Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)
Elizabeth Blackwell, born in Britain, was the first woman in the United States to be awarded the M.D. degree. Many nineteenth-century physicians, including a few women, practiced without a degree, but Elizabeth Blackwell wished to attain full professional status. She was rejected by all the major medical schools in the nation because of her sex. Her application to Geneva Medical School (now Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York) was referred to the student body. They accepted her with great hilarity in the belief that it was a spoof perpetrated by a rival school.
Working with quiet determination, she turned aside the hostility of the professors, students, and townspeople, earning her medical degree in 1849. Blackwell completed her medical education in Europe, but faced additional difficulties in setting up her practice when she returned to New York. In 1857, barred from city hospitals, she was joined by her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell Dr. Marie Zakrzewska and founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. In 1868 she founded a Women's Medical College in New York City to train other women physicians.
The educational standards that Blackwell followed at the Women's Medical College were higher than those in place in contemporary all-male medical schools. In particular, her courses emphasized the importance of proper sanitation and hygiene to prevent diseases. She returned to Britain in 1869 and spent the rest of her life there, working to expand medical opportunities for women as she had in America.
OCP Resources
Blackwell, Elizabeth. The Laws of life: with special reference to the physical education of girls. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1852.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Address on the medical education of women, December 27th, 1855. New York: Baker & Duyckinck, printers, 1856.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Medicine as a profession for women. New York: W.H. Tinson, 1860.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Address on the medical education of women. New York: Baptist & Taylor, 1864.
"The Doctors Blackwell", in Our Famous women: an authorized record of the lives and deeds of distinguished American women of our times: an entirely new work, full of romantic story, lively humor, thrilling experiences, tender pathos, and brilliant wit, with numerous anecdotes, incidents, and personal reminiscences. Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington, 1884. Pages 134-151.
Blackwell Elizabeth. The Influence of women in the profession of medicine: address given at the opening of the winter session of the London School of Medicine for Women, Baltimore: 1890.
Ella M.S. Marble, "Women in Medicine (From A Business Standpoint)," in General Federation of Women's Clubs, Convention. Third Biennial, General Federation of Women's Clubs. Louisville, KY: Flexner Bros., 1896. Pages 243-245.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Pioneer work in opening the medical profession to women: autobiographical sketches. Hastings: K. Barry, 1895.
New York State Woman Suffrage Association. Manual of woman suffrage principles. Syracuse, NY: New York State Woman Suffrage Association, 1901. Pages 32-33.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Essays in medical sociology. London: Bell, 1902.
In memory of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dr. Emily Blackwell: January twenty-fifth, MDCCCXI, Academy of Medicine, New York. New York: Women's Medical Association of New York City, 1911.
Blackwell, Elizabeth. Pioneer work for women. London: J.M. Dent & Sons; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1914.
Dorland, W.A. Newman. The sum of feminine achievement. Boston: Stratford, 1917. Pages 147, 229.
Web Resources
National Library of Medicine, "Changing the Face of Medicine: Elizabeth Blackwell."
History of Medicine Division, "Elizabeth Blackwell."