Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (c 1864- 1902) age ~38 yrs

Dr. Elza Anna Grier was born after the Emancipation Proclamation. She was effectively enslaved in that part of North Carolina not occupied by the Union Army. She was emancipated while still an infant. Gier moved to Nashville, Tennessee to study teaching at Fisk University. She alternated every year of studying with working to afford her tuition fees. She enrolled in 1884 and graduated in 1891. Grier was accepted into college in 1893 and once again worked in between periods of studying to support herself. After graduating in 1897, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She applied for a license to practice medicine in Fulton County. Gier, an American physician was the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in the state of Georgia.