Abstract

Abstract:

The first two African American women to earn medical degrees in the United States—Rebecca Crumpler (1864) and Rebecca Cole (1867)—each published printed material that reveals a burgeoning critical practice from within the medical profession. Their texts perform a Black critical medical humanism, or a practice of critique attuned to the systems (medical and otherwise) that affect individuals' and communities' health. Crumpler's and Cole's critique is especially attentive to structures that imperil the wellbeing of persons based on race and gender. Their goal, however, was not merely to criticize, but rather to promote reforms such that all persons might have a chance at living full, free, healthy lives.

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