Juliann Bluitt Foster (June 14, 1938 – April 17, 2019) was the first African American woman to graduate from dentistry school.
[1] Her mother, Marion Eugenia Hughes, was a first-grade teacher and her father, Stephen Bernard Bluitt Jr., worked as a government payroll clerk.
In a 1988 Chicago Tribune interview, she stated she chose dentistry because she wanted "to do something I could believe in, to be independent, to have a challenge and to do something that was different for a woman.
[4] Aside from her passion for dentistry on her free-time she enjoyed traveling the world, playing golf and spending time with her pets.
[3][6]“Juliann Bluitt inspired me and countless others to pursue our dreams without limitation.”[4] she encouraged other women that look like her to follow in her footsteps of dentistry.
[3] In 1992, Bluitt Foster was elected to serve as president of the Chicago Dental Society for a one-year term, becoming the first woman to hold the position.