Rebecca Lee Crumpler, First Black Female Physician

Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first Black woman to earn a medical degree and was a true trailblazer in several ways. In her medical practice, she saw that women needed health information about themselves and about their children, so she decided to write the book that was needed. In 1883, A Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts was published. It was the first book for laypeople to address female health and that of their children.

This is a copy of title page of Dr. Crumpler's book written about women and children's health. It was published in 1863.
A book by Dr. Rebecca Crumpler. It was the first book for laypeople about women’s health.

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Early Life

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (1831-1895) was born in Christiana, Delaware, in 1831 to parents (Absolum and Matilda Davis) who were free. For personal reasons, they could not raise Rebecca, so they placed her with an aunt in a small town in Pennsylvania.

The aunt proved to be inspirational to Rebecca. She was the person in town to whom everyone turned for medical help. Healers at that time had no opportunity to attend medical or nursing school, but each woman learned from previous generations how to deliver babies, what to do about burns, cuts, and bad coughs, and what the possibilities were if someone broke a bone.

Rebecca accompanied her aunt on many of her calls. What she oberved gave her the determination to work in a field where she could relieve the suffering of others.

Becoming a Nurse

In 1852, Rebecca Davis (her maiden name) moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she became a nurse. There were no nursing schools at that time, but she had absorbed a great deal of knowledge from her aunt. She was also a quick-learner from the doctors with whom she worked.

Several of the men were so impressed by her skill and instinct that they submitted letters to the New England Female Medical College.(The school was founded in 1848 by Samuel Gregory who saw a need to train women to assist with childbirth.) The letters written on Rebecca’s behalf stated that she was fully qualified to be admitted to the medical school. Up until that time, only white women had attended the Medical College, but the letters about Rebecca Davis were so glowing that she was admitted, making her the first Black woman accepted to a medical school.

This is an illustration of the New England Female Medical College from the 1860s. It is an elegant 2-story building with attic windows poking through the mansard-style roof.
New England Female Medical College

Rebecca Davis began classes in 1860. With the start of the Civil War, the school soon shut down temporarily to permit students and faculty to travel to help take care of the sick and wounded from the war.

Rebecca helped with the war effort, but she had married in the 1850s to a man named Wyatt Lee. Lee became ill with tuberculosis. The disease was rampant in Boston during the war. For many it was a death sentence. Rebecca nursed him through many months of illness, but he died within the year.

The medical college started offering classes again during the war, and Rebecca returned to school, graduating in 1864. She is the first Black woman to become a doctor.

During and After the War

Shortly after the war, Rebecca Davis Lee met Arthur Crumpler, a man who escaped slavery in Virginia. He moved north and worked as a blacksmith in Newton, Massachusetts. It is not know how the two met, but they married in 1865. For a time, they lived in Boston. Arthur may have been a porter or superintendent of a building on Tremont Street. Rebecca Crumpler opened a medical practice in the Black section of Beacon Hill.

As she began to hear stories from the South, she decided she had to help her people. White doctors were not willing to treat Black patients, so the newly freed slaves had no medical care. She described to friends that it would be a “proper field for real missionary work.” She stayed in Virginia for two years, and then returned to Boston to re-open her practice in the city she felt was home.

Arthur did not seem to accompany her on this mission. Though she was gone for almost two years, they were happily reunited when she returned.

Starting a Family

When she returned from Richmond, city directories place Arthur and Rebecca as living on Joy Street. Rebecca Crumpler saw patients from her home, and they paid only what they could.

When she became pregnant, the Crumplers moved to Garden Street. Their daughter, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler, was born in late 1870. At that time, one in every five infants did not survive the first five years of life, and Lizzie must have been among them. Other than the record of her birth, there is no other mention of her.

This is a map that shows the town of Hyde Park. The cemetery is is on the mid-to-lower left of the map.
Vintage map of Hyde Park, Hyde Park Historical Society.

Perhaps as a result of Lizzie’s death, Arthur Crumpler decided that he and Rebecca needed to buy land so they could eventually move out of what was an unhealthy, crowded city. Slowly they began buying parcels, and by the late 1870s, they had the property they needed to build a house. Rebecca was delighted as there was space for a garden. The soil was fertile, so she was able to grow many of the herbs that she used in her medicines.

By 1880, the Crumplers moved to Hyde Park, Massachusetts. The brief descriptions of their life there sounded happy. Arthur Crumpler could not read, but Rebecca enjoyed reading the newspapers to him.

During this time, Dr. Crumpler also began to think about writing down what she knew. Rebecca knew there were no books about women’s health that were written for laypeople. After settling into their new home in Hyde Park, she began work on the book she felt women should have. She based her stories and advice on journals she kept during her years of active practice.

In 1883, Book of Medical Discourses was published. At last, women had a book that provided them with health information about their own bodies as well as their children’s.

Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler continued to practice medicine for as long she lived. She died in 1895 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Arthur Crumper eventually moved back to Boston and attended night school to learn to read and write. He died in 1910, and his story is told here: “Escaped Slave Arthur Crumpler Took Pride in Learning.”

Rebecca Crumpler’s Accomplishments

This is a photo of the original Boston proclamation of Rebecca Crumpler Day, signed by then-mayor Marty Walsh.
The City of Boston issued this certificate deeming February 8, 2021, to be recognized as Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Day.

Though her story was not known for many years, today she is recognized for her groundbreaking achievements.

In 1989, two women physicians founded the Rebecca Lee Society, an organization which supports and promotes black women physicians. Today there is an official Association of Black Women Physicians, and a scholarship is still given in the name of Rebecca Lee.

In addition, the community of Hyde Park realized the Crumplers should be better recognized. Rebecca and her husband Arthur were buried in Fairview Cemetery, but the graves were unmarked. The Friends of the Hyde Park Library and the Hyde Park Historical Society worked together to raise funds for tombstones for both Crumplers.

Donations Big and Small

Many of the donations caome from individuals, but when the dean of Harvard Medcal School heard about the project, he contacted the other medical schools in the area (Boston University, the University of Massachusetts,, and Tufts University), they all contriuted funds so that the Hyde Park project could be completed. They knew it was a fitting tribute to a woman who was a trailblazer in medicine.

In 2020, the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine honored Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler by naming one of their student modules after her. Incoming students are assigned to modules when they start medical school, and part of their education involves learning about the namesakes of their modules. This is another fitting tribute to Rebecca Crumpler.

Discovering Rebecca Crumpler’s Story

Locating information about Crumpler’s life has not been easy for anyone writing about her. She tells something about herself in the introduction to her book, but the rest of the information has come through the dogged research of Anthony W. Neal, an attorney who also writes for the newspaper, the Bay State Banner in Boston, and historian Victoria Gall, with the Hyde Park Friends Society.

A photograph of the new headstones for Rebecca and Arthur Crumpler. The headstones are side-by-side and they are covered with about two inches of snow.
The new headstones with fundraising done by the Friends of the Hyde Park Library and the Hyde Park Historical Society.

Both Neal and Gall separately dug through census records, town directories, school information, and maps, to piece together her story.

Also please note that there are no verified pictures or illustrations of Rebecca Crumpler. On the Internet, a search of her name may reveal of photo, but experts know that these are cases of mistaken identity.

About Arthur Crumpler

Anthony Neal contacted me with some of this new information about Rebecca Crumpler. His story in the Bay State Banner, adds to the understanding of life of African Americans in the northeast in the late 1800s.  I recommend that you read it.

Arthur Crumpler‘s story was brought to my attention by H. Lee Price, a mathematician who became interested in the Crumplers. Thank you, Lee!

In addition, please check out the Lost Women of Science podcast episode featuring Rebecca Crumpler. Victoria Gall with the Hyde Park Friends group was an important part of this production.

This is the back view of Rebecca Crumpler's tombstone where the town honors her for her ceaseless courage, pioneering achievements and historic legay as a physician, author, nurse, missionary and advocate for heatly equity and social justice.

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22 thoughts on “Rebecca Lee Crumpler, First Black Female Physician”

  1. Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born February 8, 1831. She practiced medicine out of her home at 20 Garden Street, not Joy St.(Check the city of Boston directories of 1870 and 1872.) Her husband Arthur Crumpler was not a doctor, he was a blacksmith and then a porter, working at 122 Tremont St. The couple had a daughter, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler, born in December 1870.

  2. Jonathan Davidson

    Is there any evidence that Dr. Crumpler used homeopathy or advocated it in her book?

  3. In his article in the Boston Globe: “Boston’s Oldest Pupil: He’s 74, and He Goes to the Evening School,” The Boston Sunday Globe, April 3, 1898, p. 25, Arthur Crumpler said he was a blacksmith before he moved to Boston. The City of Boston Directory of 1870 lists him as a porter working at 122 Tremont Street. On his daughter Lizzie Sinclair’s birth register, Arthur Crumpler’s occupation, oddly enough, is listed as jeweler. See Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line] (accessed December 27, 2012).

  4. There is a citation from Ancestry.com. U.S., High School Student Lists, 1821-1923 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA, that lists Rebecca Crumpler’s husband Arthur as a physician.

  5. After reading Tony Neal’s article that states all his research, I am inclined to feel that the mix-up was because the “Dr.” of the family was actually the wife. Some people assumed Dr. referred to the husband. I stand by Tony Neal’s research. Thank you for citing the additional source though!

  6. This Article gave me a lot of insight in Rebecca Lee Crumplers life. Although I am a little confused on whether if Rebecca’s husband was a physician or a jeweler

  7. Anthony Neal has done the most extensive research on the couple, and I believe what he has discovered is as accurate as we can get:
    Arthur was a blacksmith before they moved to Boston. He became a porter when they first settled in, and then he must have taken up the jewelry trade later. Here’s Neal’s response:

    In his article in the Boston Globe: “Boston’s Oldest Pupil: He’s 74, and He Goes to the Evening School,” The Boston Sunday Globe, April 3, 1898, p. 25, Arthur Crumpler said he was a blacksmith before he moved to Boston. The City of Boston Directory of 1870 lists him as a porter working at 122 Tremont Street. On his daughter Lizzie Sinclair’s birth register, Arthur Crumpler’s occupation, oddly enough, is listed as jeweler. See Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line] (accessed December 27, 2012). –

  8. How shameful that the generations lose their quality of what is historically pertinent while preparing in school for their futures! This should be known by everyone in the United States.

  9. There is a Fairview, Mass. Someone said there wasn’t.

    Were there not photograph’s taken of students at the medical college?

  10. Because photography was in its infancy, the only early pictures of the school I have seen are sketches of the buildings. There is a photo floating on the Internet that may be Rebecca Lee Crumpler, but right now I have no verification so I have not posted it. Thank you for posting!

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  13. i love this cite even though i have only been on it once it show great facts that i use in everyday life.

  14. Thank you! I write about the things that make me curious, so I’m delighted you are enjoying it.

    Kate

  15. I believe Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in Hyde Park and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery near there. I think her last name at birth was “Davis”; her first husband was “Lee” (who reportedly died while she was still in medical school)and her second husband was “Crumpler”. I would love to see a copy of the reference given by Mr. Neal as to the location of her practice being at 20 Garden Street in the Beacon Hill area of Boston and wonder about the more oft-reported location of Joy Street (also in Beacon Hill). Could both have been correct at different points in time, I wonder?

    The New England Female Medical College supported the homeopathic approach to medicine. After the merger with Boston University, some form of homeopathy was practiced in addition to more “conventional” medical treatments and the homeopathic approach was not fully abandoned, apparently, until after World War I (from what I have read).

  16. Thank you so much for your information. In the last week, I have had one person contact me with some additional information about Arthur as well as Rebecca. I am in the process of documenting Arthur’s story, and over the next month I’m going to re-examine all that I have on Rebecca. I believe Tony Neal checked City Directories, but I will try to trace his path and verify the information he provided.

    I did not know that the New England Female Medical College was homeopathic but that means I need to re-answer one of the people who posted earlier.

    I truly appreciate your interest and added material. I will email you when we have puzzled through this profile again and have verified all that we have thus far.

    It’s wonderful that Rebecca and Arthur Crumpler generate so much interest. I tip my hat to the people they were, and I will try to them full justice.

  17. Pingback: Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895), Physician | My Eclectic Writings

  18. Pingback: Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler MD. – sustainable black girl

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