Published:
February 3, 2021 at 6:06 am
You may be familiar with the name Elizabeth Blackwell, usually followed by the phrase ‘first woman doctor’. Born in Bristol in the early 19th century, she later became the first woman in America to receive a medical degree. Maybe you had a picture book about her as a child – an inspirational tale for girls. Or maybe you’ve never heard of her at all.
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The nine Blackwell siblings were the children of a paradox. Their father Samuel, a Dissenter from the Church of England, was both a sugar refiner and an abolitionist, a man who profited from a commodity that depended on enslaved labour – which he abhorred.
Elizabeth Blackwell, mujer, de profesión médica lavanguardia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lavanguardia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Joseph Stanley Kozlowski, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
When she graduated from medical school in 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell earned more than an M.D.: she also earned the distinction of becoming America’s first woman doctor.
It wasn’t an easy road. Rejected by all but one college and regularly shunned by her peers, Blackwell still managed to build an impressive and varied career. Her tenacity and trailblazing achievements helped expand women’s access to the medical field in the United States and beyond.
1. Elizabeth Blackwell was born into a family of reformers and activists.
Blackwell was steeped in examples of progressive courage from an early age. Despite being in the sugar business (an industry that, in the early 1800s, relied heavily on enslaved people for labor), Blackwell’s father was staunchly anti-slavery. When the family moved from England to the United States in 1835, they became active in the American abolitionist movement.
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A metrotome sounds like a more pleasant device than it is. A switchblade of sorts, it was once used to treat fertility issues. A doctor would push the metrotome into a woman’s uterus, press the handle, and release the blade; when he pulled it out, it cut through one side of her cervix. After that, the doctor reinserted the tool and repeated the procedure on the other side. Eventually a version of the metrotome was made with a double blade that could cut both sides of the cervix at once a supposed improvement on the original design.