The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell

Medicine has revolutionized the way life is lived worldwide. When Elizabeth Blackwell was alive, women often died from complications of pregnancy or complications during childbirth.1 Nowadays, the percent of women in first and second world countries who die from complications of pregnancy/childbirth has significantly decreased. If women had not entered the field of medicine, aspects of gynecology, pediatrics, birth control, abortion, and even mental health may not have received the attention they deserve and have now. Elizabeth Blackwell broke the barrier on women when she became the first woman to graduate from medical school in America.

Elizabeth Blackwell was born and raised in England, although her contributions to medicine were made in America. She was born into a household where she was encouraged to do the same things as her brothers, being taught to “read, write, and study the classics”.1 This environment allowed her to thrive both as a child and later as a physician. “It is a great advantage to have been born one of a large group of healthy, active children, surrounded by wholesome influences.” The Blackwell’s sailed to America in 1832, which would benefit Elizabeth in ways they could not have predicted. When Elizabeth was 17, her father died, and she had to work to support her family. She taught “music, French, and academic subjects”.1 During this time, she was exposed to the brutality of slavery as well as the concept of Transcendentalism. She did not enjoy teaching, due to her female students’ lack of interest in their studies.

Several years went by, and Elizabeth encountered a friend who was dying. “She once said to me: ‘You are fond of study, have health and leisure; why not study medicine? If I could have been treated by a lady doctor, my worst sufferings would have been spared me.’”6 Elizabeth initially rejected the idea entirely. She was repulsed by the human body and its illnesses, and it was considered “unwomanly” at the time for women to pursue higher education, especially in medicine. Although she loved her studies, physiology was revolting to her. However, as time went on, she was unable to shake the idea of going into medicine. “I felt more determined than ever to become a physician, and thus place a strong barrier between me and all ordinary marriage. I must have something to engross my thoughts, some object in life which will fill this vacuum and prevent this sad wearing away of the heart.”2 She feared any sort of lifetime commitment to men, and would never marry.

The fall of 1847 marked the beginning of Blackwell’s education to become a woman physician. Having been rejected by other medical colleges, she applied to go to “Geneva College in New York”, where the faculty “reluctantly agreed to accept her if the 150 male students unanimously voted her in.”5 The men did so, supposedly as a joke. She began her schooling in October of 1847. She did her residency at the Blockley Hospital; she graduated with honors, and the president of Geneva College even acknowledged her at the graduation. “Departing from the usual form, he rose, and addressed her in a manner so emphatic and unusual, that she was surprised into a response. ‘I thank you, sir,’ said she. ‘With the help of the Most High, it shall be the duty of my life to shed honor on this diploma.’”4 Even following her graduation, she was criticized for going into medicine.

Following her graduation, Elizabeth Blackwell pursued further studies in Europe, particularly France. It was a “a dangerous time to be in France, for disease epidemics and revolts against Napoleon were raging.”5 She was able to attend a school for midwives, where she gained a lot of firsthand experience. This experience inspired her: “Blackwell embarked on her lifelong goal of educating not only the public, but doctors themselves, about the need for cleanliness and patient comfort.”5 Scientists had not yet discovered the effects of germs or how they spread, so hospitals were “appalling places at the time”, due to the lack of cleanliness in operating rooms. Another contributing factor was that “anesthesia was only three years old and only slowly being accepted by physicians”.5 Modern-day physicians can attest that anesthesia is one of the biggest aspects of patient comfort.

Elizabeth hit a roadblock before she was able to begin working towards her goals, one of which was to be a surgeon. She fell ill after treating a baby with severe eye infections, and was unable to work for months due to temporary blindness. She even lost one eye and had to wear a glass eye for the rest of her life. Due to this impairment, she decided to make education about prevention of disease and the importance of sanitization her goal. Her first lecture was about personal hygiene and physical education. She fetched a very small audience, and her lectures were mainly accepted by Quakers. She had to begin at the very bottom of the totem pole when she started practicing medicine, constantly having the insult “woman doctor” (associated with home abortions) thrown at her. She went on to teach the importance of sanitization during the Civil War, which led to an exponentially decreased death rate.

As Elizabeth was establishing herself in her field, her sister Emily Blackwell was also getting a degree in medicine. She was the third woman in America to do so. Following the Civil War, the sisters established a women’s school for medicine, which they named “the Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary”.5 There were other women’s schools, but the sisters offered a more rigorous, focused curriculum.

Elizabeth Blackwell played a monumental role in medicine as a trailblazer for women’s rights to work in the medical field. Without her contributions, prodigious women like Marie Curie may not have been inspired or even allowed to work in their fields. Looking past the gender aspect, Elizabeth Blackwell’s emphasis on sanitization practices led to safer practices by physicians and nurses. Her ability to see the connection between lack of sanitization in operating rooms and post-op complications and/or infections was arguably revolutionary at that time, when germ theory was not fully developed or understood. Elizabeth lived a non-traditional lifestyle for women at the time, never marrying and consequently never having a child of her own (excluding the child she adopted). She “realized that combining this with a demanding career was an impossibility at the time”.5 Her self-sacrifice and dedication to medicine makes her one of the most monumental women in history.

Works Cited

1. Riddle, D. (2019). Elizabeth Blackwell: America's First Female Doctor. National Women's History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell
2. Blackwell, E. (1895). Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women: Autobiographical Sketches. Fleming H. Revell Company.
3. Borstelmann, T. (1995). To Teach the Severest Task: Women's Medical Education in the United States. Journal of Women's History, 7(4), 11-33. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25034667
4. Wellcome Collection. (n.d.). Elizabeth Blackwell: A Medical Pioneer. Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/X3aePSEAACcH3DFM
5. Rothman, B. (2005). Elizabeth Blackwell: First Woman MD. American Journal of Public Health, 95(9), 1454-1455. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.055830
6. Blackwell, E. (1852). Address of Miss. E. Blackwell, M.D., to the Female Medical Students. In Proceedings of the Third Anniversary Meeting of the New York Female Auxiliary to the American Anti-Slavery Society.
7. Todd, A. M. (1970). The Indomitable Miss Blackwell: The Story of America's First Woman Doctor. J. Messner.
8. Oberman, M., & Roberts, R. (2016). A Tale of Two Sisters: Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell. Hektoen International, 8(3). https://hekint.org/2016/11/06/a-tale-of-two-sisters-elizabeth-blackwell-and-emily-blackwell/
9. Baker, R. (2004). Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D.: First Woman Physician. Childhood Education, 81(3), 185-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2004.10522765
10. Rogak, L. (2015). The Extraordinary Suzy Wright: A Colonial Woman on the Frontier. National Geographic Children's Books.