REBECCA LEE CRUMPLER “I early conceived a liking for and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.” As the first African-American woman to become a physician in the U.S., Rebecca Lee Crumpler challenged the racial prejudice that plagued our nation in the mid-1800s. After graduating from what is now Boston University in 1864, Rebecca practiced medicine in Boston. She moved to Virginia later, where she cared for formerly enslaved people who did not have access to health care. She was also one of the first African-Americans to publish a medical book called Book of Medical Discourses. MAYA ANGELOU “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou was a poet and civil rights activist whose writings are frequently considered essential to the African American literary canon. Her writings have won several accolades and earned her over 50 honorary degrees, including “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “On the Pulse of Morning.” Her recital of “On the Pulse of Morning” acquired prominence in 1993, when she became the first poet since Robert Frost in 1961 to deliver their work during a presidential inauguration. In her poems, racism, injustice, family, and identity are prevalent topics. Angelou’s legacy lives on via one grandson and two great- grandchildren.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
–MAYA ANGELOU
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