Art, care & community
Rebecca Lee Crumpler
1831–1895

Massachusetts connection
Boston
Crumpler earned a medical degree in Boston in 1864, becoming the first Black woman in the United States to do so. She cared for families and later published a book about health. Her career challenged racist and sexist barriers to medical education.
You can use your device’s reading tools or read with a partner.
Your turn, historian
Find a detail. Build an idea.
- What did this person or group do? Point to a detail in the reading.
- How can making art, teaching, or caring for others change a community?
- What would you like to find out next? Which kind of source could help?
“Rebecca Lee Crumpler mattered because ___. A detail that supports my idea is ___.”
Follow the evidence.
This short reading is an original classroom summary. Open the source with your teacher to check details and learn more.
Read the source: National Park Service ↗Ask: Who made this source? What can it tell us? What might it leave out?