today we're looking at elizabeth blackwell
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resources that go along with some of these videos elizabeth blackwell was the first woman to receive
a medical degree in the united states she opened the way for other women to pursue a career in
medicine and she led social and moral reform efforts in both the united states and britain
elizabeth was born february 3rd 1821 in bristol england she was the third of nine children born
to samuel and hannah blackwell elizabeth's father samuel ran several sugar refineries
near bristol and unlike most families of the time samuel believed strongly that both his male
and female children should receive an equal education so from a young age elizabeth had
tutors and instructors that would visit her home to instruct her and all of the other children in
1832 when elizabeth was about 11 years old her family immigrated to the united states after one
of her father's refineries burned down the family first moved to new york and then cincinnati ohio
her father was a staunch abolitionist and argued how immoral the entire institution of slavery was
she grew up with her father instilling the virtues of education and moral responsibility in her
but in 1838 her father died and left the family with little money and elizabeth and her sisters
opened a private school to begin to bring in money for the family and eventually elizabeth taught
in kentucky for a short time and it was while teaching there that she was exposed firsthand to
the institution of slavery right around this time she began to get interested in practicing medicine
when a friend that was ill told her the worst part of her illness is that i am being treated
by a rough unfeeling man elizabeth began to look into attending medical school however this was a
daunting task medical schools had only accepted male students and so elizabeth had to move from
place to place living in north carolina then south carolina and pennsylvania and trying to
save money trying to find a medical school that would take her she was turned away by 29 colleges
before geneva medical school in geneva new york accepted her in 1847 while attending college there
she was ridiculed by her male classmates and even had professors that refused to allow her
to attend labs or demonstrations nonetheless she she didn't give up and she continued working her
way through the program and on january 23 1849 she graduated at the top of her class
with this degree she was now the first woman in the united states to have a medical degree
and qualify as a medical doctor she then furthered her education in france where she again had to
overcome discrimination against women entering the medical field there she studied to be a
midwife and in 1849 while performing a procedure she accidentally got some contaminated fluid in
her left eye which resulted in an infection which then resulted in her losing her eyesight in her
left eye so after losing sight in that eye it ended her hopes of eventually becoming a surgeon
elizabeth returned to new york and along with her sister emily who had also gotten a medical
degree by this point they opened a medical practice called the new york infirmary for
indigent women and children in 1857. by the time the civil war began in 1861 blackwell's practice
in new york had also become a nursing training center elizabeth was a strong supporter of the
union especially with her abolitionist ideals so throughout the war she aided in training nurses
to help with the war effort and by 1869 elizabeth and her sister emily had some disagreements and so
elizabeth moved to england hoping to promote women in medical education there in 1874 she helped in
opening the london school of medicine for women in 1877 she retired from the school and medicine
and it was in her retirement that she began to fight for social reform she argued in favor of
women's rights sanitation efforts and preventative medicine she urged christian morality be used in
medical practices in 1907 while on a vacation in scotland she fell down a flight of stairs
which left her severely physically and mentally disabled a few years later on may 31st of 1910 she
died after suffering a stroke at the age of 89. in a time period when men dominated medicine
elizabeth blackwell came in and clearly proved that women could practice medicine just as good
as any man to this day she is still honored for her contributions to medicine and for opening the
doors for women in medicine so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you