TWICE AS HARD

Inspiring stories of nine Black women physicians whose barrier-breaking achievements changed the course of American history.

Brown, a Rhodes Scholar who is currently in medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, begins with Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895), the Delaware-born niece of an herbalist who “became the first African American woman to earn a medical degree in the [country] only fourteen months after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation”; and May Chinn (1896-1980), the daughter of an enslaved man and a free woman who completed her medical training while accompanying musical greats like Paul Robeson. Then the author moves on to Dorothy Ferebee, whose wealthy family helped support her studies at Tufts; Edith Irby, whose community raised the funds for her to attend the University of Arkansas, where she became the first Black woman to receive a medical degree from a predominantly White institution; and Joycelyn Elders, “the first African American, and the second woman, to be appointed surgeon general” of the U.S. Throughout, Brown incorporates her own history, recounting, for example, how she saw Elders speak on a panel or how, like Lena Edwards, Brown will be the first doctor in her family. “As I embarked on this journey to uncover the stories of black women physicians, I learned a new truth,” writes the author. “Black women have been leaders in medicine in America for over 150 years, despite the immense barriers erected along their paths. They’ve succeeded in medical specialties, surgical specialties, public health, and policy while providing care for underserved communities.” At its best, this deeply researched, profoundly felt book effectively weaves personal and historical memory into a well-argued critique of American medical education. At times, the prose is clumsy, but overall, this is a promising debut from a young author.

A readable, highly relevant history of Black women physicians in the U.S.