Born: March 16, 1846

Died: August 14, 1922

Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA

Rebecca J. Cole was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 16, 1846. She was the second United States African

American woman physician and was the first Black woman to graduate from the Womans Medical College in Pennsylvania.

Rebecca Cole received her secondary education from the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY -- now Cheyney University). She

graduated from ICY in 1863. Rebecca Cole received her medical degree from Womans Medical College in 1867 (Aside:

Womens Medical College now part of Allegheny University of the Health Sciences.). She was appointed as a resident

physician at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, which was a hospital owned and operated by women

physicians, from 1972-1881. Dr. Rebecca Cole worked with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first white American woman

physician to receive a medical degree. Dr. Blackwell assigned Dr. Cole to the post of sanitary visitor, a position in which a

traveling physician would visit families in their homes in slum neighborhoods and instruct them in family hygiene, prenatal and

infant care.

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