1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 2: I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 2: I accidentally picked an episode that has a little bit 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 2: of a connection to George Washington Williams, who we just 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 2: talked about. It might not be a direct connection though. 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 2: Today we are talking about Rebecca Crumpler, who started attending 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 2: Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts in eighteen seventies. This 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 2: was right around the time that George Washington Williams was 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 2: pastor there. I did not find confirmation on like the 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 2: exact timeline when she started attending this church, so it's 13 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 2: not totally clear whether they definitely were there at the 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 2: same time, but based on this timeline, it is possible. 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 2: Rebecca Crumpler was the first black woman in the United 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 2: States to earn a medical degree. She also wrote one 17 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 2: of the first, if not the first, medical texts by 18 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 2: a black person in the United States. When she graduated, 19 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 2: the New England Female Medical College was conferring the degree 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 2: Doctress of Medicine, and that title might seem disparaging or 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 2: belittling today, but it's one that she really seems to 22 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 2: have embraced because to her it signified something important about 23 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 2: her work, which we will be talking about. Rebecca Davis 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 2: was born on February eighth, eighteen thirty one, in Christiana, Delaware. 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 2: Her parents were Absolom and Matilda Davis, but Rebecca spent 26 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 2: a lot of her childhood being raised by an aunt 27 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania. Christiana is roughly ten miles from the Pennsylvania border, 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 2: so it is possible that she was still able to 29 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 2: see her parents while she was in her aunt's care. 30 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 2: We don't have much detail about her life, though, it's 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 2: not even clear how long her parents lived after she 32 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,919 Speaker 2: was born or why she was raised by an aunt. 33 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 2: But Delaware was a slave state and Pennsylvania had passed 34 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 2: a gradual Abolition Act in seventeen eighty. The number of 35 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: people enslaved in Pennsylvania had declined after that, so there 36 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 2: were fewer than one hundred remaining by the time Rebecca 37 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 2: was born, so it's possible that her family thought that 38 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 2: Rebecca would be safer in Pennsylvania than in Delaware. At 39 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 2: the same time, black people were still at risk throughout 40 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 2: the United States, even if they were free. The Fugitive 41 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 2: Slave Clause in Article four of the US Constitution specified 42 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 2: that people could not free themselves from bondage in one 43 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 2: state by escaping to another state. The Fugitive Slave Act 44 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 2: of seventeen ninety three created a legal mechanism to enforce 45 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 2: this clause, and the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty, 46 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 2: passed when Rebecca was nineteen, expanded that earlier act and 47 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 2: led to a huge increase in free black people being 48 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 2: kidnapped and enslaved. So it's possible that that was part 49 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 2: of Rebecca's decision to move farther north to Massachusetts in 50 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,959 Speaker 2: the eighteen fifties. By eighteen fifty two, she was working 51 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 2: in Charlestown, which is part of Boston now but at 52 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 2: the time was a separate city. She worked as a nurse, 53 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 2: and her initial nursing training was informal. As Davis would 54 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 2: later write, quote, having been reared by a kind aunt 55 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, 56 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 2: I early conceived a liking for and sought every opportunity 57 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 2: to be in a position to relieve the sufferings of others. 58 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 2: This kind of informal training was not at all unusual. 59 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 2: Nursing had not evolved as a formalized profession yet. There 60 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 2: were not any nursing schools in the US or Europe, 61 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 2: so most people who were working as nurses were learning 62 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 2: from a family member or somebody else in their community. 63 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 2: Rebecca got married on April nineteenth, eighteen fifty two, to 64 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 2: a man named Wyatt Lee. We don't know much about 65 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 2: Wyatt except that he was a laborer born in Prince 66 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 2: George County, Virginia. He had previously been enslaved, and he 67 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 2: had a son named Albert from an earlier marriage. Albert 68 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 2: sadly died at the age of eight of what may 69 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 2: have been some kind of heart failure. That was just 70 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 2: about a year after Rebecca and Wyatt got married. Rebecca 71 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 2: worked as a nurse in Charlestown for about eight years, 72 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 2: and in eighteen sixty some of the doctors she had 73 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: worked for gave her letters of recommendation that she used 74 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 2: to apply to the New England Female Medical College. This 75 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 2: medical school had been founded as Boston Female Medical College 76 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 2: in eighteen forty eight, and it was the first institution 77 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 2: in the United States to formally offer medical training to women. 78 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 2: Its founder, Samuel Gregory was the author of a work 79 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 2: called man Midwhiffery Exposed and Corrected, or the employment of 80 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 2: men to attend women in childbirth and in other delicate circumstances, 81 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 2: shown to be a modern innovation, unnecessary, unnatural, and injurious 82 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 2: to the physical welfare of the community, and pernicious in 83 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 2: its influence on professional and public morality, and the whole 84 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 2: proved by numerous facts in the testimony of the most 85 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,600 Speaker 2: eminent physicians in Boston, New York, and other places, and 86 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 2: the education and employment of midwives recommended. As is obvious 87 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 2: from this very long title, he thought it was indecent 88 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 2: for male doctors to attend women who were giving birth, 89 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 2: and he thought that women should be trained. 90 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: To do it. The Female Medical College initially offered a 91 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: basic midwiffery program, and in eighteen fifty its curriculum expanded 92 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: to include more comprehensive medical training. By that point, Gregory 93 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: had also written letter to ladies in favor of female 94 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: physicians for their own sex. This was a nearly fifty 95 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: page letter that started quote, it is not a recent 96 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: or hastily formed opinion on the part of the writer 97 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: that there ought to be a class of females thoroughly 98 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: educated and qualified to act as medical advisors and professional 99 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: attendance in those departments of practice which relate particularly to 100 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,239 Speaker 1: their own sex. The daughter, the wife, the mother. 101 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 2: Rebecca Lee was accepted into this program, but she had 102 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 2: to put her education on hold for a while to 103 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 2: care for her husband, who had contracted tuberculosis. Wyatt died 104 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 2: in April of eighteen sixty three, and after his death, 105 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 2: Rebecca returned to school. She graduated on February twenty fourth, 106 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty four, with the degree Doctress of Medicine. There 107 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 2: was apparently some hesitation around allowing her to graduate. Tracy 108 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 2: wasn't able to find specifics, so we can't really say 109 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 2: whether she genuinely struggled with the coursework, or whether her 110 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 2: examiner's opinions of her performance were influenced by racism or 111 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 2: some combination of the two. According to a transcript of 112 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 2: the faculty notes, quote, owing to the deficiencies in the 113 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 2: academic education of missus Lee and the slow progress she 114 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 2: has made in her professional studies, we have hesitated very 115 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 2: seriously in recommending her certification. The school did ultimately allow 116 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 2: her to graduate out of deference to the Board of 117 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 2: Trustees and to public feeling. Nothing spells out the details 118 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 2: of that public feeling, but in eighteen sixty four, the 119 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 2: US was well into the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had 120 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 2: issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and Massachusetts had become a focal 121 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 2: point in the fight to abolish slavery. Regarding the title doctress, 122 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty four seems to be the first year that 123 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 2: the school used this title for its graduates, but the 124 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 2: question of what to call women doctors wasn't entirely settled, 125 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 2: and at least in some years, the school conferred the 126 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 2: degree as doctor or as doctress, depending on the preference 127 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 2: of the individual graduate. Rebecca Lee Crumpler later wrote about 128 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 2: it in her own book, making it clear that she 129 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 2: thought doctress was the correct title for her quote, there 130 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 2: can be no more important duties to perform in the 131 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 2: capacity of housekeeping than that of caring for the helpless babe. Women. Doctors, 132 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 2: or more properly speaking, doctresses of medicine, although usually treated 133 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 2: with less courtesy by doctors, are nevertheless by them considered 134 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 2: to be in their proper sphere in the confinement room 135 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 2: and nursery. While I feel under no obligations to them 136 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 2: for their charity. I must admit their honesty and truthfulness 137 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 2: in the matter, For surely women cannot fill a single 138 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 2: position in the world so freighted with material out of 139 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,359 Speaker 2: which the moral and physical condition of humanity can be affected, 140 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 2: either for good or evil. 141 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: Graduating from the New England Female Medical College made Rebecca 142 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: Lee the first black woman in the US to earn 143 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: an MD. At that point, there were about fifty four 144 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: thousand doctors in the United States, and only about three 145 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: hundred of those were women, and only one black woman. 146 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 1: She wasn't the United States first black doctor, though that's 147 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: typically recognized as James Durham, who is on my list 148 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: for an episode if I can find enough information. Durham 149 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: didn't have a formal medical degree, though he was enslaved 150 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: from birth and learned medicine from the doctors who enslaved him. 151 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: Durham's work as a doctor attracted the attention of doctor 152 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: Benjamin Rush, who was so impressed with it that he 153 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: read a paper Durham wrote on diphtheria before the College 154 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: of Physicians of Pennsylvania. The first black person from the 155 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: United States to earn a medical degree was James McCune 156 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: Smith in eighteen thirty seven, although he earned that degree 157 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: in Scotland because US medical schools wouldn't admit him because 158 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: of his race. The first black American to earn an 159 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: MD from a US institution was David J. Peck, who 160 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: graduated from Rush Medical College, Chicago in eighteen forty seven. 161 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: We will talk more about Rebecca Crumpler's life after we 162 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: pause for a sponsor break. After graduating from the New 163 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: England Female Medical College as a doctress of medicine, Rebecca 164 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: Lee went to Canada to gain some more experience in 165 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: Saint Johns d Brunswick. On May twenty fourth, eighteen sixty five, 166 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: she married Arthur Crumpler. 167 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 2: Arthur was a blacksmith. He had been enslaved in Virginia 168 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 2: and had been hired out to somebody in that trade. Eventually, 169 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 2: Arthur had been set up with a shop of his own, 170 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 2: which of course still belonged to his enslaver, but he 171 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 2: had escaped at the start of the Civil War. 172 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: Arthur initially wound up at Fort Monroe, which we have 173 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: taught talked about on the show before. Fort Monroe was 174 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: the only federal fort in the Upper South to remain 175 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,199 Speaker 1: under the control of the United States for the duration 176 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: of the war. It was under the command of Major 177 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: General Benjamin Franklin Butler, that is, the person who declared 178 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: three men who had liberated themselves from slavery and escaped 179 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,719 Speaker 1: to the fort in eighteen sixty one to be contraband 180 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,319 Speaker 1: of war. The term contraband came to describe enslaved people 181 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: who escaped to US territory or were captured by the 182 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: US army, and the United States eventually established contraband camps 183 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: all over the territory that it controlled. Our episode on 184 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: these camps was a Saturday Classic in February of twenty 185 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:42,439 Speaker 1: twenty three. 186 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,680 Speaker 2: Eventually, Rebecca and Arthur made their way back to Boston, 187 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 2: but soon after the Civil War ended, Rebecca saw a 188 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 2: need for her skills in Virginia, and her words quote 189 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 2: on my return after the close of the Confederate War, 190 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 2: my mind centered upon Richmond, the capital city of Virginia, 191 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 2: as the proper field for real missionary work, and one 192 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 2: that would present ample opportunities to become acquainted with the 193 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 2: diseases of women and children. During my stay there, nearly 194 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 2: every hour was improved in that sphere of labor. The 195 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 2: last quarter of the year eighteen sixty six, I was enabled, 196 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 2: through the agency of the Bureau under General Brown, to 197 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 2: have access each day to a very large number of 198 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 2: the indigent and others of different classes, and a population 199 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 2: of over thirty thousand colored So that Bureau, of course 200 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 2: was the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, better 201 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 2: known as the Freedman's Bureau. 202 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: In about eighteen sixty nine, Crumpler went back to Boston, 203 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: where she lived and practiced medicine on the north slope 204 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: of Beacon Hill, the same neighborhood as Kitty Knox, who 205 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: we talked about on the show last year, whose family 206 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: moved there a little more than ten years later. In Boston, 207 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: Crumpler quote entered into the work with renewed vigor, practicing 208 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: outside and receiving children in the house for treatment. In 209 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy, Rebecca and Arthur had a daughter, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler, 210 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: but she doesn't appear in later historical records, and it's 211 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: possible that she died in childhood. 212 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 2: Around this time, New England Female Medical College, where she'd graduated, 213 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 2: fell into financial difficulties. A major fire in eighteen seventy two, 214 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 2: destroyed a huge part of Boston's financial district and a 215 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 2: number of businesses and warehouses. This was financially devastating for 216 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 2: some of the investors who had been keeping the school afloat. 217 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 2: The school's founder, doctor Samuel Gregory, also died of tuberculosis 218 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 2: that same year. The school started looking for options that 219 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 2: would allow it to stay open, ultimately merging with Boston University. 220 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 2: BU took on the medical college's debts, and the medical 221 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 2: school started also enrolling men, which made this the first 222 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 2: accredited co educational medical school in the US. It is 223 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 2: now Austin University Chobanian and Avidesian School of Medicine. In 224 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 2: the eighteen seventies, Crumpler worked with an organization of ladies 225 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 2: to help care for sick women and children in Boston 226 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 2: and to offer affordable boarding to the children of working women. 227 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 2: Her medical practice also focused on the care and treatment 228 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 2: of women and children at a time when the fields 229 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,680 Speaker 2: of obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics were in their infancy and 230 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 2: largely being dominated by male doctors. During these years, the 231 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 2: Crumplers also started attending Twelfth Baptist Church, and they continued 232 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 2: to be active and dedicated members there, even after moving 233 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 2: out of the neighborhood years later. Their move to another 234 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 2: church ultimately followed allegations of impropriety involving the pastor and 235 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 2: an eighteen year old member of the church choir. In 236 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 2: the mid eighteen seventies, Crumpler spent some time outside of 237 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 2: Boston teaching in other communities. When abolitionist and politician Charles 238 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 2: Sumner died in eighteen seventy four, Crumpler was in Woamington, Delaware, 239 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 2: and she read a poem that she had written herself 240 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 2: at a service that was held in his honor at 241 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 2: the city's Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. I wish we had 242 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 2: this poem. To my knowledge, we don't. After returning to 243 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 2: Boston in eighteen seventy five, Crumpler enrolled as a special 244 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 2: student in mathematics at West Newton English and Classical School. 245 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 2: There's a little bit of confusion here. There are some 246 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 2: sources that say that Crumpler attended this school much earlier, 247 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 2: back in the eighteen fifties before going to medical school. 248 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 2: But there's a book of the school's history called an 249 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 2: Illustrated Biographical Catalog of the Principles Teachers and Students of 250 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 2: the West Newton English and Classical School, and that book 251 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 2: gives her first year of enrollment as eighteen seventy five. 252 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 2: It is not impossible that this is some kind of 253 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 2: error and that she really did go to the school 254 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 2: much earlier. But if that eighteen seventy five year is correct, 255 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 2: we don't really know what led her to wanting to 256 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 2: make a special study of math at the aige of 257 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 2: forty four. I'm very curious about all of this. 258 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I get it sometimes you want to learn 259 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: new stuff. But she may have chosen this particular school 260 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: because her husband had become friends with its founder, Nathaniel 261 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: t Allen, after arriving in Boston. According to one account, 262 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: Arthur Crumpler was one of several so called Condra bands 263 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: who were hired in and around West Newton during the 264 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: Civil War, and Alan taught him how to read. That 265 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: same account mentions Rebecca going to the school before medical school, 266 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: and a later interview with Arthur Crumpler suggests he didn't 267 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: know how to read until much later. So all of 268 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: this is pretty unclear in terms of its timeline accuracy. 269 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, it reads like a person's like personal recollection of 270 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 2: the events as they happened, and I don't really know 271 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 2: how much it aligns with what we can document. In 272 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty the Crumpler's move from Beacon Hill to Hyde Park, 273 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 2: which is the neighborhood of Boston today but was at 274 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 2: the time its own operated town several miles south of 275 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 2: the city. She continued to practice medicine, and in eighteen 276 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 2: eighty three she published a book of medical discourses in 277 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 2: two parts. We will be talking about this book more 278 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 2: in just a bit. Rebecca Crumpler seems to have continued 279 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 2: working as a doctor until the end of her life. 280 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 2: In eighteen ninety four, she and her practice were mentioned 281 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 2: in an article in the Boston Globe. This was sort 282 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 2: of a profile of the most prominent people in Boston's 283 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 2: black community, which at that point numbered about ten thousand people. 284 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 2: This write upset of her quote, Doctor Crumpler is the 285 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 2: one woman who, as a physician, made an enviable place 286 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 2: for herself in the ranks of the medical fraternity. Doctor 287 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 2: Crumpler is the author of rather a valuable book, Medical Discourses. 288 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 2: She is a very pleasant and intellectual woman and an 289 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 2: indefatigable church worker. This article also went on to describe 290 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 2: her appearance, as it did for many of the other 291 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 2: women included in the article. The Hyde Park Directory and 292 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 2: Town Register also listed her as a physician and her 293 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 2: husband as a laborer in its eighteen ninety five eighteen 294 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 2: ninety six edition. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler died on March ninth, 295 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 2: eighteen ninety five, at the age of sixty four. Her 296 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 2: cause of death was given as fibroid tumors. She was 297 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 2: buried in Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park. This cemetery had 298 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,880 Speaker 2: been open for just about two years, and a lot 299 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 2: of the people who were buried there, really in its 300 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 2: first couple of decades, didn't have their graves marked in 301 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 2: any way. That was true for Crumpler until very recently, 302 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 2: which is something else that we will be talking about 303 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 2: in a little bit. 304 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,479 Speaker 1: But first we're going to get into detail about her book, 305 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: and we will do that after we pause for a 306 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: sponsor break. 307 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 2: Rebecca Crumpler's A Book of Medical Discourses in two Parts, 308 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 2: published in eighteen eighty three, was one of the first 309 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 2: medical texts by a black person to be published in 310 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 2: the United States, if not the first, and as was 311 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 2: the case. 312 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: With Crumpler's work as a doctor. It was really. 313 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 2: Focused on women and children. Its dedication read quote to mothers, nurses, 314 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 2: and all who may desire to mitigate the afflictions of 315 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,320 Speaker 2: the human race. This book is prayerfully offered. 316 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,919 Speaker 1: She went on to say, quote, indeed, I desire that 317 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: my book shall be as a primary reader in the 318 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: hands of every woman, and yet nonetheless suited to any 319 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: who may be conversant with all branches of medical science. 320 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: If women are permitted to read and reflect for themselves, 321 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: it is hardly possible that they will say it is 322 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: uninteresting to them, or that it should only be read 323 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: by men. 324 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 2: This book was full of health and medical advice, interwoven 325 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 2: with Crumpler's own experiences and anecdotes about things she had 326 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 2: experienced and seen in her nearly two decades of medical practice, 327 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 2: and she allowed this book to stand on its own 328 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,399 Speaker 2: me and her own knowledge and experience, unlike a number 329 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 2: of books on other subjects by black women that were 330 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 2: written in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which were introduced 331 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 2: by white men. She wrote the introduction for this book herself. 332 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:16,680 Speaker 2: She wrote this book at a time when ideas around 333 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 2: sex and gender and gender roles were a lot more 334 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,959 Speaker 2: binary and rigid than they are today. Women were expected 335 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 2: to have and raise children almost without exception, so she 336 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 2: began with her thoughts on marriage as it related to 337 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 2: the health of a couple's future children. In her opinion, 338 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 2: girls should get married at about nineteen or twenty, because 339 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 2: getting married and becoming pregnant before their bodies were mature 340 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 2: led to weekly children. She thought that the same was 341 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,640 Speaker 2: true for women who gave birth and much older ages, 342 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 2: and she thought that men should be between the ages 343 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,320 Speaker 2: of twenty two and twenty five by the time they 344 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 2: took on the responsibility of having a family. From there, 345 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 2: she described how in her experience, the symptoms of early 346 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 2: pregnancy could be mistaken for a cold, but the treatments 347 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 2: for cold symptoms would have no effect if they were 348 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 2: really being caused by pregnancy. She also thought that repeatedly 349 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 2: trying to treat these symptoms could disregulate the body, and 350 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 2: she wrote quotes suffice it to say that too frequent 351 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 2: physicking and over indulgence in intoxicating liquors and tobacco will 352 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 2: cause sickly diminutive offspring, to say nothing of premature births. 353 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 2: A big focus of her work and this book was 354 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,159 Speaker 2: the period of confinement after giving birth, a period that 355 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 2: Crumpler referred. 356 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: To just as the months. This included correct methods for 357 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: bathing newborns. She criticized the use of cold water or 358 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:47,359 Speaker 1: even ice water for stimulating newborn circulation, saying that she 359 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: had seen infants get sick or die after becoming too 360 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: cold from this practice, and she advised that soaps, even 361 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: soaps that were advertised as pure baby soap, were too 362 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: irritating to use on newborn skin. Instead, she recommended using 363 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: clean cloth made of soft linen or cotton, dipped in 364 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: sweet oil or melted lard to gently clean the baby, 365 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: wiping them dry with clean flannel. She also criticized male 366 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: doctors who usually just left as soon as the umbilical 367 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: cord was cut quote for it is not at all 368 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: reasonable to conclude that because a woman is the mother 369 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: of many children, she is an expert in the matter 370 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: of washing and dressing the newborn, or of relieving the 371 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:35,879 Speaker 1: various ailments incidents upon child bearing. Crumpler had strong opinions 372 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: on the uselessness of so called baby medicines during the 373 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: first month of life, writing quote probably the greatest amount 374 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: of mischief arising from the administration of baby teas lies 375 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: in the fact that they are not given with the 376 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: least certainty as to their effect upon the system of 377 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: the child, whether to nourish the blood or physic the bowels. 378 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: She went on to say, quote, it would be well 379 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: to notice that children who are dosed during inna infancy 380 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:05,199 Speaker 1: for every supposed ill, are seldom robust. She also deemed 381 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: patent cough syrups to be unsafe, as was the practice 382 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: of giving a quote weak toddy, meaning diluted alcohol to 383 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,440 Speaker 1: babies to get them to sleep. She offered advice on 384 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: what could be fed to babies if their mothers could 385 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 1: not produce milk, but she criticized the practice of rich 386 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,199 Speaker 1: women hiring wet nurses. Quote A lady of wealth may 387 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: get discouraged and give her babe to the care of another, 388 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 1: whose babe may, in consequence, have to be put in 389 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: some charity house or otherwise to board. Her babe may 390 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: thrive and live, while that of her wet nurse may 391 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: soon pine away and die. No one could avoid distressing 392 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: others unless he strives to the best of his ability 393 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: to bear his own burdens. Some of her writing touched 394 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: on the ideas of public health and disease prevention at 395 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: a time when these fields were just starting to develop. 396 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 1: For example, quote, it is my serious opinion that thoul 397 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: of children die annually in the city of Boston under 398 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: five years of age from diseases brought on through the 399 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: excitement of expecting to go to school. Their early change 400 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,920 Speaker 1: the exposures from actual compulsory attendance. While the system has 401 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: barely recovered from a lengthy prostration and now needing fostering 402 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: at home with regular meals and plenty of toys for amusement. 403 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,680 Speaker 1: Many are the little children of three and a half, 404 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: four and a half, and five years that are still 405 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: getting teeth sent out in the streets to saunter long 406 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,600 Speaker 1: in the chill air of our hill streets to some schoolhouse. 407 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 1: Heaven bless our schools, for they are invaluable. But may 408 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: God change the minds of the people as to such 409 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: early exposures being best for the credit of our commonwealth. 410 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,640 Speaker 1: She's stressed the need for good ventilation, something that came 411 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: up a lot in nineteenth century riding about health and disease. 412 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 2: Quote. Windows can be dropped from the top or a 413 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 2: swinging pane set in the top of the sash. It's 414 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,439 Speaker 2: a very good w way to ventilate or let in 415 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 2: fresh air. So few people that depend on their bodily 416 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 2: strength from day to day stop to think that pure 417 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 2: air is the all essential element, and that without light, 418 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 2: air and sun in their dwellings, the poisonous gases cannot 419 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 2: leave them, but they must sooner or later succumb to them. 420 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: And she acknowledged some of the ways that economic factors 421 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: play a part in all of this, although in a 422 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 1: way that suggests that she thought people could easily resolve 423 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,719 Speaker 1: these issues just by making different choices. She wrote, quote, especially, 424 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: do some of the laboring women of my race appear 425 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: to work under heavy disadvantages. If the family is small, 426 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: they are never through with their work. If it is large, 427 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,959 Speaker 1: there is a double excuse for having no time to rest. 428 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,199 Speaker 1: Yet many real needful things are left undone. I have 429 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: often wondered if such housekeepers, whose own affairs are neglected, 430 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: and in whose homes things go to waste, while they 431 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,160 Speaker 1: take so much upon them of other people's work, never 432 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: thought of the story of filling a hod at the 433 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: spigot that had no stopper at the bung our thoughts 434 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: were similar when it came to men who had to 435 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: work too hard to make ends meet. 436 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 2: Quote. So with our men who labor hard, they are 437 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 2: anxious to keep the wolf from the door, and they 438 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,960 Speaker 2: thoughtlessly rise in the morning, go to work, perhaps without breakfast, 439 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 2: working for hours in a condition for odors contagious or 440 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,680 Speaker 2: otherwise to affect the system. Thus the liabilities to colds 441 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 2: and the vital organs, which may go on for years 442 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:33,119 Speaker 2: gradually undermining the general health, or may, as frequently happens, 443 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 2: develop in lung fever and consequent shattered constitution. The laboring 444 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 2: men of my race, generally speaking, take much better care 445 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 2: of the horses entrusted to their care than they do 446 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 2: of their own health. Were men just as particular about 447 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 2: what they themselves eat and drink, and how they dress 448 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 2: and sleep, the deaths of young men of thirty and 449 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,400 Speaker 2: forty years would not be so common. Those who are 450 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 2: not careful of their health die early in this climate, 451 00:26:58,359 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 2: and their offspring die early. 452 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: Crumpler's book was arranged in two parts, and the second 453 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:08,399 Speaker 1: included more general advice, so things like relief for menstruation 454 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: pain recommended warm compresses rather than alcohol, or narcotics. She 455 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: had this to say about menopause quote avoid overheated rooms 456 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: or exciting scenes. Keep the bowels free without severe physic 457 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: use coarse plain food, Drink very little of fluids, avoid spices, stimulants, 458 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: and secure cheerful exercise for the mind with an abundance 459 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: of outdoor scenery. Cultivate a love for the gifts of 460 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: our heavenly Father. Seek to do good for those who 461 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,680 Speaker 1: are worse off than yourself, and all will come out right. 462 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 2: She also offered information on anatomy, with suggested treatments for 463 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:52,199 Speaker 2: things like rheumatism, soft bones, hemorrhoids, colds, bronchitis, burns, and 464 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 2: sore throats. A lot of her advice was just really 465 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 2: straightforward and no nonsense, like here is her entry on 466 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 2: some common foot problem. 467 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: Quote. 468 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 2: Corns or callous whether on the feet of children or adults, 469 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 2: come from wearing shoes that are too short and too 470 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 2: wide or otherwise ill suited, the friction of which, when 471 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 2: walking creates festers, the matter of which dries and becomes 472 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 2: a corn. Treatment remove the cause, keep the feet clean 473 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 2: and comfortably clad. And she ended the book with a 474 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:27,160 Speaker 2: recipe formula for making doctor Crumpler's vegetable alternative, and here 475 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 2: is how the recipe goes. Take of fresh Indian posy 476 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 2: and water pepper herbs each one ounce white pine bark 477 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 2: or tops one half ounce pourhound herb one fourth simmer 478 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 2: in two quarts of water in a covered vessel four 479 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 2: or five hours. Have three pints when strained. Then add 480 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 2: two and one half pounds of loaf sugar. Boil briskly 481 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 2: to a clear, thick syrup, Pour out and stir. 482 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: In while hot. One teaspoon of pulverized mandrake root, strain 483 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: again through a fine cloth, and when cold, bottle and 484 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: keep in a cool, dark place. If petophill in the 485 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: concentrated mandrake is used, which I prefer, only one half 486 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: teaspoonful is required to a quart of syrup. Dose for 487 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: an adult from one half to two thirds of a 488 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: small wineglassful once a day while resting. Dose for small 489 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: children in case of bloating worms cough from half to 490 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: a whole teaspoonful at bedtime for a short while good 491 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: to remove old colds from continued exposure, morbid craving for tobacco, 492 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 1: alcoholic beverages, or other blood poisoning idols, for which the 493 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: dose is one teaspoonful in a glass of cold water. 494 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: At every inclination to drink, chew, or smoke. 495 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 2: After this recipe, she noted, quote, perseverance will ensure success. 496 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 2: No remedy should be continued after relief is obtained. Too 497 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 2: much physicking impoverishes the blood. 498 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: As we said early. Rebecca Crumpler's grave at Fairview Cemetery 499 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,400 Speaker 1: in hyde Park was initially unmarked, and that was true 500 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: of many of the other early burials in that part 501 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: of the cemetery, including that of her husband, Arthur, who 502 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: died in nineteen ten. But both their grave sites were 503 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: marked in twenty twenty after a fundraising effort led by 504 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: the Friends of the Hyde Park Library under president Vicky Gall. 505 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: The podcast Hub History has an episode titled doctor Rebecca 506 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: Crumpler Forgotten No Longer that came out in August of 507 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and it includes audio from the ceremony after 508 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: these gravestones were installed. 509 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 2: Their markers have their names and the years of their 510 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 2: births and deaths on the front, and Rebecca's also says 511 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 2: quote the first black woman to earn a medical degree 512 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 2: in the US eighteen sixty four and then they have 513 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 2: additional inscriptions on the back. Rebecca's reads quote. The community 514 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 2: and the Commonwealth's four Medical Schools honored doctor Rebecca Crumpler 515 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 2: for her ceaseless courage, pioneering achievements, and his historic legacy. 516 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 2: Is a physician, author, nurse, missionary, an advocate for health 517 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 2: equity and social justice. And Arthur says quote enslaved at birth, 518 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 2: escaped to freedom, man of faith, Boston's oldest pupil Boston Globe, 519 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 2: April third, eighteen ninety eight. That Boston's oldest pupil is 520 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 2: a reference to an article about his taking night classes 521 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,920 Speaker 2: at the age of seventy four. Since he had been 522 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,719 Speaker 2: enslaved from birth, he hadn't been taught to read as 523 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 2: a child. That was illegal. Later on, he'd. 524 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: Tried to teach himself, but he didn't get very far, 525 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: and he struggled with a later effort to take classes 526 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: because he had difficulty with his eyesight. Rebecca had done 527 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: most of his reading and writing for him during their marriage, 528 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: but when she died in eighteen ninety five, he wanted 529 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: to learn for himself. Also today, Rebecca Crumpler's Beacon Hill 530 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: home is a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. 531 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: It is not currently a stop on the Black Heritage Trail, 532 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 1: although that trail does go directly past it on the 533 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: other side of the street. Also is a couple of 534 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 1: final notes. There is another Rebecca who is sometimes described 535 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: as the first black woman to earn an MD in 536 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: the United States. That is Rebecca Cole. She earned her 537 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: MD from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in eighteen 538 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,959 Speaker 1: sixty seven, three years after Rebecca Crumpler earned the degree 539 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: of Doctress of Medicine. And there are no known pictures 540 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,959 Speaker 1: of Rebecca Crumpler, but there's a lot of stuff on 541 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: the Internet that is accompanied by photos that are purportedly 542 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: of her. There are a couple of photos that just 543 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: don't have clear documentation of who they depict, and it 544 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: is not impossible that they could be of Rebecca Crumpler, 545 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: but we really do not know. The vast majority of 546 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: these photos that show up online, though, are of other 547 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 1: black women whose identities we do know. One of the 548 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: most commonly used photos is really Mary Eliza Mahoney, who 549 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: was the first black woman known to go through formal 550 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: training as a nurse in the US. She lived in 551 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: Boston and worked at the New England Hospital for Women 552 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: and Children. The hospital was founded in eighteen sixty two 553 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: with only women on its full time staff, and it 554 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,760 Speaker 1: eventually opened the first nursing school in the US. Mahoney 555 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: graduated from that program in eighteen seventy nine. 556 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 2: Another commonly used photo is really of Georgia E. L. 557 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,200 Speaker 2: Patton Washington, who went to Maheri Medical College and became 558 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 2: the second woman to graduate from there. She was the 559 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 2: first black woman to be licensed as both a doctor 560 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 2: and a surgeon in the state of Tennessee. And lastly, 561 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 2: there's an image of a medal or a coin stamped 562 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 2: with doctor Rebecca Lee eighteen thirty three. This seems to 563 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 2: have come from a set of commemorative coins commissioned or 564 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 2: created by Sun Oil Company as part of an award 565 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 2: named for doctor Charles Drew, who we've covered on. 566 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 1: The show before. It's likely that this illustration is really 567 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: just meant to represent the idea of a black woman 568 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: doctor from the eighteen thirties. It's unclear what the year 569 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty three is meant to signify, since that is 570 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: not her birth year and it is also not the 571 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: year that she became a doctor. So there's some mysteries 572 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 1: or perhaps just errors in the striking of that coin. 573 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,399 Speaker 1: I had a hard time finding like concrete information about these, 574 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: like who else was in the coins? I don't know. 575 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 2: If I had went down a deeper rabbit hole on 576 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 2: that I might have found more about it. But yeah, 577 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,160 Speaker 2: no pictures of her. Do you have listener mail? I 578 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 2: do have a little listener mail. Yes, this listener mail 579 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 2: is from Thomas and Thomas. This is actually from I 580 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 2: guess not that long ago. I've had it flagged to 581 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 2: read for a while, but Thomas, rot High, Holly and 582 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 2: Tracy writing in because it felt like the latest Unearthed 583 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 2: was full of things you put in for me. My 584 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 2: old University York, England got a mention, and someone I 585 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 2: remember from the archaeology department as well as my hometown 586 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 2: of Kings Lynn. I get why you don't get the 587 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:13,719 Speaker 2: fuss about Shakespeare's floorboards. Ah, It's mainly a tactic to 588 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 2: raise the profile of what we usually called the guildhall. 589 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 2: Our other medieval guildhall became the town Hall because the 590 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 2: floor Shakespeare was on gets way more publicity than fifteenth 591 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 2: century wood floor. He needs so much upkeep and is 592 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,920 Speaker 2: in a town rammed with historic buildings, so we need 593 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 2: a lot of outside help to keep our treasures for 594 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 2: the future generations. So we will at times be a 595 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 2: little absurd for attention. It's a lovely building. I've been 596 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 2: on the stage of a few times in concerts, mad 597 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 2: but delightful in the best way. Although today it is 598 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 2: again a theater. It was rescued by Lady Fermoy. Viewers 599 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,720 Speaker 2: of the Crown will know her as Princess Diana's aunt 600 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 2: and the Queen Mother's lady in waiting. She made our 601 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,280 Speaker 2: town's welfare her cause, and among her achievements were getting 602 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 2: the Guildhall restored in the nineteen fifties. It was a garage, 603 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,880 Speaker 2: starting the town festival and funding the mental health hospital, 604 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 2: with all the royals taking the first subscription to causes. 605 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 2: She encouraged everyone wanted their name up there alongside the 606 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,280 Speaker 2: royal names, as per the seat sponsor chart. 607 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:20,880 Speaker 1: Still in the Guildhall. 608 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:26,239 Speaker 2: There's a little bit more about Lynn which locals don't use. 609 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 2: The King's part in the name, and there's a shout 610 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:36,440 Speaker 2: out to the Museum of Methodism and John Wesley's House 611 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 2: and grave in London. Since I have no pets to 612 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 2: pay pet tax with. I include some graves from Pickering 613 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,280 Speaker 2: Church in Yorkshire, England. It was common on medieval tombs 614 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,719 Speaker 2: to include faithful pets or lions at people's feet, as 615 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 2: well as some maybe turn of the last millennium gravestones, 616 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,200 Speaker 2: all on display in a charming town church where I 617 00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 2: spent Christmas. Keep up the amazing work. I've been listening 618 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 2: for years and the quality has remained constant. All the 619 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 2: best Thomas and yet so these are just an assortment 620 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 2: of grave sentence, which we have said. We love pictures 621 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 2: of all kinds of things. So I love this. Thank 622 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 2: you so much for this, and for sort of a 623 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:22,080 Speaker 2: little behind the scenes about that possible Shakespeare floor. Holly 624 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 2: is still so obviously delighted by that whole thing. I am, 625 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,439 Speaker 2: and I don't mean to like there's no condescension here. 626 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 2: I just think it's funny. It's like the funniest oddest thing. 627 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:37,360 Speaker 2: It's like going, this is a famous man's shoelace. 628 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: It's just an odd thing that still has historical significance. 629 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: But it's such you know, the things we would never 630 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 1: think about, you know, like when you're walking through your 631 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,480 Speaker 1: house right now, you don't consider that like one day 632 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:53,360 Speaker 1: someone will be like this child was late in nineteen 633 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,920 Speaker 1: eighty five, Like it's just it's a funny thing. It's 634 00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,840 Speaker 1: the mundane stuff of life that becomes important in that 635 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,720 Speaker 1: to me has its own comedy. Well, thank you again 636 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,439 Speaker 1: for this email, which is from fully a month ago 637 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: and I. 638 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 2: Have finally read. If you would like to send us 639 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,799 Speaker 2: a note about this or any other podcasts or at 640 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,040 Speaker 2: history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. We're on social media 641 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 2: various places at miss in History, including Facebook, Instagram, and 642 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 2: x is still a weird name to me to say, 643 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,800 Speaker 2: And you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio 644 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 2: app and wherever else you'd like to get your podcasts. 645 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 2: Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 646 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,520 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 647 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,680 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.