Biography Resource Center

For biography research, use our online databases available free to Richmond Public Library patrons. The Biography Resource Center has full-text articles and images from hundreds of periodicals and reference works. It contains biographies of 320,000 people from around the world and throughout history. To use this research tool, go to the library home page at:

http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
click on Online Databases
click on Findit VA
click on the drop down arrow and select Richmond Public Library (not Richmond County Library)
type in library card number found on back of library card
scroll down and click Biography Resource Center

To read about the first black woman to receive a medical degee in the United States:
search crumpler
click on Crumpler, Rebecca Lee

Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first black woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. She spent her lifetime working to improve the health of
the black community, and described her lifelong sense of vocation in the following words: "I early conceived a liking for and sought every opportunity to relieve the suffering of others."

Rebecca Lee was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1833. She was raised in Pennsylvania by an aunt who spent much of her time attending to the health needs of the local black population. This woman became her first inspiration and prompted her to work as a nurse. ... With recommendations from her employers, Crumpler was accepted into the New England Female Medical College in Boston, Massachusetts. ... After the end of the Civil War, she recognized the need for health care services among former slaves in the South. This prompted her to relocate her medical practice to Richmond, Virginia. Her excellent reputation and hard work soon resulted in her serving many patients. After many years of working with the black community in Richmond, Crumpler decided to move back to where her career began in Boston.

SOURCE CITATION
"Rebecca Lee Crumpler." Notable Black American Scientists. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.