For those who know the Capay Valley in Yolo County, California, it's a place of great natural beauty, almond orchards, a few wineries, and (lately, unfortunately), Indian "gaming." Few folks know that the Capay Valley town of Guinda is rich in African-American history.
Read more here.
Showing posts with label Black History Month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black History Month. Show all posts
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Black History Month: Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler
Today is the 177th anniversary of the birth of Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first black woman in America to graduate from medical school and practice as a physician. [Early sources say that this distinction belongs to Rebecca Cole; however, it appears that Crumpler graduated several years before Cole]. Sources say she was born in Delaware and that her parents were Absolum Davis and Matilda Webber.
Apparently, little biographical matter exists about Rebecca Crumpler. It is known from her own writings that as a child she spent much time with an aunt in Pennsylvania who attended to the sick and may have been either a nurse or a midwife. In 1852, Rebecca moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse. She worked for various doctors for the next eight years.
In 1860, several of the doctors she worked for wrote letters recommending Rebecca to the New England Female College of Medicine. This was the world's first medical school for women [it later merged with Boston University to become Boston University School of Medicine--the first coeducational medical school in the world]. Rebecca was accepted and graduated in 1864. One of her professors was another pioneering woman physician, Dr. Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska.
After graduation, Dr. Crumpler remained in the Boston area for awhile. But when the Civil War ended, she moved to Virginia to help poor people, mostly black, who had been affected by the war. She was married to a black physician, Dr. Arthur Crumpler.
At some point, exactly when is not clear, the Crumplers returned to the Boston area. They appear on the 1870 census living in Boston, and on the 1880 census living in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.
In 1883, Rebecca Crumpler wrote a book titled A Book of Medical Discourses, which was a reference book for women as well as guide to public health issues.
For a woman physician, finding work in the latter part of the nineteenth century was difficult, as even Dr. Crumpler's white female colleagues were discovering. For black physicians, work was not easy to find, either. By the time she wrote her book, Rebecca Crumpler was no longer actively practicing medicine. On the 1880 census, her occupation is listed as "keeping house," and her husband was said to be a "porter."
Rebecca Crumpler died in 1895 at the age of 64.
Apparently, little biographical matter exists about Rebecca Crumpler. It is known from her own writings that as a child she spent much time with an aunt in Pennsylvania who attended to the sick and may have been either a nurse or a midwife. In 1852, Rebecca moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse. She worked for various doctors for the next eight years.
In 1860, several of the doctors she worked for wrote letters recommending Rebecca to the New England Female College of Medicine. This was the world's first medical school for women [it later merged with Boston University to become Boston University School of Medicine--the first coeducational medical school in the world]. Rebecca was accepted and graduated in 1864. One of her professors was another pioneering woman physician, Dr. Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska.
After graduation, Dr. Crumpler remained in the Boston area for awhile. But when the Civil War ended, she moved to Virginia to help poor people, mostly black, who had been affected by the war. She was married to a black physician, Dr. Arthur Crumpler.
At some point, exactly when is not clear, the Crumplers returned to the Boston area. They appear on the 1870 census living in Boston, and on the 1880 census living in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.
In 1883, Rebecca Crumpler wrote a book titled A Book of Medical Discourses, which was a reference book for women as well as guide to public health issues.
For a woman physician, finding work in the latter part of the nineteenth century was difficult, as even Dr. Crumpler's white female colleagues were discovering. For black physicians, work was not easy to find, either. By the time she wrote her book, Rebecca Crumpler was no longer actively practicing medicine. On the 1880 census, her occupation is listed as "keeping house," and her husband was said to be a "porter."
Rebecca Crumpler died in 1895 at the age of 64.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Black History Month: Alpha Kappa Alpha
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was born in St Louis in 1885. Her father, Albert Hedgeman, was a janitor; her mother, Marie Hubbard, was a homemaker. She graduated from Sumner High School in 1904 and attended Howard University.
In her second year, illness forced her to withdraw. Ethel later returned to school at Howard. In her senior year, she led a group of eight other women to found Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She probably had no idea what she had wrought.
AKA was the first Greek-letter organization for black women. Marking its Centennial this year, AKA has been one of the elite organizations in America. Today, it is an international organization with a diverse membership. AKA's focus has always been "service." In its early years, AKA made toys for, and worked with, children confined at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and helped rural refugees adapt to the urban environment. Later, AKA worked with the Mississippi Health Project to address appalling health conditions facing rural blacks in the South. As part of this project, AKA invented and staffed the world's first mobile health clinic. and acted to demand an end to lynching. The sorority contributed to Howard University's child development programs and sought to help advance research into sickle cell anemia. In the 1960s and 1970s, AKA ran the Cleveland Job Corps Center for Women under a multimillion dollar government contract. They purchased Dr. Martin Luther King's birth home in order to preserve it.
AKA commenced its Reading Experience program that later became the basis for its Educational Advancement Foundation. The Foundation's program includes Academic Scholarships, Fellowships and Community Assistance Awards.
In the 1980s and 1990s, AKA went global with its International Foundation for Education and Slef-Help. The Sorors also initiated programs such as the PArtneship in Mathmatics and Science and them Young Authors Program, which is an effort to increase reading and wriitng skills.
Today, AKA is creating economic expertise, success in business and power networking opportunities for the non-traditional entrepreneur to build a strong foundation for women in business. At the same time, the sorority's mission also focuses on education, synergy and partnerships, as the economic keys to success in improving living standards within the Black community.
AKA also concentrates on building educational advantage through technology and has leadership programs geared to competition in the global economy.
All that from Ethel Hedgeman Lyle's idea for service to the community!
AKA will hold its 100th Anniversary celebration (the Centennial Boule) in July in WAshington D.C.
Many of America's successful black women have been AKA sorors, including Lillian Gines Manson (my mother) Delorise Annrie Gines, and Bernadine Coles Gines (my aunts). Bernadine's sister, Frances, is also an AKA soror. AKA's Midwestern Region has named its award for the top undergraduate chapter president the "Delorise Gines Award."
Other AKA sorors include: Marian Anderson, the first African-American woman to sing at the Metropolitan Opera; Dr. Maya Angelou, award-winning novelist and poet; Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University; Bebe (Elizabeth) Moore Campbell, acclaimed author;
Suzette Charles, second African-American and first Italian-American Miss America (1984); Olivia Cole, award-winning actress (Roots); Alice Coachman Davis, first African-American woman to win a gold medal and first American female to win a gold medal in track and field;
Sarah “Sadie” Delaney, educator, businesswoman, and co-author of book, Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years; Vonetta Flowers,first African-American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics for bobsledding; Zina Garrison -Jackson, Olympic gold medalist in tennis (1988); Althea Gibson, pioneer in amateur tennis and professional golf; Carmen de Lavallade Holder, renowned ballet dancer and theater actress; Catherine Hughes, CEO/owner of Radio One; Mae Jemison, M.D., first African-American woman astronaut; Gladys Knight Parker, singer and actress; Toni Morrison, Nobel prize winner, novelist and poet; Jada Pinkett-Smith, actress; Georgiana Simpson, First African-American female to get a PhD.;Dr. C. Delores Tucker, National Chairman of the National Political Congress of Black Women.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)