(Jefferson County, 1923-1989) In the National Library of Medicine there is the story of a little known woman who helped to change the face of medicine in Kentucky. Dr. Grace Marilyn James began her practice of pediatrics in the city of Louisville in 1953 when city hospitals were segregated by law. Despite the obstacles this overt racism created, Dr. James’ brilliance and tenacity could not be overlooked and she became the first African American woman on the faculty at the University Of Louisville School Of Medicine. She later became the first African American woman to obtain membership in the Jefferson County Medical Society and still weathered more challenges. She faced the double jeopardy of convincing the white physicians that she had earned her status in the medical community as a qualified doctor of medicine, and as a woman she faced critics of black and white male physicians who ridiculed her vision, her outspokenness and her chosen clientele… the poorest children. She went on to found the West Louisville Health Education Program and headed the Council on Urban Education. Dr. James conducted a series of public lectures where she advocated for young African Americans to become physicians and denounced racism, sexism and capitalism in the field of medicine.