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Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 197th birthday of physician and abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell.
Blackwell spent the first part of her working life as a teacher, but in the mid-1840s, the death of a friend prompted her to study medicine. After much contemplation, she set her mind to becoming a doctor, and she decided that only one of Philadelphia's prestigious medical schools would do.
But there were no female doctors in the United States at the time, and the medical establishment didn't want to change that. Blackwell applied to medical school after medical school, and she got back rejection after rejection. Some said that as a woman, she obviously wasn't up to the rigors of medical study and practice; others said that they couldn't risk her becoming competition for the male doctors already practicing. Beset on all sides by contradictory rejections, she sought advice from every doctor she could find. Several of them actually suggested that Blackwell would be better of disguising herself as a man to apply for medical school.
Instead, she applied to what today's college-bound students would call "backup schools," and one was brave enough to take her. She entered Geneva Medical College (now Hobart College) in 1847 and graduated in 1849. When he presented her diploma, the dean bowed to her.
There's no denying that Blackwell was a pioneer, but she was also, in many ways, a product of her time. She's remembered as an advocate for women's rights, and she certainly was, but she also argued - on religious grounds - against medical contraception, advocating the (significantly less effective) rhythm method instead. Her approach to medicine focused on moral and social reform, and she believed that morality and spirituality played a role in disease and wellness. It wasn't an uncommon view at the time, and on that basis, she argued against inoculations and vaccines, and she firmly rejected the newfangled idea that microscopic organisms cause disease.
“It is not easy to be a pioneer – but oh, it is fascinating!”
-Elizabeth Blackwell
As the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, an active champion of women’s rights, and an abolitionist, Elizabeth Blackwell was nothing if not a pioneer.
Blackwell grew up in Bristol and emigrated to the United States with her family, where she began her professional life as a teacher. Early on, she asserted her moral convictions: when a teaching position in Kentucky exposed her to the brutality of slavery for the first time, she set up a Sunday school for slaves and became a staunch abolitionist.
Years later, the death of a friend prompted her foray into medicine, as Blackwell believed a female physician might have lessened her friend’s suffering. She persisted through seemingly endless rejections from medical schools – at least once being told that she should dress as a man in order to gain admittance. Finally, she was accepted into the Geneva Medical College by a unanimous vote of the all-male student body. She went on to establish a women-governed infirmary, found two medical colleges for women, and mentor several physicians.
Today’s Doodle is by illustrator Harriet Lee Merrion – who happens to be based in Bristol and regularly cycles past the house where Elizabeth grew up! Her illustration shows Blackwell in the midst of her pioneering practice and celebrates the significant positive impact she had on the lives of people around the world.
Early drafts of the Doodle below
Wikimedia Commons
Elizabeth Blackwell, “the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree,” is the subject of a Google Doodle honoring what would have been her 197th birthday.
In its biography on Blackwell, Google described her as “an active champion of women’s rights, and an abolitionist,” saying that Elizabeth Blackwell “was nothing if not a pioneer.”
Her contributions to the medical profession extended beyond her own degree. “Elizabeth Blackwell championed the participation of women in the medical profession and ultimately opened her own medical college for women,” a biography of her on Womenshistory.org notes.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Elizabeth Blackwell Was an Immigrant From Bristol & Worked as a Teacher
Google The Elizabeth Blackwell Google Doodle. The Elizabeth Blackwell Google Doodle.
Blackwell “grew up in Bristol and emigrated to the United States with her family, where she began her professional life as a teacher,” Google noted. Her family was initially well off, even affording private tutors for their children, but “financial reverses and the family’s liberal social and religious views prompted them to immigrate to the United States in the summer of 1832,” reports Brittanica.
Specifically, Elizabeth Blackwell “was born in Bristol, England in 1821, to Hannah Lane and Samuel Blackwell,” according to CFmedicine. She was influenced by her father’s empathy toward others and his social causes. “Both for financial reasons and because her father wanted to help abolish slavery, the family moved to America when Elizabeth was 11 years old. Her father died in 1838. As adults, his children campaigned for women’s rights and supported the anti-slavery movement,” the site reports.
Blackwell was also moved by the plight of others. “Early on, she asserted her moral convictions: when a teaching position in Kentucky exposed her to the brutality of slavery for the first time, she set up a Sunday school for slaves and became a staunch abolitionist,” Google reported.
2. Blackwell Became a Physician After the Death of a Friend
Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell.
Blackwell authored a book called Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, which was published in 1895. In it, she wrote that she did not immediately take to the medical field. She wrote that she “hated everything connected with the body, and could not bear the sight of a medical book… My favourite studies were history and metaphysics, and the very thought of dwelling on the physical structure of the body and its various ailments filled me with disgust.”
Her attitude toward the medical profession changed after she witnessed the suffering of a friend, however. According to Google, Blackwell shifted from teaching to medicine when she was traumatized by the death of a friend. “Blackwell believed a female physician might have lessened her friend’s suffering,” reports Google.
Blackwell was blind in one eye, which prevented her from becoming a surgeon. However, she achieved her dream of becoming a doctor, although the pathway was full of hurdles.
3. Elizabeth Blackwell Faced Discrimination, Once Being Told to Dress Like a Man
Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell.
It wasn’t easy for a woman to become a doctor in that era. “She persisted through seemingly endless rejections from medical schools – at least once being told that she should dress as a man in order to gain admittance,” Google wrote. “Finally, she was accepted into the Geneva Medical College by a unanimous vote of the all-male student body. She went on to establish a women-governed infirmary, found two medical colleges for women, and mentor several physicians.”
She was 28-years-old when she received her diploma. She was let into medical school on a vote by the student body, although they didn’t take it seriously until she showed up, PBS reports.
According to Biography.com, the prejudice was so severe that the other students thought Blackwell’s attendance in medical school was a joke. “She studied independently with doctors before getting accepted in 1847 to Geneva Medical College in upstate New York. Her acceptance was deemed by the student body as an administrative practical joke,” the site noted.
4. Elizabeth Blackwell Created a Medical School for Women
Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell.
Elizabeth Blackwell was a pioneer in several respects. In addition to being the first U.S. women to be awarded a medical degree, she “created a medical school for women in the late 1860s,” although she returned to private practice in England. She died on May 31, 1910, in Hastings, according to Biography.com.
“Elizabeth Blackwell set very high standards for admission, academic and clinical training, and certification for the school, which continued in operation for 31 years; she herself occupied the chair of hygiene,” Brittanica reports of the school.
5. Elizabeth Blackwell’s Siblings Were All Accomplished
Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell.
The family was accomplished in many respects. “Blackwell’s famous relatives included brother Henry, a well-known abolitionist and women’s suffrage supporter who married women’s rights activist Lucy Stone; Emily Blackwell, who followed her sister into medicine; and sister-in-law Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first ordained female minister in a mainstream Protestant denomination,” Womenshistory.org reports.
However, the family did not have it easy and, when the patriarch of the family died in America, the family was quite poor with Elizabeth turning to teaching to make do, the site reports.
This article was first published in the September 2011 issue of BBC History Magazine
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Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman doctor of medicine in the modern era. She was born in Bristol and emigrated to the United States at the age of 11. Her application to the Geneva Medical College in New York was treated as some sort of joke and no one thought she would actually turn up. But she did just that and went on not only to earn her medical degree but to come top of her class. In 1859, her name was added to the General Medical Council’s medical register.
Barred from practising in established hospitals, Blackwell founded a teaching hospital of her own, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. During the American Civil War (1861–65) she trained women doctors and nurses for the front. She later returned to England and co-founded the London School of Medicine for Women. She was a professor of gynaecology there until her retirement in 1907.
Q. When did you first hear about Elizabeth Blackwell?
A. I first came across Elizabeth Blackwell when trying to find out whether Florence Nightingale’s work in the Crimean War (1853–56) had influenced the development of nursing during the American Civil War. It turned out that Dr Blackwell knew Florence Nightingale well and frequently shared ideas and discoveries with her. At one point they considered setting up a hospital together.
Q. What kind of person was she?
A. Poor Elizabeth was, according to the writer Elizabeth Gaskell, “very like a school mistress and rather repulsive in her manner”. She never married and had few friends or interests outside her mission to bring medicine to women. I think in essence she was terribly shy. It didn’t help that she caught an infection at La Maternité hospital in France, which resulted in the loss of one of her eyes.
Q. What makes her a hero?
A. She is a hero for her single-minded determination to become a doctor. There is no doubt in my mind that Elizabeth sacrificed her personal happiness for the sake of her ideals.
Q. What was her finest hour?
A. Her finest hour was the bravery she displayed in July 1863, when New York City was convulsed by the worst rioting in the history of America. Called the Draft Riots, for three days white rioters expressed their anger over the Civil War and the federal draft by lynching any free black they could find. Elizabeth Blackwell risked her life by sheltering her black patients from the fury of the mob outside the hospital.
Q. Is there anything that you don’t particularly admire about her?
A. Elizabeth Blackwell was unable to empathise with or accept other people’s weaknesses. She almost ruined her sister Emily’s life by her relentless demand for perfection. She certainly ruined Kitty’s, her adopted daughter, who never had a life of her own.
Q. Can you see any parallels between Elizabeth’s life and your own?
A. We are both Anglo-Americans. We have both lived, had our educations, and made our careers on either side of the Atlantic. Perhaps this is why I have felt so drawn to her – because I know exactly what she means when she writes that her work and her home never seem to be in the same place.
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Amanda Foreman is a historian and author. Her 1998 book Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (HarperCollins) was the basis for a 2008 film starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.
