Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895)

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (nee Davis) was an American physician and author.
She initially trained as a nurse but in 1864 she became the first African-American female doctor of medicine in the USA. She was the only female physician author in the 19th century A Book of Medical Discourses (1883)

She dedicated herself to treating women an children who lived in poverty.
Rebecca treated patients regardless of their ability to pay and often took no money for her work

As a child she excelled in mathematics. In the 1870s she attended the elite West newton English and Classical School in Massachusetts. She taught in Wilmington beginning in 1874 and in New Castle, Delaware beginning in 1876

She married Wyatt Lee, a Virginia native and former slave in 1852. This was his second marriage and his son Albert dies aged just 7. This tragedy motivated her to become a nurse.

She studied nursing for the next 8 years( 1855-64). The doctors and nurses are impressed with her knowledge and skills and encourage her to enroll in medical college. In 1860 she wins a scholarship to train as a doctor at the New England Female Medical College, Boston. She was the first and only African=American physician in her class. (Read Education -Nursing and medical school)

In 1864 she become the first African- American woman to earn a medical degree. That year, because of the US Civil War (1861-5), she lost her funding and then her husband to tuberculosis .

On 24th May 1865 she marries Arthur Crumpler a former fugitive slave. They are both active members of the Twelfth Baptist church where Arthur is a trustee.
They move to Richmond , Virginia. She helps slaves rebuild their lives after slavery. She treated patients who otherwise would not have received medical care.

She was subject to ‘intense racism’ and sexism while practicing medicine. She is shunned by fellow doctors and has problems getting the medication required.

They return to Boston ((1869) where she sets up a medical clinic in a mainly African- American community of Beacon Hill. She treats women and children for free, if they are unable to pay. They stay there until 1880 11 years.

By 1883 they are now living in Hyde Park, New York. She writes her medical journal * A Book of Medical Discourses*(BofMD) it was dedicated to nurses and mothers and focused on the medical care of women and children.(Read BofMD)

Rebecca died in 9th March 1895, aged 64. She overcame a number of obstacles. She was the first African- American to become a doctor in the USA. She was the first African- American to publish a medical book. She is an inspiration for those who follow in her footsteps.

On 16thJuly, 2020 a gravestone, following a ceremony, was finally installed at Fairview Cemetery to mark where Rebecca and Arthur were buried.

Timelines from Black History