Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson

Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson
Born	1902 (1902)
Died	1985 (aged 82–83)
Occupation	Dentist

Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson (1902 - 1985) was one of the first Black women to graduate from Tufts University Dental School, and the first to practice dentistry in the Boston area. ^[1]

Thompson was born in 1902 in North Carolina and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ^[2] She was raised as the only child of William and Lydia Crutchfield. She graduated from Cambridge High and Latin in 1925 and started at Tufts Dental in the same year. ^[3] She graduated from Tufts in 1930.

Thompson was the only woman to pass the Massachusetts Civil Service examination for dentists in the state institutions in 1932. ^[4] She worked as the Cambridge Public Schools dentist after the male-only requirement for the accreditation exam was removed. ^[4]

Thompson founded the Natick Fair Housing Practices Committee, a committee for fighting against housing discrimination in the 1950s. ^[5] She was recognized for her work by the NAACP in 1973.

In 2023, she was recognized as one of "Boston’s most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders" by the Black Women Lead project. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

References

1. "Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson • Cambridge Black History Project". Cambridge Black History Project. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
2. "The People of Fair Housing". Natick Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
3. "Dr.Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson • Cambridge Black History Project". Cambridge Black History Project. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
4. Project, Paula Paris for the Cambridge Black History (2024-02-01). "Sorority sisters in service to their Cambridge, blazing the trail in law and dental medicine". Cambridge Day. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
5. "HERStory". malegislature.gov. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
6. "Black Women Lead". Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
7. Sullivan, Mike (2023-10-04). "Portraits along Blue Hill Avenue honor Boston's Black women leaders". CBS Boston. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
8. Gaskin, Ed (10 April 2025). Black Women Lead: Boston's Most Admired, Beloved, and Iconic Leaders, 1700 - Present. Independently published. ISBN   979-8317465209.