she became a tireless advocate for medical rights and access for the poor,particulary for African Americans who were mostly ignored
by the white medical world.She was born in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania the second of five children,Rebecca was born in into a mulatto family--her ancestry was mix of Europen-& African.She and her siblings-- sisters Sallie & Dora & brothers Hamilton & Joseph received excellent education's allowing them to obtain work other than the domestic service or manual labor fields in which African Americans of that time were employed.She in particular excelled in school.Rebecca attended the prestigious institute for Colored Youth located in Philadelphia (now Cheyney University).Established by open-opened Quakers,the school strived to train African-American youth become teachers and scholars.It was considered one of the most rigorous of the African American schools of the time and its curriculm included Latin,Greek,Mathematics.As a student Rebecca received
a ten dollar for academic excellence,good conduct,and attendance.This was quite a sum in those days and served as a testament to her intellect.
After graduating in 1863,Rebecca briefly worked as a teacher before beginning medical school at the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania(currently subsumed under Drexel University).At this time,the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote was still over half a century away.Medicine,like many scientific fields,had barely opened its doors to women.Elizabeth Blackwell,the first white American
woman to receive an MD in the United States,had so in 1849.Fifteen years later Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African-American woman to graduate from medical school.By enrolling in medical school at this early time,Rebecca was truly a pioneer.In 1867,during the school's fifteenth annual
commencement,Rebecca graduated,becoming the first African American woman to earn her MD from the school.Her senior thesis was titled The Eye and its Appendages.
Shortly after medical school,she moved to New York City and joined the staff of the New York infirmary for
Women and Children,a women-owned,women-run hospital by Elizabeth in 1857.According to Black Women in America:A historical Encyclopedia,Elizabeth described Rebecca as "an intelligent young black physician who peformed her duties with tact and care."In 1866 Elizabeth instituted the Tenement House Service,which according to We
Are Your Sisters:Black women in the 19th Century "was the earliest practical program of medical social service in the United States."The service intended to promote health in overcrowed slums,populated by poor--mainly African-American--people,by sending out a "sanitary vistor" to teach basic hygiene and child care.Rebecca became one of the first "sanitary vistors" in the program and worked in this
capacity for many years.It was a demanding job,considering the rising population of New York City at the time and its attendant in poverty.
Some scholars recall the role of the " with disdain--an example of the white medical
establishment providing little more than rhetoric to the African American community rather than true access to medical treatment.The role of "sanitary vistor" was one that could be fulfilled easily by tosomeone with much less education and skill than Rebecca.A nurse or even a nurses's aide could provide the basic hygienic education
that was the backbone of the service.Whether she was relegated to this role because of her skin color or because she truly desired to provide this service is unclear.It is
known that Rebecca remained in her position for several years.It is also clear the social medicine aspect of the sanitary service appealed to Rebecca's desire to make health care available to everyone,particulary the disenfranchised.
After leaving Elizabeth's hospital,Rebecca landed in Columbia,South Carolina where
she practiced medicine briefly before moving on to Washington,D.C. Rebecca furthered her commitment to social activism by working as
the superintendt of the Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children,an organization that provided basic necessities such as housing and medicine to poor,
homeless African American women and children.Rebecca eventually returned to Philadelphia and established a private medical practice.There along with fellow physician Charlotte Abby,she created the women's Directory," an institution that provided legal and medical aid to poor women and children.
In Philadelphia Rebecca became active in the African American Woman's Club movement that was burgeoning across the nation.These clubs provided African American women with an outlet for social,philanthropic,and political activity at a time when they were doubly ostracized by society--for being African American and women.Many of the clubs of the clubs in this era exist today.Other gave rise to powerful national organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women.At this time,there was a rise in Women's club composed
white women.Many of these clubs were focused on the mounting battle for women's suffrage,others were strictly social.
Because of her prominence as a Dr and as a public advocate for social medicine,Rebecca was sought out by these clubs as a representative of the African American community.She was asked by the all-white Ladies' Centennial Committee of
Philadelphia to form a similar composed of African American women.Rebecca initially agreed and recruited members.When she found out that their work would be limited soley to the African American community,Rebecca wrote to the local newspaper in protest saying that she and her group "resented being placed in a proscribed light" and declaring that her group would "work in common with American Women,not as colored Centennial women."
She often spoke out in public or in writing to protest what she viewed as injustices or ignorances.In another
incident Rebecca wrote a rebuttal to an allegation made by prominent African American scholar W.E.B.Dubois that African Americans were dying of consumption in large numbers because of their ignorance of hygiene.Having worked for many years in poor,overcrowed African-American neighborhoods,Rebecca took issue with W.E.B.
and blamed the high rates in large parts on overcrowding caused by "soul-less landlords."Rebecca practiced for fifty years,few records survive,and only two known photos remain.
No comments:
Post a Comment