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Elizabeth Blackwell did not harbor dreams of becoming a physician as a child. Such a career was unimaginable for a woman born in 1821. How did she become the first woman to receive a medical degree?
Elizabeth's childhood was very different than those of her peers. Born in Bristol, England, the most obvious difference was her family's religion--they were Methodists (also called Dissenters), instead of members of the Church of England. As a result, none of the nine children were permitted to go to Anglican schools, and were therefore tutored at home. Another difference was Mr. Blackwell's insistence on equal education for his sons and daughters; an insistence that would prove valuable later on.
Elizabeth's early years were spent in relative luxury--her father, Samuel Blackwell, as the owner of a large sugar refinery. However, since he needed to live beside the factory, their home was in a poor neighborhood, despite not being poor themselves. In the economic hard times of the early 1830s, however, the Blackwells were forced to close the refinery. Eager for a fresh start, they moved to the United States in 1832. For six years they lived in New York City. A fire in 1836 destroyed the sugar refinery, and there was no insurance to help them recover their losses. An Ohio cousin suggested moving to Cincinnati and working with sugar beets, then a fairly new technology. The Blackwells decided to make this move, encouraged by the thought that sugar beet production did not require the labor of slaves, something that cane sugar at the time did. Firm abolitionists, they were happy to free themselves from the labor of slaves.
Mr. Blackwell did not live very long after their arrival in Cincinnati, however. He died in debt, and with the majority of his children underage. Elizabeth, 17, and her two older sisters, began a boarding school in their home, the Cincinnati English and French Academy for Young Ladies in order to support the family. Elizabeth quickly realized that she did not enjoy teaching, but there did not seem to be any other option open to her.
A visit to Mary Donaldson, a dying friend provided Elizabeth with the impetus she needed to make a change. Mrs. Donaldson explained that she had not sought out a doctor when she became ill because of her modesty; examinations were too embarrassing to be considered. By the time she did finally see a physician, her illness was too advanced to be cured. If there were women physicians, Mrs. Donaldson suggested, women such as herself might be saved.
Elizabeth initially rejected the idea; her own sense of modesty was assaulted by the concept of studying illness and the human body. However, the more she considered it, the more the idea appealed to her. Women would likely feel more comfortable under the care of another woman, and could ask questions that they might ask a man. And then, teaching was not a satisfactory option for a life-long career, and marriage, the exclusive career of most women of the 1800s, held little appeal either.
Elizabeth continued teaching in order to raise the tuition she would need at medical school. She moved to North Carolina in 1845, where she worked in a boarding school during the day, and studied medicine at night with a sympathetic doctor. The following year she moved to South Carolina, and did the same routine. Meanwhile, she applied to medical schools. After 29 rejections, one acceptance was finally sent in 1847--Geneva Medical College in New York State.
Geneva had a condition on her acceptance, however. All 129 students would have to approve of her as well. The students quickly voiced their approval, amid much clapping and shouting, and Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female medical student at the college.
Hard work and perseverance put her at the top of her class when she graduated in 1849 (medical schools were two-year programs at this time). Even this excellent academic record did not win her a job at any of the US hospitals she applied to. Taking advice from older colleagues, she moved to Paris, to try her luck there. After many rejections, she applied as a midwife-trainee at La Maternite, in order to continue her education, if not her career.
While caring for an infant with an eye infection, Dr. Blackwell also became infected. Despite quick treatment, and long weeks of bandaged eyes, she became blind in one eye. Because of the nature of the infection, this eye was eventually removed and replaced by one of glass. This loss was more than a blow to vanity; it put an end to her dreams of becoming a surgeon.
Resolved to continue, no matter the obstacle, she moved to London in 1850 and was accepted as an intern at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the most prestigious in the country. After a year there, she returned to the US, settling in New York City. There, she ran into problems with suspicious landlords that did not want to rent office space to a woman, especially one that claimed to be an M.D. When one finally did relent, she was charged three times the normal rent.
In order to increase business, and provide information to the general public, Dr. Blackwell began giving lectures on women's health. In 1853 she opened a clinic for poor women and children in Manhattan. From this point on her career took a steady upward trajectory.
She made some changes in her personal life at this time as well. In 1854 she adopted a little Irish orphan named Kitty Barry; Kitty becomes a lifelong companion, as well as adopted daughter. Elizabeth's sister Emily receives her medical degree, amid much discrimination, and they begin to work together.
In 1861, with the advent of the Civil War, Elizabeth Blackwell recruits and trains nurses for the Union Army. Those women that are particularly skilled are encouraged to attend her Women's Medical College, which she opens in 1863.
Elizabeth moves back to England in 1869. In 1874 she opens the London School of Medicine for Women, in an effort to encourage English and European women to consider medical careers. Two years later she publishes Counsel to Parents on the Moral Education of Their Children. It is, in essence, a guide for sex education, spurred on by her knowledge of the relationship between ignorance and the spread of venereal disease. The book becomes popular on both sides of the Atlantic, and is recommended by ministers.
In 1894, after 45 years of active practice, Elizabeth Blackwell retires. Not content to be sedentary, she continued to lecture and publish. She visits the US for the last time in 1906, at the age of 85. Four years later, on May 31, 1910, Elizabeth Blackwell dies, having lived a life of importance not only to the people she aided directly but to the thousands of women that followed in her footsteps.
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