Great Personalities

Elizabeth Blackwell

As a young woman, Elizabeth Blackwell earned her living as a teacher. But she was not happy in her work. She longed for independence and became a supporter of women’s rights. Searching for a career that would offer her independence and that would allow her to help people. Blackwell decided to become a doctor.

Medical profession

Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821, in Bristol, England. She and her family moved to the United States in 1832. It was in United States that Blackwell applied to a medical school. However, women were not welcome in medical profession, and Blackwell was repeatedly denied admission. Finally she was accepted by the Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York.

Less kindly

Most of her fellow students respected her, but the doctors at a hospital where she went for training treated her less kindly. “When I walked into the wards they walked out”, she later wrote. Still, Blackwell did not give up. She graduated from medical school in 1849, the first woman in the United States to do so. She then went to Europe to continue her studies.

Women’s Medical College

Blackwell returned to the United States in 1851, but no hospital would allow her to practice medicine. In 1853, she set up her own clinic in New York City.
In 1857 she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, a hospital run mostly by women. In 1868 she founded the Women’s Medical College, the first of its kind in America.
In 1869, she returned to England and founded the London School of Medicine for women. She died in Hastings, England, on May 31, 1910, at the age of 89.