Rebecca Lee Crumpler, 64,  passed away on March 9, 1895 from fibroid tumors. Crumpler was born in 1831 in Delaware, to Absolum Davis and Matilda Webber. She was raised by her aunt in Pennsylvania, who spent much of her time caring for sick neighbors and may have influenced her career choice. By 1852 she had moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse for the next eight years. In her lifetime, Rebecca  challenged the prejudice that prevented African Americans from pursuing careers in medicine to became the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree. Although very few has survived to tell the story of her life, she has secured her place in the historical record with her book of medical advice for women and children, published in 1883. Rebecca was the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, and the only African American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College, which merged with Boston University School of Medicine in 1873.