Rebecca Crumpler was the first Black woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. She also wrote one of the first, if not the first, medical texts by a Black person in the United States.
Research:

Allen, Patrick S. “‘We must attack the system’: The Print Practice of Black ‘Doctresses’.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, Volume 74, Number 4, Winter 2018. https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2018.0023
Boston African American National Historic Site. “Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-rebecca-lee-crumpler.htm
The Boston Globe. “Boston’s Oldest Pupil.” 4/3/1898.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. &quot;Rebecca Lee Crumpler&quot;. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rebecca-Lee-Crumpler. Accessed 7 February 2024.
Cazalet, Sylvain. “New England Female Medical College &amp; New England Hospital for Women and Children.” http://www.homeoint.org/cazalet/histo/newengland.htm 
“The Colored People’s Memorial.” The News Journal. 17 Mar 1874.
Crumpler, Rebecca. “A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts.” Boston : Cashman, Keating, printers. 1883. https://archive.org/details/67521160R.nlm.nih.gov/mode/2up
Granshaw, Michelle. “Georgia E.L. Patton.” Black Past. 12/19/2009. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/patton-georgia-e-l-1864-1900/ 
Gregory, Samuel. “Doctor or Doctress?” Boston, 1868. https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/101183088/PDF/101183088.pdf
Herbison, Matt. “Is that Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler? Misidentification, copyright, and pesky historical details.” Drexel University Legacy Center. 6/2013. https://drexel.edu/legacy-center/blog/overview/2013/june/is-that-dr-rebecca-lee-crumpler-misidentification-copyright-and-pesky-historical-details/
Herwick, Edgar B. III. “The &#39;Doctresses Of Medicine&#39;: The World&#39;s 1st Female Medical School Was Established In Boston.” WGBH. 11/4/2016. https://www.wgbh.org/lifestyle/2016-11-04/the-doctresses-of-medicine-the-worlds-1st-female-medical-school-was-established-in-boston
Janee, Dominique et al. “The U.S.’s First Black Female Physician Cared for Patients from Cradle to Grave.” Scientific American. 11/2/2023. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/americas-first-black-female-physician-cared-for-patients-from-cradle-to-grave/
Klass, Perri. “‘To Mitigate the Afflictions of the Human Race’ — The Legacy of Dr. Rebecca Crumpler.” New England Journal of Medicine. 4/1/2021. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2032451
Laskowski, Amy. “Trailblazing BU Alum Gets a Gravestone 125 Years after Her Death.” Bostonia. 8/7/2020. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/rebecca-lee-crumpler-first-black-female-physician-gets-gravestone-130-after-death/
Markel, Howard. “Celebrating Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first African-American woman physician.” PBS NewsHour. 3/9/2016. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/ce

'Doctress' Rebecca Crumpler

Get Started

Download the App