Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895) is the first Black woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. She received a Doctress of Medicine in 1864 from the New England Female Medical College in Boston’s South End. Born in Delaware, Crumpler was raised in Pennsylvania by an aunt. She came to Charlestown, MA in 1852 where she worked as a nurse. After she received her degree, she married Arthur Crumpler who had escaped slavery in 1862. Dr. Crumpler worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau in post-Civil War Virginia and then returned to Boston and set up a medical practice on Joy Street on Beacon Hill, focusing on women and children and emphasizing nutrition and preventative medicine. By 1880, the Crumplers had moved to Hyde Park. While living here, she wrote one of the first books of medicine written by an African American, A Book of Medical Discourses, published in 1883. Dr. Crumpler died on March 9, 1895 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery. Read more about Crumpler’s life and impact.
