Inspirational Quotes by Elizabeth Blackwell (American Physician)

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) was a British-American physician. She was the first woman to earn a medical degree in America (1849) and the first woman enrolled in the Medical Register of the United Kingdom(1858.)

Born in Bristol, England, Blackwell was the sister of Emily Blackwell, also a physician. Her family immigrated to the U.S. in 1832, where her father died six years later, leaving a widow and nine children. Elizabeth helped support the family by teaching, dedicating her leisure to the study of medical books. Alter futile applications for admission to various medical schools, she enrolled in Geneva, in New York State, and graduated in 1849.

Blackwell visited Europe and, after much frustration, was admitted into Paris’s La Maternité and London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital. In 1851, she returned to New York City, where she founded a dispensary, The New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. She also played a vital role during the American Civil War organizing nurses. After 1868, she lived in England until her death.

Blackwell wrote a series of discourses, published as The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls (1852.) She also wrote The Religion of Health (1871,) Counsel to Parents on the Moral Education of Their Children (1878,) and The Human Element in Sex (1884.)

Blackwell’s autobiography is Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women (1895.) American writer Dorothy Clarke Wilson wrote Lone Woman: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, the First Woman Doctor (1970.)

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