“H” is for Hawks, Esther Hill (1833-1906). Teacher, physician. A native of New Hampshire, Hawks was committed to women’s rights and abolition. In 1857 she graduated from the New England Female Medical College. When the Civil War broke out, she volunteered to be a nurse for the army, but was refused because she was too young and too attractive. In 1862 Hawks was offered a teaching position with the Freedman’s Aid Society and traveled to the Sea Islands where she taught hundreds of students. In 1863 she joined the staff of the newly established hospital for people of color in Beaufort. In 1865 she relocated to Charleston, organized an orphan house for Black children, and supervised the six hundred students at the city’s Normal School. After the war Esther Hill Hawks eventually settled in Massachusetts.
“H” is for Hawks, Esther Hill (1833-1906)
