Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Physician

• Born: February 8, 1831
• Place of Birth: Christiana, Delaware
• Died: March 9, 1895
• Place of Death: Boston, Massachusetts

• Education: New England Female Medical College
• Significance: Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first African American woman to graduate from medical school in the United States. She later practiced medicine and published a book of medical advice.

Background

Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born on February 8, 1831, in Delaware to Absolum and Matilda Davis. At the time that Crumpler was born, many African Americans were born into slavery. However, Crumpler was born free. Still, there was much prejudice against black people in society during the 1800s.

Little is known about Crumpler's early life. One of her aunts raised her in Pennsylvania. Her aunt was known in the community for helping her neighbors, and she frequently cared for people who were sick. According to Crumpler's own book, her aunt was a big influence on her decision to work in the medical field one day.

Crumpler went on to attend the West Newton English and Classical School in Massachusetts. This was a respected private school founded by Nathaniel Topliff Allen, a teacher and philanthropist. After attending West Newton, Crumpler moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1852. There, she worked as a nurse for about eight years, even though she had no formal training.

Medical School and Early Career

In the nineteenth century, few women had graduated from medical school. There was much prejudice against women doctors. Many male physicians believed that women were not physically strong enough to be doctors. Others believed that the subjects physicians had to learn about in school were not appropriate for female audiences, whom they believed to be too sensitive to handle matters of life and death.

In addition, no black women had ever received their medical degrees in the United States. Despite the challenges that faced her, Crumpler applied to the New England Female Medical College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1860. This was the first medical school in the country to offer medical training specifically for women. Crumpler spent four years at the medical college, graduating in 1864 with her "doctress of medicine" degree.

Her graduation marked a major historical milestone. Crumpler became the first black woman in the United States to graduate from medical school. For many years, Crumpler was not recognized as the first black female physician, though. Historians believed that this honor belonged to Dr. Rebecca Cole. Yet, research eventually proved that Crumpler had actually graduated three years before Cole had. Crumpler was also the only African American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College. The school closed in 1873.

The same year she graduated, Crumpler married her husband, Arthur. He had been a slave who escaped from the South through the Underground Railroad before the start of the American Civil War (1861–1865). He eventually became friends with Nathaniel Topliff Allen, who had run the school Crumpler attended as a young woman.

Work as a Doctor

After graduating from medical college, Crumpler practiced in Boston for a time. She served mostly impoverished women and children in her work. By the end of the Civil War, Crumpler had moved to Richmond, Virginia. The defeat of the South during the war led to the freeing of millions of African Americans, who had spent most of their lives in slavery. Crumpler felt that she could help these people, so she began treating thousands of former slaves in Richmond through the Freedmen's Bureau. The government had created this agency to provide aid to millions of African Americans as they transitioned to a life of freedom. Former slaves faced many obstacles, including a lack of jobs and little access to medical care.

Crumpler herself experienced racism and prejudice while living in the South, but she did her best to build a community and provide health care to as many people as possible. Crumpler and her husband moved back to Boston in 1869 after spending four years in Richmond. She continued to practice medicine, focusing on helping the poor people in her neighborhood. Crumpler retired from actively practicing medicine by 1880.

Nevertheless, her interest in helping others remained. Crumpler published a book in 1883 called A Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts. The book provides medical advice for women and children, and it was based on the notes Crumpler took in her journal while she was practicing medicine. Crumpler divides her book into two sections. The first section focuses mostly on common childhood illnesses and complaints up to age five. She focuses the second section on medical issues that affect mostly women in adolescence and adulthood. The book also has an introduction, in which Crumpler briefly discusses early parts of her life, providing historians with some of their only information about the physician's personal journey to practicing medicine. A Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts was important because it was one of the first medical books written by an African American published in the United States.

Impact

When she was alive, Crumpler likely had no idea that she was the first black woman to earn a medical degree. She wanted to help people and believed that training to become a physician was the best way to do this. Although few people originally remembered her accomplishments, researchers were able to confirm her rightful place in history as the first black female doctor in the United States.

Personal Life

Before marrying her husband Arthur Crumpler, Crumpler was married to Wyatt Lee. She and Lee married in 1852. He died in 1863, while Crumpler was in medical school. Crumpler did not have any children. She died on March 9, 1895, at her home in Massachusetts. For more than a century, her body rested in an unknown, unmarked plot in Fairview Cemetery in Boston. Then, in 2019, a group of historians and physicians started a campaign to raise money for grave markers for Crumpler and her husband, who died in 1910. The markers were placed in a ceremony held in July 2020. In addition, a plaque was added to the home at 67 Joy Street, where she lived in Boston. The house is part of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.

Bibliography

Bel Monte, Kathryn I. "Rebecca Lee Crumpler." African-American Heroes & Heroines: 150 True Stories of African-American Heroism. Lifetime Books, 1998, pp. 67–68.

Diaz, Sarah. "Crumpler, Rebecca Davis Lee (1831–1895)." Black Past, www.blackpast.org/aah/crumpler-rebecca-davis-lee-1831-1895. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

"Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler." Changing the Face of Medicine, cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography‗73.html. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Gray, Madison. "Rebecca Lee Crumpler, a Medical Milestone." Time, 12 Jan. 2007, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963424‗1963480‗1963455,00.html. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Markel, Howard. "Celebrating Rebecca Lee Crumpler, First African-American Woman Physician." PBS Newshour, 9 Mar. 2016, www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/celebrating-rebecca-lee-crumpler-first-african-american-physician/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Neal, Anthony W. "Dr. Crumpler: Nation's First African American Woman Physician." Bay State Banner, 5 Sept. 2012, baystatebanner.com/news/2012/sep/05/dr-crumpler-nations-first-african-american-woman/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Shmerler, Cindy. "Overlooked No More: Rebecca Lee Crumpler, Who Battled Prejudice in Medicine." New York Times, 17 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/obituaries/rebecca-lee-crumpler-overlooked.html. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.