Black American Pioneers in Medicine
Updated: Jul 20, 2022
The Black contribution to the many facets that make up our nation have been invaluable, but largely overlooked, forgotten, or simply diminished. For #BlackHistoryMonth, we want to highlight some of the Black Americans who paved the way for medical developments that made modern medicine what it is today.
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Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler: The first Black American female physician in the United States
Because of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler's influence, today, Tuesday, February 8th, was designated National Black Women Physicians Day in 2021. Today we celebrate her outstanding achievements. Born in Delaware on February 8, 1831, Rebecca grew up in Pennsylvania, where her aunt's work in providing care for the sick sparked her interest in medicine. From her earliest days, she was considered very academically gifted and was able to attend the West-Newton English and Classical School, a prestigious private school in Massachusetts. After graduation, Rebecca stayed in Massachusetts and worked as a nurse. Then, 8 years later in 1860, she applied to medical school and was accepted into the New England Female Medical College based in Boston. This alone was a great feat as, both the color of her skin and her biological sex were major factors standing against her being able to even be enrolled in a medical program. Physicians at this time were mostly men and considered that women both lacked the physical strength to practice medicine and the capability of mastering a medical curriculum. Additionally, they insisted that many of the topics taught were inappropriate for their “sensitive and delicate nature.” Not to be stopped by the ignorant assumptions of others, in 1864 Rebecca became the New England Female Medical College’s only African-American graduate and began a medical practice in Boston. She then had a series of incredible accomplishments:
She worked under the aegis of General Orlando Brown, the Assistant Commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau for the State of Virginia which was the federal agency charged with helping more than 4,000,000 slaves make the stunning transition from bondage to freedom.
She served her own community by practicing medicine in the predominantly African-American neighborhood on Beacon Hill.
She wrote a medical text called “A Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts,” in 1883 which was dedicated “to mothers, nurses, and all who may desire to mitigate the afflictions of the human race" and may have been the first medical text by a Black American author.
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler died as a champion of healthcare on March 9, 1895. Today, women represent 35% of all doctors, but Black women still only represent 2 percent. Biographical details provided by PBS and CompHealth.
Dr. Charles Richard Drew: The "Father of Blood Banking"
1 donation can save up to 3 lives because of the contributions made by Dr. Charles Richard Drew, MD.
Born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, D.C., Charles grew up in a family that encouraged academic education, church membership, civic knowledge, personal competence, responsibility, and independence. In his early life, he found himself in both leadership roles and roles within the public service and public safety spaces. While racial segregation was a societal norm during his time, Charles was surrounded by a largely well-educated and successful Black American community. He attended Stevens Elementary and then Dunbar High School, which was then one of the best college preparatory schools in the country--for black or white Americans. Although he was academically inclined, a career in medicine was not yet on his radar. In 1922, Charles attended Amherst College in Massachusetts on an athletic scholarship and became a legendary athlete in both track and football. It wasn't until his run in with his college biology professor, Otto Glaser, and a hospitalization for a college football injury that he took an interest in medical sciences. Later he would also cite the 1920 death of his oldest sister, Elsie, from tuberculosis complicated by influenza. In 1926, Charles graduated from Amherst and went on to attend McGill University School of Medicine in Montreal where he became an Alpha Omega Alpha Scholar and won the J. Francis Williams Fellowship before graduating with his MD in 1933. His doctoral thesis, "Banked Blood," was based on an exhaustive study of blood preservation techniques and after graduation, he continued research on this topic at Columbia's Presbyterian Hospital. World War II would spell a dire need for his research and, thusly, he was selected as the full-time medical director of the Blood for Britain project, and he supervised the successful collection of 14,500 pints of vital plasma for the British. In February 1941, Charles was appointed director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank, in charge of blood for use by the U.S. Army and Navy, but resigned in 1942 after Black American blood was finally accepted into the plasma-supply networks, but required to be stored separately from White American blood. Charles did not allow this to deter his dedication to the medical field and he returned to Freedman's Hospital and Howard University, where he served as a surgeon and professor of medicine from 1942 to 1950. Over the course of his career, he also received:
The E. S. Jones Award for Research in Medical Science from the John A. Andrews Clinic in 1942
An appointment to the American-Soviet Committee on Science in 1943
The NAACP Spingarn Medal in 1944 in recognition of his work on the British and American projects.
An honorary doctor of science degree in 1945 from Virginia State College.
Election to the International College of Surgeons in 1946.
An honorary doctor of science degree in 1947 from Amherst College.
Tragically, on April 1, 1950, on his way to the annual meeting of the John A. Andrews Association, Dr. Charles Richard Drew was killed in a single-vehicle accident. Though his death was untimely, his expert research in blood preservation techniques led to thousands of lifesaving blood donations. Biographical details provided by the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and the National Library of Medicine.
Mary Mahoney, RN: The first Black American licensed nurse in the United States
Mary was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the Spring of 1845. The daughter of freed slaves from North Carolina, Mary grew up learning the importance of racial equality. She was even educated at Boston's Phillips School which became one of the first integrated schools in the country. Mary knew early on that she wanted to be a nurse and she pursued this career through working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Over the course of her 15 years of employment there, Mary worked as a janitor, a cook, a washer, and a nurse’s aide. The New England Hospital for Women and Children operated one of the first nursing schools in the United States and in 1878, Mary was admitted to the hospital’s professional graduate school for nursing. Their 16-month program was intense and many students were not able to complete the program. Of the 42 students that entered the program in 1878, only four, including Mary, completed it in 1879 making her the first Black American in the US to earn a professional nursing license. After receiving her license, Mary decided to work as a private nurse as opposed to following a public nursing career due to the overwhelming discrimination often encountered in the public sector. Through this decision, she was able to focus on the care needs of individual clients--mostly from wealthy white families, who lived up and down the east coast. Mary was known for her efficiency, patience, and caring bedside manner. During her career as a nurse, Mary had an incredible series of accomplishments:
In 1896, she joined the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (NAAUSC), which later became known as the American Nurses Association (ANA). Her involvement in this organization helped advocate for the equality of Black American nurses.
In 1908, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN).
From 1911 to 1912, she acted as the director of the Howard Orphanage Asylum for black children in Kings Park, Long Island in New York City.
In 1920, after 40 years in nursing, she retired and was among the first women who registered to vote in Boston.
After three years of battling breast cancer, Mary died on January 4, 1926 at the age of 80. However, after her death, she continued to receive the awards and accolades such an astounding career deserved:
In 1936, the NACGN founded the "Mary Mahoney Award" which is given to nurses or groups of nurses who promote integration within their field. The award continues to be awarded today by the ANA.
In 1976, Mary was inducted into the ANA Hall of Fame.
In 1993, Mary was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Biographical details provided by the National Women's History Museum and the Wisconsin Center for Nursing.
Dr. Alexa Canady: The first Black American female neurosurgeon in the United States.
Born to a well-educated family on November 7th, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan, Canady was always encouraged to focus on academic excellence. With her parents constant attention and dedication to her education, Canady was an incredible student. However, living in a post-segregational society and, along with her brother, being the only Black student in school, she faced many personal challenges. Despite this, she graduated high school and was accepted into the University of Michigan. It was during her undergraduate studies through a a summer program in genetics for minority students that Canady would find her love for medicine.
Unfortunately, during her time at the University of Michigan, Canady again faced several personal challenges that she described as a "crisis of confidence." This lead to her nearly dropping out of the program. However, the strength and tenacity imparted in her by her parents took the reigns and brought her out of this "crisis" and helped her complete a degree in zoology in 1971. With a love for medicine and a new found confidence, Canady went on to attend the College of Medicine at the University of Michigan.
In medical school, Canady initially wanted to pursue Internal Medicine, but quickly became more interested in the field of neurosurgery. Despite being discouraged from going into this specialty by her advisors, after graduating cum laude, she was accepted as a surgical intern at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1975, breaking another barrier as both the first woman and the first Black American to be enrolled in the program. Her academic successes didn't stop there and, a year later, in 1976, Canady began her residency in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota and went onto a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. These accomplishments were not met without harsh treatment from other students and coworkers; however, and Canady recalls that during her first day of residency, one of the hospitals top administrators said, "Oh, you must be our new equal opportunity package." This type of verbal discrimination is only one example of the oppression she endured on a daily basis.
Returning to her home state of Michigan, Canady put down roots and worked in the Neurosurgery Department at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. Later, at the young age of 36, she became the Chief of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and spent her working years caring for young patients facing life-threatening illnesses, gunshot wounds, head trauma, hydrocephaly, brain tumors and spine abnormalities. After a long and successful career, she tried to retire in 2001 and moved to Florida, but, after learning that there were no pediatric neurosurgeons in her area, Canady practiced part-time at Pensacola’s Sacred Heart Hospital until her official retirement in 2012.
Dr. Canady's awards and accolades:
In 1975, she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society.
In 1984, she received the Children's Hospital of Michigan's Teacher of the Year award.
In 1989, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
In 1993, she received the American Medical Women's Association President's Award.
In 1994, she received the Wayne State University Medical School's Distinguished Service Award.
In 2002, she was named Michigander of the Year by the Detroit News.
Biographical details provided by the Indiana University School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.