Rebecca Lee Crumpler

A Book of Medical Discourses by Rebecca Lee Crumpler, M.D. Rebecca Lee Crumpler (born Rebecca Davis, February 8, 1831March 9, 1895) was an American physician, nurse and author. She was the first African-American female doctor of medicine, qualifying at the New England Female Medical College in 1864. Crumpler was also one of the first female physician authors in the nineteenth century. In 1883, she published A Book of Medical Discourses. The book has two parts that cover the prevention and cure of infantile bowel complaints, and the life and growth of human beings. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, it focuses on maternal and pediatric medical care and was among the first publications written by an African American on the subject of medicine.

Crumpler graduated from medical college at a time when very few African Americans were permitted to attend medical college or publish books. Crumpler first practiced medicine in Boston, primarily serving poor women and children. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, she moved to Richmond, Virginia, believing treating women and children was an ideal way to perform missionary work. Crumpler worked for the Freedmen's Bureau to provide medical care for freedmen and freedwomen.

Crumpler was subject to "intense racism" and sexism while practicing medicine. During this time, many men believed that a nearly immutable difference in average brain size between men and women explained the difference in social, political, and intellectual attainment. Because of this, many male physicians did not respect Crumpler, and would not approve her prescriptions for patients or listen to her medical opinions.

Crumpler later returned to Boston, where she continued to treat women and children. The Rebecca Lee Pre-Health Society at Syracuse University and the Rebecca Lee Society, one of the first medical societies for African-American women, were named after her. Her Joy Street house in Beacon Hill is a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

Early life and education On February 8, 1831, Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born Rebecca Davis in Christiana, Delaware to Matilda Webber and Absolum Davis. She was raised in Pennsylvania by her aunt who cared for ill townspeople. Her aunt acted as the doctor in her community and had a huge influence on Crumpler's decision to pursue a career in medicine. Crumpler moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1852.

Education Nursing and medical school From 1855 to 1864, Crumpler was employed as a nurse. She was the only African-American student at the school. opportunities increased for women physicians and doctors. Due to her talent, Crumpler was given a recommendation to attend the school by her supervising physician when she was a medical apprentice. However, Crumpler and the many other pioneers are not recognized, nor does "history record them as homeopathic practitioners". (The school closed in 1873 due to financial issues, At the Freedmen's Bureau, she worked under the assistant commissioner, Orlando Brown.)

Education

In 1860, bearing letters of recommendation from her physician-employers, Crumpler was accepted into the elite West Newton English and Classical School in Massachusetts, where she was a "special student in mathematics". Crumpler taught in Wilmington, beginning in 1874 and in New Castle, Delaware, beginning in 1876. from the notes she kept over the course of her medical career. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, Her main desire in presenting this book was to emphasize the "possibilities of prevention". Therefore, she recommended that women should study the mechanisms of human structure before becoming a nurse in order to better enable themselves to protect life. However, Crumpler stated that most nurses did not agree with this and tended to forget that for every ailment, there was a cause and it was within their power to remove it. Although the book was focused on medical advice, Crumpler also ties in autobiographical details that contain political, social, and moral commentary. Specifically in the first chapter, Crumpler gave non-medical advice concerning what age and how a woman should enter into marriage. The chapter also contained advice for both men and women on how to ensure a happy marriage. Crumpler describes the progression of experiences that led her to study and practice medicine in her book:

It may be well to state here that, having been reared by a kind aunt in Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others. Later in life I devoted my time, when best I could, to nursing as a business, serving under different doctors for a period of eight years; most of the time at my adopted home in Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. From these doctors I received letters commending me to the faculty of the New England Female Medical College, whence, four years afterward, I received the degree of Doctress of Medicine.

She wrote, “Parents should hold onto their children, and children should stand by their parents, until the last strand of the silken cord is broken.” This was Wyatt's second marriage, and her first. A year later Wyatt's son, Albert, died at age 7. This tragedy may have motivated Rebecca to begin her study of nursing for the next eight years. Rebecca was a medical student when her husband died of tuberculosis on April 18, 1863. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston.

Dr. Rebecca Lee married Arthur Crumpler in Saint John, New Brunswick on May 24, 1865. Arthur was formerly enslaved and escaped bondage from Southampton County, Virginia. Born in 1824, he was the son of Samuel Crumpler, who was enslaved by Benjamin Crumpler. Arthur lived on the neighboring estate of a large landowner, Robert Adams, with his mother and siblings. When Adams died, his family was sold and nine-year-old Arthur was kept by Robert Adams' son, John Adams of Smithfield, Virginia, after Arthur won a wrestling contest with John on the day of the estate auction. Except for one sister, he never found out the whereabouts of the people who continued enslaving and "purchased" his family members. He served with the Union Army at Fort Monroe, Virginia as a blacksmith, based upon his training and experience. He went to Massachusetts in 1862 and was taken in by Nathaniel Allen, founder of the West Newton English and Classical School, also called the Allen School.

Rebecca and Arthur Crumpler were active members of the Twelfth Baptist Church, where Arthur was a trustee. but as no other records have been found, it is believed the child did not survive infancy.

Crumpler spoke at a funeral service for Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner upon his death in 1874. She read a poem that she had written for him, where "she touchingly alluded to his love for the gifted Emerson." By 1880, the Crumplers moved to Hyde Park, Boston. a Boston Globe article described her as "59 or 60 years of age, tall and straight, with light brown skin and gray hair." About marriage, she said the secret to a successful marriage "is to continue in the careful routine of the courting days, till it becomes well understood between the two." and they are both buried at the nearby Fairview Cemetery. Rebecca and Arthur Crumpler were buried in unmarked graves for 125 years, until July 16, 2020, when granite headstones were donated for their gravesite. The granite stone was the result of a fundraising appeal led by the Friends of the Hyde Park Library.

In 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared March 30 (National Doctors Day) the Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Day.

February 8, 2021, was declared "Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Day" in Boston as part of the 190th anniversary of her birth.

In 2021, poet Jessy Randall honored Crumpler in a poem called "Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831–1895)", published in the Women's Review of Books and reprinted in her 2022 collection Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science.