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On January 23, 1849, a young woman walked across the stage of the Presbyterian Church in Geneva, NY. She was given a degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Geneva Medical College. And she happened to be the very first woman to earn the degree. Her name was Elizabeth Blackwell.
Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England on February 3, 1821. She received her childhood education by private tutor. In 1832, her father, Samuel Blackwell, moved her family to the United States. They lived first in New York and later moved to Cincinnati.
Her father was actively involved in social reform and abolitionism. He also had many businesses that did not do well for the family financially. After his death, Elizabeth and her mother and two sisters opened a private school in order to support their family. In the beginning, Elizabeth had no intention of going into medicine. It was only after a female friend of Elizabeth's had gotten sick and remarked to her that she wished she had a female doctor to consult with had she began considering becoming a doctor herself. Her fathers ideas of radicalism and social reform probably influenced her to make the decision as well.
She was also said to have been looking for a reason to prevent any chance of future marriage. Since no woman was allowed to go to medical school, she had to teach herself privately and under the assistance of a doctor in North Carolina whose family she was living with. To the rest of the world she was a teacher. She liked the idea of the struggle and fight against she had ahead of her to get into a medical school. In 1847, she began that great struggle. She applied and was rejected by all the leading medical schools.
When the Geneva Medical College received her application the school asked the students whether or not they should let a woman attend the college. All of the students thinking it was a practical joke agreed to let her in. When they realized she was serious, some of the students and people of Geneva, New York were upset. The students unanimously voted to allow her the opportunity to study without their interference.
They held to their oath regardless of how she was treated by the people outside of the college. She never received respect from the townspeople, but within the college she was one of them. She was given a great deal of honor and respect from her fellow students the day she graduated first in her class. She decided to further her studies in Europe. She began in England and then moved on to Paris where she studied a midwives course. There she suffered a bad eye infection that left her blind in one eye.
She decided to go back to England and worked at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. During her work there she met and became friends with Florence Nightingale. She returned to New York in 1851 and was rejected by all the hospitals and clinics. She was forced to see women and children in her own home. She developed her practice and even published a book in 1852.
In 1853, she began her own clinic in a bad area of New York. She later was joined by her sister Emily Blackwell, who had just received her own medical degree. Dr. Marie Zakrewska from Poland also came over to aid her. Elizabeth had encouraged Marie to receive her medical degree as well. Through the joined efforts of the three women, they began the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857.
Elizabeth later went to Great Britain on a lecture tour and eventually would become the first woman to appear on the British medical registry in January 1859. On the tour she inspired several women to study medicine. Elizabeth returned to the clinic in New York in 1859 and began a Womens Central Association of Relief along with her sister and Marie during the Civil War. The relief selected and trained nurses for immediate service to the soldiers of the war. As a result of their work the United States Sanitary Commission was created.
After the end of the war, in November 1868, Elizabeth decided to follow through on a dream she had cultivated with Florence Nightingale in England. Along with her sister they opened the Womens Medical College at the infirmary. Elizabeth was chair of hygiene. Her lectures focused on the importance of proper sanitation and hygiene in order to prevent spread of diseases.
Her standards were recognized as higher than the medical schools that only allowed males. The college continued operating for thirty-one years. Elizabeth had returned to England where she spent the rest of her life. She worked in England and began the National Health Society and she also founded the London School of Medicine for Women.
She retired in 1907 and died in 1910. She later was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame in 1973 for her Outstanding Achievement in Science.
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