#Persistence
#Trailblazer #NevertooLate #Health by J.P Miller & Markia Jenai
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born Rebecca Davis in 1831 in Christiana, Delaware to Absolum Davis& Matilda Webber. Her childhood was spent with an aunt in Pennsylvania. Her aunt frequently cared for sick neighbors,Crumpler accompanied her aunt on these trips. In her book, published in 1883, Crumpler wrote these experiences with her aunt inspired her to go into medicine. Crumpler wrote, “Having been reared by a kind aunt in Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, I early conceived a liking for, sought every opportunity to be in a position to relieve the sufferings of others.”
By 1852, Crumpler had moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts to begin her medical career as a nurse. In the early 1850s, there was no formal school where one could become licensed as a nurse (the first one opened in 1873), so she performed her medical duties without any formal education. Crumpler assisted several doctors in the Boston area for eight years. Her life in Massachusetts also included a husband; Crumpler married Wyatt Lee, a Virginia laborer, in 1852 in Charlestown.
In 1860, Crumpler became the first—&only—African American woman accepted to the New England Female Medical College in Boston. The College, established in 1848, was the first to award MD’s to women. It was also unique in that it allowed Crumpler to attend as most medical schools barred all African Americans—both men and women—from attending. Crumpler attended the school on a scholarship from the Wade Scholarship Fund created by Ohio abolitionist Benjamin Wade. Crumpler worked diligently at her studies but had to take a leave of absence after two years to attend to her sick husband. After Wyatt died of tuberculosis in April 1863, Crumpler asked to re-enroll. Some of the faculty expressed worry regarding the amount of time it was taking her to finish her studies and were hesitant to let her come back, but several of the school’s patrons—who were all abolitionists—advocated for Crumpler. On March 1, 1864, Crumpler received a “Doctress of Medicine” from the New England Female Medical College. She was 33 yrs old. She remains the only African American woman to receive a medical degree from the school, since in 1874 it merged with Boston University Medical School. Dr. Crumpler began practicing medicine in Boston. At the time Dr. Crumpler received her degree, there were 54,543 physicians in the country; 270 of them were women—all white—180 were African American men.
In 1865, Dr. Crumpler married Arthur Crumpler in Boston. Arthur was a fugitive slave who had arrived in Boston in 1862 then served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The Crumplers would have one daughter, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler, in 1870, but it is believed she died young. Arthur would go on to work as a porter at West Newton English and Classical School. Arthur was also a student, taking night classes to learn to read & write at age 74. In 1891, the Boston Globe reported these classes made him the oldest student in Boston. Arthur died in 1910.
The Crumplers returned to Boston in the late 1860s where Dr. Crumpler continued practicing medicine. Moving to Beacon Hill, a mainly African American neighborhood at the time, Dr. Crumpler saw patients in and around her house on Joy Street. She treated her patients regardless of their ability to pay. She also treated patients despite her troubles getting prescriptions filled by pharmacists, ridicule from administrators and doctors, and no admitting privileges to local hospitals because of her race. In 1880, the Crumplers moved to the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston where Dr. Crumpler stopped practicing. In 1883, Dr. Crumpler published a book based on journal notes she kept during her years of practice. A Book of Medical Discourses is believed to be the first medical text written by an African American author. It described Dr. Crumpler’s experience as a doctor and covered topics such as maternal and child health, pregnancy, nursing, and teething. Scientific American magazine describes it as the forerunner to the famous What to Expect When You’re Expecting (198-).
Dr.Crumpler died of fibroid tumors on March 9, 1895, at age 64. She was buried in Fairview Cemetery in the Hyde Park neighborhood without a headstone. In 2019, a fund-raising campaign was started to give both Dr. Crumpler & Arthur, who was buried next to her, headstones; 125 years after her death, in 2020, those headstones were installed. Due to her work, Virginia’s governor declared March 30, 2019 “Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Day.” Her Beacon Hill home is now a stop on the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail and one of the first medical communities for African American women is named the Rebecca Lee Society. Today, only 2% of practicing physicians identify as African American women.
There are no surviving pictures of Dr.Crumpler. Her perseverance & dedication to those in need still serves as an inspiration.
En esta página del sitio puede ver el video en línea #Persistence de Duración hora minuto segunda en buena calidad , que subió el usuario MichelleMurff-Pro(LifeMo'Abundantly)&DailyJoyMeal! 21 junio 2023, comparta el enlace con amigos y conocidos, en youtube este video ya ha sido visto 24 veces y le gustó 1 a los espectadores. Disfruta viendo!
