- Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the United States in 1864, providing medical care to former slaves in Virginia and later tending to the sick in her own private practice in Boston. She published a book of medical advice, the only known medical book written by a 19th century Black woman.
- Jasmine Brown wrote Twice as Hard: The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians from the Civil War to the 21st Century to bring the hidden lives and contributions of outstanding Black female physicians to light.
- When Brown began to pursue a pre-med track, she realized she had never met a Black female physician nor learned about any in school.
- The book profiles nine Black female physicians and their stunning achievements amidst overwhelming obstacles—scarce mentors and financial resources, discrimination in schools, and even for those who graduated at the tops of their classes, few employment opportunities.
- Brown chose the women she wrote about based on having lived at different points over the past 150 years, having retired and having enough information in the archives to give more depth to the story telling.
- Having personal details about the women’s lives, their marriages and children, their emotional struggles was important to Brown to show the full arcs of their careers.
- The connection between the book and the present political moment is the threat that affirmative action will be overturned by the Supreme Court, a decision that could lead to another significant dip in representation in the field of medicine.
- Brown believes that if academic institutions taught more about the history of outstanding Black physicians who have been leaders in the field it could make a difference.
- Brown hopes that her book will inspire more Black people to go into medicine, and will give people within academia insight into barriers to better representation in medicine.
- Black History Month is seen by Brown as a catalyst for broader discussion, and if the book gets into more readers’ hands during this month, it can affect the way they think throughout the rest of the year.
Published February 18, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Kristen French’s original post Where Are the Black Female Doctors?
