Myra A. Logan fulfilled the image of the selfless, humanitarian doctor, practicing medicine to serve the community rather than simply to earn money. An urbane, modest person who never lost sight of her civic responsibilities, she is thought to be the first African American woman elected a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and was the first woman to perform open heart surgery. Additionally, her research on antibiotics and breast cancer saved countless lives.

Myra Adele Logan was born in 1908 in Tuskegee, Alabama, the eighth child of Warren and Adella Hunt Logan. She enjoyed a relatively privileged upbringing, for her father was a trustee and treasurer of the prestigious Tuskegee Institute and her mother was a noted activist in health care and the suffrage movement. Booker T. Washington was a neighbor. Education and optimism were in the air of the Logan household, as was an interest in...