Dr. Elizabeth BlackwellBiography
From here, one may take one’s choice of two competing versions of the story. Either the young men of the medical school thought that the members of the faculty were joking when they said that a woman had applied and so they joined in the joke by voting yes, or the students knew that the faculty was genuinely troubled and thought it would, therefore, be hilarious to vote to admit the woman applicant. In any event, from that supposed joke came Blackwell’s opportunity, which she seized with determination and ultimate success.
She graduated two years later, January 23, 1849, at the head of her class. A contemporary letter, describing the exercises, says that Blackwell received her diploma from the hands of President Benjamin Hale and said, “Sir, by the help of the Most High, it shall be the effort of my life to shed honor on this diploma.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Feb. 3, 1821, Counterslip, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
Death
May 31, 1910, Hastings, Sussex
Education
Geneva Medical College Graduation: January 1849
Accomplishments
- Wrote 1852 The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls.
- Founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.
- First woman’s name placed on the British medical register
- Began the Woman’s Medical College at the New York Infirmary
- Assisted in the organization of the Woman’s Central Association of Relief and the U.S. Sanitary Commission