We’ve all seen a doctor at some point or another in our lives. Some of us make a point of doing this annually, just to look under the hood and check our oil. Kick our tires and all.
I am thankfully for my family doctor, and I think she is just swell. Seriously. I’ve been lucky enough to find a great one. I’ve been with her for decades now.
I take for granted that she is a woman. It was a long time coming for a woman to be a doctor in this world. In fact, the very first female American physician was Elizabeth Blackwell in 1849.
I can’t really imagine being the “first female” anything. The world has been male-dominated for so many centuries, that when a woman breaks through that barrier and takes on a task only done by men, a lot of weight and responsibility is put on her shoulders. You get the stone in your shoe, free of charge.
So. Yes. Elizabeth Blackwell. When she graduated from Geneva Medical School in 1849, she earned more than a medical degree. She became America’s first woman doctor.
Of course, it wasn’t easy going for her whatsoever. Just the opposite. She had been rejected by all but one college. Her peers regularly shunned her. Despite it all, Blackwell managed to build an impressive career.
Her life was filled with interesting events, starting early on with her family. They were a united clan of reformers and activists. So, from a very early age, Elizabeth was learning by example, seeing the actions of her parents who were progressive and courageous. Blackwell’s father was staunchly anti-slavery and quite active in the American abolitionist movement. They sheltered well-known abolitionist speakers and hid runaway enslaved people in their family home. Perhaps seeing others’ lofty ideas about humankind, gave her thoughts concerning her own.
She was also encouraged by a dying friend to pursue medicine. This was in 1845. Elizabeth was at the bedside of a friend who was dying from ovarian cancer. Her friend told her, “If I could have been treated by a lady doctor, my worst sufferings would have been spared me.” And then she asked Elizabeth why she wasn’t studying medicine.
At that particular time, Blackwell was working as a teacher in Kentucky. She initially rejected the idea of becoming a doctor, saying it was out of the question.
But, within a year or so, something flipped, and she began her path to a medical degree. Sometimes the Universe opens up and gives us a little extra pat on bootie, sending us through a door. I think this was the case for Elizabeth. You see, the only medical school to admit Elizabeth Blackwell did so as a joke.
She applied to many different medical schools and only received rejections in return. At that time, women were not allowed in medical school. But. Luckily. Or serendipitously. There was one somewhat accidental exception. When she applied to Geneva Medical College (now Hobart and William Smith Colleges), the admittance faculty decided to leave the decision up to the students. They assumed there would be no way she could get in. The administrators told the 150 — male — students that one little single “no” vote would keep her out. Some of those boys thought her application was a prank. Others thought it would be funny to let her try. So. Unanimously and remarkably, they all voted yes.
And that — as they say — is history. Blackwell was through the front door.
But her Professors made it extremely hard on her. Elizabeth had to sit separately during lectures. Most of the time, she was excluded from her labs. Even the local people would not engage with her, saying she was “improper.” Despite it all, Elizabeth graduated at the top of her class. She had also earned the respect of her peers.
Elizabeth’s opened the way for other women wishing to pursue the medical field in the future. A first. And not the last.
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“The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before.”
― Albert Einstein
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“Never mourn the loss of a map.
There remains a world to discover.”
― Vijay Fafat
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“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
― Stephen King
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The end of her name is “well” and there she went.
