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Elizabeth Blackwell, born February 3, 1821, was the third of nine children. Her father moved his family from England to America in 1832. There, Elizabeth became America's first female physician, no simple task for a woman at this time.
Because she was a woman, Elizabeth experienced rejection from numerous medical schools to which she applied. In 1847, her admittance to Geneva Medical School in New York provided Elizabeth the opportunity to earn her degree, though her acceptance by unanimous vote of the all-male class was based on their assumption that consideration of a woman student must be a joke. Yet this petite, soft-spoken, reserved woman couldn’t have been more serious. Her quiet determination enabled her to disregard the obvious hostility of professors, fellow students, and townspeople alike and press on to achieve her goal.
Elizabeth was determined to earn the right to practice medicine, although many nineteenth-century physicians (some of them women) did so without an earned degree. Her abilities were evident when she graduated at the top of her class and was awarded her diploma in 1849 at the age of 28. Elizabeth is reported as saying, "Sir, by the help of the Most High, it shall be the effort of my life to shed honor on this diploma."
Dr. Blackwell went on to provide health care for women and children, but not without further resistance. Prejudiced landlords would not rent to her, so she was forced to purchase a house. She welcomed women into the practice she established in her own home, where they could feel at ease being treated by a doctor of their own gender. As her practice grew, she also wrote lectures on health issues.
In 1853, Dr. Blackwell established the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in the slums of New York City. Emily Blackwell would later join her sister in her work as the second female physician in America. Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, a Polish immigrant whom Elizabeth encouraged to succeed in this field, worked with the sisters. These three women pioneers of medicine and their clinic were supported and consulted by a number of leading male physicians. Elizabeth later established the Women's Medical College at this infirmary as well.
Dr. Blackwell felt strongly about her role in the medical field and in providing health care for the good of women and was firmly opposed to abortion. After learning of the prosperous business of a female New York abortionist, she wrote in her journal:
"The gross perversion and destruction of motherhood by the abortionist filled me with indignation, and awakened active antagonism. That the honorable term `female physician' should be exclusively applied to those women who carry on this shocking trade seemed to me a horror. It was an utter degradation of what might and should become a noble position for women...I finally determined to do what I could to 'redeem the hells'; and especially the one form of hell forced upon my notice..."
Dr. Blackwell's position could not be misunderstood with such a statement. In spite of many trials and obstacles, her lifetime accomplishments provided a lasting impact in moving forward such causes as health education, establishing a high standard of hygiene in medical practice, and abolition of prostitution and white slavery, among many others.
When Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell passed away at age 89 on May 31, 1910, over 7,000 women had become licensed physicians and surgeons in the United States. Today, an award given in her honor marks two aspects of a life that was lived with notable purpose and determination: her bold professional achievement which opened doors for other women, and her life of service, using her talents and abilities, which benefited others.
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