9781422283288

of blatant sexism and racism—with male doctors refusing to work with her, druggists reluctant to fill prescriptions she had written, and the more blatant among them asserting that her M.D. stood for “mule driver.” In 1869, Crumpler and her husband moved back to

Boston. After her experienc- es in Richmond, she wrote, “I entered into the work with re- newed vigor, practicing out- side, and receiving children in the house for treatment; re- gardless, in a measure, of remu- neration .” Crumpler and her husband moved to Hyde Park, Massa- chusetts, in 1889, and shortly thereafter she retired from the active practice of medicine. That is when she used her notes to write A Book of Medical Discourses . Crumpler died on March 9, 1895. In 1989 two female phy- sicians, Saundra Maass-Rob- inson and Patricia Whitley, founded a professional organi- zation, the Rebecca Lee Society, in her honor. Additionally, the

Crumpler called on her long career as a medical professional to write her book.

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Black Achievement in Science: Medicine