Editing Rebecca Cole

{{Short description|American physician (1846–1922)}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Dr Rebecca J. Cole
| image             = Rebecca_J_Cole.jpeg
| image_size        = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1846|03|16}}
| birth_place       = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1922|08|14|1846|03|16}}
| death_place       = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| field             = [[Internal medicine]]
| alma_mater        = [[Drexel University College of Medicine|Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania]]
| doctoral_advisor  = {{ubl|[[Ann Preston]]|[[Elizabeth Blackwell (doctor)|Elizabeth Blackwell]]}}
| workplaces        = [[New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children]]
| known_for         = Second female African American physician
}}

'''Rebecca J. Cole''' (March 16, 1846{{spaced ndash}}August 14, 1922) was an American [[physician]], organization founder and social reformer. In 1867, she became the second [[African-American]] woman to become a doctor in the [[United States]], after [[Rebecca Lee Crumpler]] three years earlier. Throughout her life she faced racial and gender-based barriers to her medical education, training in all-female institutions which were run by the first generation of graduating [[female physicians]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Darryl|last=Lyman|title=Great African-American Women|location=Middle Village, NY|publisher=J David|year=2005|isbn=978-0-82460-459-2|page=279}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Cole was born in [[Philadelphia]] on March 16, 1846, one of five children.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-11-17|title=Rebecca J. Cole (1846-1922) •|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cole-rebecca-j-1846-1922/|access-date=2022-02-11|language=en-US}}</ref> Her father was a laborer and her mother was a [[laundress]].<ref name=":0" /> One of her sisters, Sarah Elizabeth Cole, married [[Henry L. Phillips]], a prominent African American [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest, {{circa|1876}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archdeacon Henry L. Phillips Ninth Rector (1912-1914) |url=http://www.aecst.org/phillips%209threc.htm |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=www.aecst.org}}</ref>

Cole attended high school at the [[Institute for Colored Youth]] where the curriculum that included Latin, Greek, and mathematics, graduating in 1863.<ref name=":0" />

Cole graduated from the [[Drexel University College of Medicine|Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania]] in 1867, under the supervision of [[Ann Preston]], the first woman dean of the school.<ref name=":0" /> The Women’s Medical College was founded by [[Quakers|Quaker]] [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]] and [[Temperance movement|temperance]] reformers in 1850. Initially named the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, it was the first school to offer formal medical training to women with the culmination of an [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fee|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Brown|first2=Theodore M.|date=March 2004|title="An Eventful Epoch in the History of Your Lives"|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=94|issue=3|pages=367|doi=10.2105/ajph.94.3.367|issn=0090-0036|pmc=1448257|pmid=14998795}}</ref> Cole's graduate [[thesis]] was titled ''The Eye and Its Appendages''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Women Physicians: 1850s - 1970s: The eye and its appendages |url=http://xdl.drexelmed.edu/item.php?object_id=001860&t=womanmd# |publisher=Drexel University College of Medicine |accessdate=2013-02-23}}</ref> In her senior year, Cole lived with fellow medical students [[Odelia Blinn]] and Martha E. Hutchings. Nearly thirty years later, Blinn wrote an article detailing how crossing the '[[Color line (racism)|color line]]'  in Philadelphia nearly derailed Cole's studies at the college and her plans for a medical career.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Odelia Blinn, MD|title=The Color Line in 1867|publisher=[[Chicago Inter Ocean|The Inter Ocean]]|date=May 18, 1896|page=12}}</ref>

==Career==
After earning her medical degree, Cole interned at [[Elizabeth Blackwell]]'s [[NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital|New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children]], where she was assigned to teach [[prenatal care]] and [[hygiene]] to women in [[tenement]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nimura|first=Janice P.|author-link=Janice P. Nimura |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1155067347|title=The doctors Blackwell : how two pioneering sisters brought medicine to women--and women to medicine|date=2021|isbn=978-0-393-63554-6|edition=|location=New York, N.Y.|oclc=1155067347}}</ref> Blackwell described Cole as "an intelligent young colored physician [who] carried on this work with tact and care."<ref name=":0" />

Cole later briefly practiced medicine in [[South Carolina]] before returning to Philadelphia.

In 1873, Cole opened a Women's Directory Center with Dr. [[Charlotte Abbey]], which provided medical and legal services to disadvantaged women and children. In January 1899, Cole was appointed superintendent of a home run by the [[Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="ThreadofHope">{{cite book|last1=Clark Hine|first1=Darlene|url=https://archive.org/details/shiningthreadofh00hine|title=A Shining Thread of Hope|last2=Thompson|first2=Kathleen|date=1998|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=0-7679-0111-8|edition=First|location=New York, NY|page=[https://archive.org/details/shiningthreadofh00hine/page/163 163]|url-access=registration}}</ref> The association's 1899 annual report stated that Cole possessed "all the qualities essential to such a position-ability, energy, experience, tact." A subsequent report noted that:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thirty-seventh annual report of the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children, for the year ending January, 1900 ...|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/91898495/|access-date=2022-02-11|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Dr Cole herself has more than fulfilled the expectations of her friends. With a clear and comprehensive view of her whole field of action, she has carried out her plans with the good sense and vigor which are a part of her character, while her cheerful optimism, her determination to see the best in every situation and in every individual, have created around her an atmosphere of sunshine that adds to the happiness and well being of every member of the large family.|title=Annual report of the [[National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children|National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children]]|source=https://www.loc.gov/item/91898495/}}

Cole practiced medicine for fifty years. In 2015, she was chosen as an Innovators Walk of Fame honoree by the [[University City Science Center]], [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Science Center: Celebrating Women Innovators in 2015 Class of the Innovators Walk of Fame|url=http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v62/n11/science-center-women-innovators.html|website=University of Pennsylvania Almanac|accessdate=30 January 2017}}</ref>

== Death ==
Cole died on August 14, 1922, at the age of 76. She is buried at [[Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania)|Eden Cemetery]] in [[Collingdale, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Library Exhibits :: Rebecca Cole|url=https://exhibits.library.villanova.edu/institute-colored-youth/graduates/rebecca-cole-bio|access-date=2022-02-11|website=exhibits.library.villanova.edu}}</ref> Few records or photos of her have survived.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last1=McNeill|first1=Leila|title=The Woman Who Challenged the Idea that Black Communities Were Destined for Disease|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/woman-challenged-idea-black-communities-destined-disease-180969218/|access-date=2022-02-11|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{aaregistry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Rebecca}}
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:Physicians from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Cheyney University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:American primary care physicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American women physicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:Burials at Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania)]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American physicians]]
[[Category:African Americans in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:African-American women physicians]]