[5][6] He would receive a medical degree from Howard University in 1881 before returning to Charleston and working at the McClennan Hospital and Training School for Nurses.
[5] As he worked in the hospital, Crum would become involved with politics, even serving as the chairman of the county Republican Party for more than two decades.
[11] He would make ties and friendships with several prominent African Americans such as Whitefield Mckinlay, Harry C. Smith, T. Thomas Fortune, and most notably Booker T.
[16][17] In December 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Crum, on McKinlay's recommendation, as collector of customs for the port of Charleston to symbolize 'a door of hope' for southern African Americans.
After Roosevelt left office, his successor, William Howard Taft, considered Crum's status in Charleston to be a political liability.
[7] During his diplomatic service in Monrovia, Crum contracted blackwater fever, a form of Malaria and was forced to resign his post in on 17 September 1912 and return to the United States.