Melissa Evelyn Thompson Coppin ( – September 27, 1940) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. Coppin was the tenth

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. She was also known for the creation of the children's welfare group, the Women's Christian Alliance (WCA).

Biography

Melissa Evelyn Thompson was born around 1878. When she graduated from the Women's Medical College (now the

Medical College of Pennsylvania Drexel University College of Medicine is the medical school of Drexel University, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The medical school represents the consolidation of two medical schools: the first U.S. medical schoo ...

) in 1900, and she became the tenth

woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. In August 1914, Coppin married

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

Bishop Levi J. Coppin. Her husband's wedding present to her was a new car, and which the couple used to drive to their

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

at Cape May. Melissa Thompson Coppin was Levi's third wife and together, they had one daughter, Theodosia. Levi died in 1924. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Coppin felt there was a need to create a place for young African American women and families who were migrating into the city. Coppin founded the Women's Christian Alliance (WCA) as a

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

agency, daycare and shelter in Philadelphia in 1919. Coppin's sister, Dr. Syrene Elizabeth Thompson Benjamin, was involved with WCA until 1927, when the sisters disagreed over the "direction of the agency." Coppin died on September 27, 1940.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppin, M.E. Thompson 1878 births 1940 deaths Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians People from Philadelphia Physicians from Pennsylvania African-American women physicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American physicians