“Most of All, I Wanted My Life to Count for Something:” Toward Black Feminist Theorization in Histories of California Medicine and Medical Education, 1858 to 1942
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation explores the histories of California’s earliest Black women physicians, Ruth J. Temple (1892–1984) and Edna L. Griffin (1905–1992), within the broader landscape of medicine and medical education in the United States from 1858 to 1942. By foregrounding the intellectual contributions, medical practices, and social activism of Black medical women, this study interrogates systemic oppression in medical education and professional practice, employing Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought (BFT) as a critical historical methodology. While scholarship on Black women physicians has largely focused on figures in the South, Midwest, and East, this research addresses a critical gap by situating Ruth J. Temple (1892-1984) and Edna L. Griffin (1905-1992) in the American Far West, a region often overlooked in discussions of Black medical history. Their lives and careers illustrate the interplay between race, gender, and medical education in early twentieth-century California, challenging dominant historical narratives that have erased or marginalized Black women’s epistemologies. The dissertation’s methodology integrates archival research, oral history, and Black feminist epistemology to reconstruct the lived experiences of Temple and Griffin. Traditional archival sources, including newspapers, census records, and institutional reports, reveal significant gaps in documentation due to the systemic neglect of Black women’s histories. However, oral histories such as Temple’s interview in the Black Women Oral History Project (1977–1981) and Griffin’s oral history with the Pasadena Historical Society offer rich, firsthand accounts that mitigate archival silences. These oral narratives, alongside family archives and Griffin’s 1947 biography Let There Be Life , provide critical insight into their professional philosophies, challenges, and strategies of resistance. This study makes several key interventions. First, it reframes the historiography of medicine and me…
abstract: This dissertation explores the histories of California’s earliest Black women physicians, Ruth J. Temple (1892–1984) and Edna L. Griffin (1905–1992), within the broader landscape of medicine and medical education in the United States from 1858 to 1942. By foregrounding the intellectual contributions, medical practices, and social activism of Black medical women, this study interrogates systemic oppression in medical education and professional practice, employing Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought (BFT) as a critical historical methodology. While scholarship on Black women physicians has largely focused on figures in the South, Midwest, and East, this research addresses a critical gap by situating Ruth J. Temple (1892-1984) and Edna L. Griffin (1905-1992) in the American Far West, a region often overlooked in discussions of Black medical history. Their lives and careers illustrate the interplay between race, gender, and medical education in early twentieth-century California, challenging dominant historical narratives that have erased or marginalized Black women’s epistemologies. The dissertation’s methodology integrates archival research, oral history, and Black feminist epistemology to reconstruct the lived experiences of Temple and Griffin. Traditional archival sources, including newspapers, census records, and institutional reports, reveal significant gaps in documentation due to the systemic neglect of Black women’s histories. However, oral histories such as Temple’s interview in the Black Women Oral History Project (1977–1981) and Griffin’s oral history with the Pasadena Historical Society offer rich, firsthand accounts that mitigate archival silences. These oral narratives, alongside family archives and Griffin’s 1947 biography Let There Be Life , provide critical insight into their professional philosophies, challenges, and strategies of resistance. This study makes several key interventions. First, it reframes the historiography of medicine and me…
author: Perkins, Monica Ugwu
keywords: Black feminist epistemologies, Black women physicians, Early twentieth century medical education, Los Angeles California, Oppression in medicine, Pasadena California, African American Studies, Higher Education
date published: 2025-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:41:09Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University