The Women’s Health Pioneer You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

When Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (February 8, 1831–March 9, 1895) gathered nearly two decades of her journal notes and poured them into a book, she’d already treated hundreds—probably thousands—of women and children. Crumpler had witnessed many lives cut short prematurely and believed in the lifesaving power of preventive practices. She wanted other women to gain from her observations and accumulated knowledge. “I desire,” wrote the 52-year old Crumpler in her 145-page treatise A Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts, devoted to mothers and children, “that my book shall be as a primary reader in the hands of every woman; and yet nonetheless suited to any who may be conversant with all branches of medical science […]

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