12/04/2025
Henrietta Duterte was more than America’s first African-American funeral home owner and the first American woman to own a mortuary. She was a philanthropist and abolitionist whose business at 838 Lombard Street in Philadelphia was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Learn more about this dynamic woman:
A facilitator for runaway slaves in the underground railroad, Henrietta Duterte also made local and national history in the business of burying the dead.