Despite the opposition of the public and students, Elizabeth Blackwell, who graduated from Geneva College (New York) Medical School on January 23, 1849 in the United States and made history as the first female Doctor, was born on February 3, 1821 in Bristol, England. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was born 195 years ago on February 3, 1821 in Bristol, England. Blackwell moved to the United States (USA) with her family when she was 11 years old, and lost her father, who was a human and women’s rights advocate and an opponent of slavery, in 1838. Elizabeth, who wanted to study at the Faculty of Medicine and become a Doctor, received “rejection” from 12 places. Finally, she became a medical student at Geneva College (New York) in 1847 and graduated first in her class on January 23, 1849 (1). It was very difficult for a woman to work as a Doctor at that time. No one would rent Elizabeth their house or office to open a practice because she was a woman, and hospitals would not hire her. Even in Paris, she contracted purulent ophthalmia from a young patient in a clinic where she worked as an assistant before her diploma was accepted. After losing one of her eyes, she had to give up her dreams of becoming a surgeon. Elizabeth, who returned to New York, was finally able to buy her own house and open a practice. Years later, she attracted the attention of the press due to her successes, and in 1857, she even managed to open a “University Hospital” where only women received medical education. The “Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary” provided a very strict medical education. 
Because she did not want anyone to speak badly about women doctors. Students were expelled if they were affected psychologically at the slightest during their education. However, all graduates successfully became doctors despite all the pressure from the “Male Medical School” instructors in the exams. Returning to England in 1869, Elizabeth founded the National Health Society (today’s National Health Service in England).
Later, together with Florence Nightingale, they began to train nurses and doctors at the “London School of Medicine for Women”. Later, she gradually moved away from her working life and began to write books. Elizabeth died in Scotland in 1910.
In her book, “Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women” published in 1895, Dr. Blackwell initially avoided the idea of studying medicine. She said she hated everything to do with the body and wrote that her favorite studies were history and metaphysics. She wrote that her ideals turned to medical science when a close friend told her that she would suffer less if her doctor were a woman while she was dying.
resources
1) Antonius Lux (Hrsg.): Große Frauen der Weltgeschichte. 1000 Biographien in Wort und Bild . Sebastian Lux Verlag , München 1963, P. 67.
2) Elizabeth Blackwell, Amy Sue Bix, Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women: Autobiographical Sketches. Humanity Books, 2005. ISBN 1-59102-255-X
Images are taken from Wikipedia.
