Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) is one of my heroes for several reasons.
First, she was the first woman American doctor and she got into medical school because the faculty and students thought it was a joke.
Second, she was a solid Christian and committed to serving the poor.
Third, she lived with a strong sense of justice. Because of her family’s anti-slavery stance in England, her father sold his sugar business and subsequently lost everything. The family then emigrated to America to start a new life. Before entering medical school, she resigned from a teaching post because the social milieu that tolerated slavery was so repugnant to her.
Fourth, Elizabeth is my middle name. Although that was not intentional, I don’t believe in accidents.
February 3 is her birthday and I like to celebrate by bringing her to your attention. Her life is so inspiring. There are many more reasons than the five points I’ve mentioned. I hope you will discover her for yourself.
She wrote an autobiography called “Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women” which is where I always like to start. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/blackwell/pioneer/pioneer.html
Here are a couple of other articles about her:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00260-9/fulltext
https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_35.html
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