Black Women in Medicine
I hope you have been enjoying the stories we have posted so far of Black Women in America. We have arranged the posts in categories so that you can see how many outstanding black women there are in every walk of life. So far, we have related the stories of scholars and educators, artists, scientists, and inventors. My intent with these posts is to honor these women as well as to raise awareness of their abilities and contributions to our society.
One of the things I like about posting is using the pictures. Nowadays you can go on the web and get pictures and illustrations of people’s accomplishments. For the last post it was great to see the designs and work of the Black female artists. For the inventors, it was enlightening to go to the website of the Patent Office and get excerpts from the women’s own descriptions of their inventions.
We noted the magnificent artistic designs and intelligent inventions from beautiful and creative minds. This should be proof that black women are as equally capable in any area of life as white women, or black or white men. This week we will see that gifted black women made many contributions to the medical field. Their work has resulted in a better life for countless thousands.
There have been many black women who have made contributions in the field of medicine. In the next two posts, we will highlight 5 of them. I will go in somewhat chronological order starting with Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler and Mary Eliza Mahoney this week, since our theme is Black Women Firsts. Dr. Crumpler was the first black woman to receive an M.D. and Mary Mahoney was the first black licensed nurse.
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895) – First Black Woman M.D. in the U.S.
Dr. Crumpler was born Rebecca Davis on February 8, 1831, in Delaware. Her parents were Absolum Davis and Matilda Webber. We don’t have much information about her early years, but she apparently spent much of her time with an aunt in Pennsylvania. This aunt was her role model. Rebecca later wrote a book, A Book of Medical Discourse: In Two Parts (1883)[1] where she says in her introduction:
“Having been reared by a kind aunt in Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to be in a position to, relieve the sufferings of others.” Dr. Crumpler would live out her intentions to care for the underprivileged until her death.
Between 1852 and 1860, Rebecca worked as a nurse in Boston. The doctors she worked with encouraged her to go to the New England Female Medical College. She was a member of the first 12 students to attend and after four years of study received her degree in 1864.
At the time there were only 300 female doctors in the country, out of a total of 54.543 physicians and all of the female doctors were white. We now recognize Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler as the first female black physician in the U.S.
Rebecca married twice. Her first husband, Wyatt Lee passed away in 1863. After her graduation she met and married Dr. Arthur Crumpler. They had one daughter, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler.
In 1865, after the end of the war, Dr. Lee Crumpler worked in Richmond, Virginia for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. This is also known as the “Freedman’s Bureau” and it primarily served to aid freed slaves. She was the only black female doctor employed by the bureau, which was crucial since few white doctors would see black patients.
One of the reasons Dr. Crumpler wrote A Book of Medical Discourse was to aid in fighting the racial discrimination. At that time, white doctors believed that black people were getting sick because they were very different physically from white people. Apart from inherited tendencies, which we know more about now, Dr. Crumpler showed that black and white men and women and children were physically the same. The reason so many blacks were getting sick was because of the social conditions that left black people living in poverty. The answer was to improve living conditions and teach people good habits.
Dr. Crumplers’ other reason for writing the book was to instruct women particularly in how to care for their children. Dr. Crumpler believed that disease could be prevented. Her book dedication reads:
“To mothers, nurses, and all who desire to mitigate the afflictions of the human race, this book is prayerfully offered.” At the end of her introduction she says, “My chief desire in presenting this book is to impress upon somebody’s mind the possibilities of prevention.”
In 1869, Dr. Crumpler went back to Boston, where she lived in a black neighborhood. She treated patients whether they could pay or not. She explained, “At the close of my services in (Richmond), I returned to my former home, Boston, where I entered into the work with renewed vigor, practicing outside and receiving children in the house for treatment; regardless, in a measure, of remuneration.”
Dr. Crumpler served for 25 years in Boston and died there on March 9, 1895, at the age of 64. She had lived up to the missionary heart that she had had since childhood, serving others by relieving their suffering. How wonderful that she is remembered as much for her love and sacrifice as for her accomplishment as the first black female M.D. in the U.S.
Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926)
Mary Eliza Mahoney is noted for becoming the first Black licensed nurse. She was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1845 to freed slaves. She received a good education at the Philips School in Boston, which had been integrated since 1855.
Mary Eliza had known from her teens that she wanted to be a nurse. She pursued her dream by working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children.[2] This hospital was unique because it had an all-woman staff. Mary worked there for 15 years learning many aspects of nursing. With her truly servant’s heart she also cooked and cleaned.
In 1878, when she was 33, Mary enrolled in the newly founded Nursing School at the hospital. The 16-month program was extremely intensive and only 4 of the original 42 students graduated, including Mary. Mary attended lectures while working in the hospital. Finishing the program made her the first African American to obtain a professional license for nursing.
After graduation, Mary thought about public nursing but there was too much discrimination in the medical field. She pursued a career as a private nurse and focused on the care of individual patients. She soon developed a reputation for her bedside manner, efficiency, and gentle care.
Mary became a member of many nurse’s associations including Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (NAAUSC), which later became known as the American Nurses Association (ANA). Because the mainly white members of the NAAUSC were not always welcoming to black nurses, Mary Eliza decided that a group was needed for African American nurses. In 1908, she helped to found the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN). At the NACGN’s first national convention, she gave the opening speech and the members elected her to be the national chaplain and gave her membership for life.
In 1911 and 1912, Mary was the director of the Howard Orphanage Asylum for black children in Kings Park, Long Island, New York. During this time, she championed women’s rights. When the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, Mary was the among the first women to register to vote in Boston.
Mary had worked in her profession for forty years when she retired in early 1920’s. She was afflicted with breast cancer around 1923. After bravely struggling with it she passed away on January 4, 1926. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts.
After her passing recognitions with awards and memorials followed due to Mary’s pioneering spirit. In 1936 the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses founded the Mary Mahoney Award in her honor. This award is given for those who will promote integration in medicine. The award continues to be given today by the American Nurses Association. The AHA further honored Mary. In 1976 the AHA inducted Mary into their Hall of Fame. Because of her efforts in the cause of women’s suffrage, Mary was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York in 1993.
In 1973, Helen S. Miller (who had won the Mahoney Award in 1968) decided to honor Mary with a memorial at her gravesite in Everett. She began a fundraising drive and with the help of many professional and student nurses, Chi Eta Phi (sorority for nurses), and the American Nursing Association, the monument was built in 1973.[3]
[1] Here is a link to A Book of Medical Discourse in Two Parts:
https://archive.org/details/67521160R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n1/mode/2up
Abstract:
“Part first: treating of the cause, prevention, and cure of infantile bowel complaints, from birth to the close of the teething period, or till after the fifth year. Part second: containing miscellaneous information concerning the life and growth of beings, the beginning of womanhood, also the cause, prevention, and cure of many of the most distressing complaints of women, and youth of both sexes.”
[2] This hospital was founded by Marie Zakrzewska to provide a place for women to get proper medical care. Marie’s other goals were to provide competent female doctors for women and children, educate women, and train nurses. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell helped her to become a doctor. See post on Dr. Blackwell from October 7, 2015. https://mylordkatie.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/drs-elizabeth-and-emily-blackwell/
[3] In 1986, Helen published a book, Mary Eliza Mahoney, 1845-1926: America’s First Black Professional Nurse, a Historical Perspective (Wright Publishing Company).
