Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Biography

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831–1895) became the first African American woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, overcoming Civil War–era obstacles in Boston to care for freedpeople and needy families.

Her 1883 work, A Book of Medical Discourses, shared practical wisdom born of years of service, and she is now buried at Fairview Cemetery, a place of quiet reflection.