Joycelyn Elders Official Portrait via Wikimedia Commons
Joycelyn Elders is a pediatrician and public health administrator, known for serving as the Surgeon General of the United States under Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. She was the first African American, second woman, and second person of color to hold the position. A staunch advocate for children, Elders campaigned for better sex education in schools to prevent teen pregnancy and the spreading of infections.
Joycelyn Elders was born Minnie Lee Jones on August 13th, 1933, in Schaal, Arkansas. At school she studied hard and was her class valedictorian. She graduated from Philander Smith College with a degree in Biology in 1952. It was at Philander Smith that Elders’ dream of becoming a physician was sparked after hearing a talk by Dr. Edith Irby Jones, the first African American to attend the University of Arkansas Medical School. Elders had never considered becoming a doctor as a possibility:
I grew up on a farm in a three‑room shack...We didn’t have running water. We didn’t have electricity... No one had health care. There were no health facilities for miles and miles... So, I couldn’t grow up wanting to go into public health, or even wanting to be a doctor, because I’d never even heard of that. You can’t be what you can’t see.[1]
Having set her sights on medicine, Elders joined the Women’s Medical Specialist Corps as a physical therapist in training. Before long, she had enrolled to study at the University of Arkansas Medical School; she was one of only three black students at the time. She earned her medical degree in 1960, before completing a master’s degree in biochemistry.
By 1976, Elders was working full-time as a professor at the University of Arkansas Medical School. She remained there for almost a decade before Bill Clinton (then the Governor of Arkansas) offered her the position of Director of the Arkansas Department of Health. Clinton set three main areas of focus for Elders in the role: preventative healthcare, AIDS, and teen pregnancy.
To address preventative healthcare Elders increased the rate of screenings for infants and immunizations for two year olds by almost twenty-five percent, as well as increasing breast cancer screening rates. She made HIV testing more accessible and implemented counseling services for those affected by positive diagnoses; she also reduced teen pregnancy rates by increasing the accessibility of birth control and advocating for better sex education in schools.
Following her success in office, Clinton appointed her as US Surgeon General when he became president in 1993 despite pressures from conservatives not to give Elders the position. They argued that she was too controversial a choice, owing to her outspoken nature and fierce advocacy of sex education for young people. Ultimately, this controversy led to Clinton’s forcing Elders to resign only a year after appointing her. On why she continued to fight for adequate sex education despite such opposition, Elders said, “We've not even taught our children the very basics. I feel that we have tried ignorance for a very long time and it's time we try education.”[2]
After leaving office, Elders went back to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as a professor of pediatrics and continued to urge for better education to protect the health of young people. In 2016 Elders was inaugurated into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame. Three years later TIME Magazine created a series of new covers celebrating 100 Women of the Year; Elders was featured for 1994.
Despite facing immense pressure to be silent, Joycelyn Elders fought for what she knew to be right. In 2026, her message is no less vital than it was in 1994; she is a health hero for the ages.
[1] https://www.wimlf.org/blog/dr-elders-adm-2025
[2] Cannon, Carl. Clinton Fires Surgeon General [Online] Available https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-12-10-1994344068-story.html. 1994.
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Last edited 7/9/2026 6:13:50 PM
