James Truman and Jonathon Taft were early supporters of female dentists, helping to women to achieve equality within the field of dentistry. Truman's quaker background may have led to his early support for female dentists. Truman was a professor and dean at Pennslyvania College of Dentistry, where he encouraged female students to attend. He was even quoted to have said, "Let your daughters enter the professions... or anything they can earn a livelihood at...". Taft was another early supporter of female dentists. At the University of Ohio College of Dental Surgery, he was the dean who admitted Lucy Hobbs, the first female dental student. Later as the dean of University of Michigan Dental School, Taft admitted the first female African American dental student, Ida Gray.
