Elizabeth Blackwell by Sophia

Have you ever heard the saying….” It is a well-established fact that in healthy loving women, uninjured by the too frequent lesions which result from childbirth, increasing physical satisfaction attaches to the ultimate physical expression of love.” These words came out of Elizabeth Blackwell.

Beginning of Life

Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. Her parents names are Samuel and Hannah Blackwell. Blackwell was the 3 of nine children. She came to New York with her family when she was 11 years old. She also moved to the United Stats with her parents in 1832. The reason she moved so many times is because her dad’s sugar factories burnt down so he just moved somewhere else so they wouldn't. She was first was a teacher to help with the money supply because they had so little at the time. Mr. Blackwell was a sugar refiner, his sugar building burnt down, so he bought another building and another house for his family that was close by. Before he bought the buildings Mr. Blackwell got sick, so Elizabeth took care of him until he was able to work again. During the time she was helping her father they had a hard time. Her father died in 1838. So, blackwell’s mother her and two older sister’s all worked as educators. Blackwell was raised in a house that stressed education.

Education

While she was in her mid-20s she had a friend suffering from a disease. Deeply affected by her friend, she decided to pursue a career in medicine. Blackwell studied with doctors before getting accepted in 1847. The reason she got accepted into the was because someone wrote a letter to every medical school in the area. The college was in upstate New York it was Geneva college. After she graduated in 1849, she traveled to Europe for practical training in hospitals there. She also helped break down what people were saying against a woman doctor. When she returned in 1851 she was judged for being a woman doctor. She earned the respect of the medical community.

Later Life

In 1851 she and her younger sister Emily Blackwell opened their own hospital in New York City. She started a medical school for woman in the late 1860s. Eventually She returned to England. Blackwell helped establish the U.S. sanitary commission in 1861. She spent the rest of her life working to open the medical profession to woman. Eventually Elizabeth Blackwell died on May 31, 1910 at her house in Hastings, England.

It doesn’t matter if you are a girl or a boy. You can still do the same things if you try hard enough. Just like Elizabeth Blackwell the first woman doctor.