Elizabeth Blackwell was an amazing woman in history, who’s not often recognized. She was the first female to receive a medical degree in the U.S. Today, I will be talking to you about her personal life as well as her career and accomplishments.
Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3rd, 1821, in Bristol, England. She and her eight siblings were raised by their mother, Hannah Blackwell. Her father, Samuel Blackwell, was the owner of a sugar refinery and strongly believed in the abolishment of slavery. His strong passion towards ending the slave trade and financial difficulty caused the Blackwell family to move to the States in 1832. They settled into a home in New York. Elizabeth was only 11 years old at the time. She and her eight siblings received a very high education. That was very uncommon at the time because popular belief was that it was useless to educate women. However, her parents thought it was a necessity and had the children study under private tutors. Another rare thing that Blackwell’s parents encouraged was feminism and women’s rights. Unfortunately, six years after moving to the U.S. Elizabeth’s father passed away. When he died, so did the family’s financials. They were left penniless, so all the women in the family became teachers. Elizabeth quickly found out how hard it was for a woman to become anything more than a school teacher.
In 1844, Elizabeth’s friend, Mary, became very ill with uterine cancer. Although very sick, she refused to see a doctor until her case became very advanced, because she wanted to protect her modesty. When Elizabeth went to visit Mary on her final days, Mary stated that she would’ve suffered less had there been a female doctor to help her. That set off a flame in Elizabeth and pushed her to apply for medical school. She was immediately denied from all of the schools until Geneva in New York accepted her as a joke. They thought it would be funny and that she would drop out after the first semester. Blackwell studied hard and proved everybody wrong. She graduated in 1849 at, the top of her class. After she graduated Elizabeth started working in hospitals in London and Paris but was forced to do nursing work. She wasn’t recognized as a physician and was treated poorly. In 1851 she contracted purulent ophthalmia, which caused blindness in one eye. After the sickness affected her eyesight, she stopped pursuing surgery. She decided to move back to New York and open a private practice for women and children. New York Dispensary for Women and Children was her practice and it was one of the first clinics to help poor women and kids get medical help from a female doctor. Through this practice, she helped treat illnesses, injuries and educated her patients about preventative care. In 1857 she opened a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, with her sister whom Elizabeth had encouraged to become a surgeon. Through her practice and hospital, Blackwell taught many women about health care and helped them to navigate a career in medicine.
When the Civil War started, Blackwell fought for women nurses to be paid, but was quickly shut down. To the government, women had to serve, because it was an extension of their home and family duties. Elizabeth still helped serve in the war, caring for the wounded and sick. She also trained many women during this time and in 1868 she opened a college for women to study. About a year later, she moved back to London and got a professor job at the London School of Medicine for Women. Throughout her life, she wrote a few books discussing her life, her research, and other medical aspects. She remained a professor until 1907 when she fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a stroke a few years later due to injuries. Blackwell has left a huge impact on the world. If it wasn’t for her, the world would look very different today.
https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_35.html#:~:text=Elizabeth%20Blackwell%20was%20born%20in,Her%20father%20died%20in%201838.
https://wams.nyhistory.org/a-nation-divided/civil-war/elizabeth-blackwell/
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell#:~:text=Blackwell%20faced%20discrimination%20and%20obstacles,for%20defying%20her%20gender%20role.
https://www.historickilmun.org/history/elizabeth-blackwell/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/elizabeth-blackwell-becomes-the-first-woman-doctor-in-the-united-states#:~:text=Blackwell%20died%20only%20a%20few,in%20Kilmun%2C%20Argyllshire%2C%20Scotland.
