more like country. It wasn't very well built up. His family was the only Black family in Roslindale.... and he had a small restaurant. We worked - my mother and sisters - in that restaurant."

After graduating from Girls High School, Jessie enrolled at Tufts College and then was accepted into the Tufts School of Dentistry. When Jessie arrived at Tufts to start her classes, a dean told her that her acceptance must have been a mistake, and stated, “You’ll have to find your own patients, you know.” Jessie replied, “That will be just fine with me.”

"I had patients that came from New York, that would wait and come here and have their work done. And I had another patient that came from Washington. I had one that came from Washington two years ago and he said he was saving his work for me." Jesse GIdeon Garnett, first Black woman to graduate from Tufts Dental School and the first Black woman to practice dentistry in Boston.

As Jessie recalled in her oral history, after she finished her dental degree, finding patients was not a difficulty. Patients came from as far away as New York City and Washington, D.C. for dental care from Dr. Garnett. "I had patients that came from New York, that would wait and come here and have their work done," Jessie remembered. "And I had another patient that came from Washington. I had one that came from Washington two years ago and he said he was saving his work for me."

"I didn't have any real famous patients, I just had patients who paid me." - Jessie Gideon Garnett, rst Black woman to graduate from Tufts Dental School and the first Black woman to practice dentistry in Boston.

When her interviewer asked Jessie if she ever treated any famous patients, Jessie wryly commented that she didn't have famous patients, just patients who paid her!

To read more of Jessie's story in her own words, take a look at her oral history transcript.