Rebecca Lee Crumpler facts for kids

A Book of Medical Discourses (1883) by Rebecca Lee Crumpler, M.D.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler, born Rebecca Davis, (February 8, 1831 – March 9, 1895), was an American physician, nurse and author. She became the first African-American woman to become a doctor of medicine in the United States. In 1883, she published A Book of Medical Discourses. The book was dedicated to nurses and mothers and was among the first publications written by an African American about medicine.

Early life

In 1831, Rebecca Lee Crumpler, born Rebecca Davis was born in Christiana, Delaware to Matilda Webber and Absolum Davis. She was raised in Pennsylvania by her aunt who cared for ill townspeople. She moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1852, where she worked as a nurse.

Nursing and medical school

Crumpler was accepted into the New England Female Medical College in 1860. She won a tuition award from the Wade Scholarship Fund, established by a bequest from local businessman John Wade of Woburn.

New England Female Medical College in 1860

In 1860, due to the heavy demands of medical care for Civil War veterans, there were more opportunities 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. That year, there were 54,543 physicians in the United States, 300 of whom were women. None of them were African Americans, making Rebecca Lee Crumpler the first and only African American physician in her class.

Crumpler graduated from New England Female Medical College in 1864 after having completed three years of coursework, a thesis, and final oral examinations in February 1864. On March 1, 1864, the board of trustees named her a Doctor of Medicine. Married to Wyatt Lee at that time, she was identified as Mrs. Rebecca Lee by the school, where she was the only African American graduate.

Physician

Crumpler first practiced medicine in Boston. She primarily cared for poor African-American women and children. After the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865), she moved to Richmond, Virginia. There, Crumpler worked for the Freedmen's Bureau.

Crumpler lived at a time when very few African Americans were allowed to attend medical college or publish books. She was subject to "intense racism" and sexism while practicing medicine. Many male physicians did not respect Rebecca Lee Crumpler, and would not approve her prescriptions for patients or listen to her medical opinions. Rebecca knew being the first African American woman in this field would be challenging, so she persevered and worked passionately.

Nathaniel Topliff Allen Homestead, where the West Newton English and Classical School was located beginning 1854

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.

A Book of Medical Discourses

In 1883, Crumpler published A Book of Medical Discourses from the notes she kept over the course of her medical career. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, it focused on the medical care of women and children. 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 her primary focus was on the health of women and children, which seemed to be influenced by homeopathy, Crumpler recommended courses of treatment without stating that the treatment was homeopathic. She did not mention that medicine could be harmful, but stated the conventional amount of standard medicine usage.

Her medical book is divided into two sections: in the first part she focuses on preventing and mitigating intestinal problems that can occur around the teething period until the child is about five years of age; the second part mainly focused on the following areas: "life and growth of beings", the beginning of womanhood and the prevention and cure of most of the "distressing complaints" of both sexes. The book also gave non-medical advice regarding what age and how a woman should enter into marriage and how to ensure a happy marriage.

Personal life

Rebecca Davis married Wyatt Lee, a Virginia native who was formerly enslaved, on April 19, 1852. This was Wyatt's second, and her first, marriage. 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 still a medical student when her husband died of tuberculosis on April 18, 1863. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston.

Arthur Crumpler, c.1891

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. He served with the Union Army at Fort Monroe, Virginia as a blacksmith.

The couple were active members of the Twelfth Baptist Church. They had a home at 20 Garden Street in Boston. Their daughter Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler was born in mid-December 1870. By 1880, the Crumplers moved to Hyde Park, Boston.

Death

Rebecca Crumpler died on March 9, 1895, in Fairview, Massachusetts. She and her husband Arthur are both buried at the nearby Fairview Cemetery. Arthur died in May 1910. She and her husband were buried in unmarked graves for 125 years.

On July 16, 2020, a ceremony was held at the Fairview Cemetery to dedicate a gravestone in memory of Rebecca Lee Crumpler and her husband Arthur. The granite stone was the result of a fundraising appeal spearheaded by Vicky Gall, a history buff and president of the Friends of the Hyde Park Library.

Legacy

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

At Syracuse University there is a pre-health club named "The Rebecca Lee Pre-Health Society". This club encourages people of diverse backgrounds to pursue health professions. They offer mentors, workshops, and resources to help members succeed.

Interesting facts about Lee Crumpler

• Crumpler was one of the first female physician authors in the nineteenth century.
• Her aunt acted as the doctor in her community and had a huge influence on her.
• Crumpler worked for the Freedmen's Bureau to provide medical care for freed slaves who were denied care by white physicians.
• She believed treating women and children was an ideal way to perform missionary work. She treated children without much concern for the parents' ability to pay.
• 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.
• Crumpler's Joy Street house (67 Joy Street, Boston) is a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
• Although no photographs or other images of Crumpler survive, a Boston Globe article described her as "a very pleasant and intellectual woman and an indefatigable church worker. Dr. Crumpler is 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".

See also

In Spanish: Rebecca Lee Crumpler para niños