Elizabeth Blackwell
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
- Born: February 3, 1821 in Bristol, England
- Died: May 31, 1920 in Hastings, England
- Buried in St. Munn’s Parish Church in Kilmun, Scotland
- Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973
First woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. Relentless public health activist.
This is a story that is likely to make your blood boil and your heart sing all at the same time. After a dying friend shared that her suffering would have been lessened had her doctor been a woman, young Elizabeth did as any certified brave woman would do, she applied to medical school. Actually, about two dozen of them.
Finally, she was accepted to New York State’s Geneva Medical College (now known as Hobart and William Smith Colleges) – as a joke. The faculty of Geneva thought it would be fun to put Blackwell’s application out for a vote among the 150 male students. The guys voted unanimously to let her in. Oops!
Elizabeth graduated at the top of her class, becoming the first female physician in the U.S. and going on to do incredible things like opening the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, training nurses for war service, and helping to develop the United States Sanitary Commission. Looks like she got the last laugh.
“If society will not admit of woman’s free development, then society must be remodeled.”
— Elizabeth Blackwell
Learn more about Elizabeth Blackwell
A bronze statue of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell can be found on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, continuing to inspire future medical professionals. In addition to the Elizabeth Blackwell Street in Geneva, there is another Elizabeth Blackwell Street in Syracuse, NY – appropriately next to Upstate Medical Hospital.
