Growing up in Illinois, Justina Ford was inspired to become a doctor while accompanying her mother, a nurse, on her neighborhood rounds. She attended Hering Medical College, and, along with her husband, the Rev. Dr. John Elijah Ford, moved to Denver in 1902. Due to her race and gender, she was initially denied a medical license in Colorado, and refused entrance into major medical societies. Dr. Ford worked out of a private of practice in Denver’s Five-Points neighborhood and treated mainly minorities who were not allowed in Denver hospitals at the time. Over the course of her career, she delivered over 7,000 babies.
