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Short Biography of Elizabeth Blackwell
Date of Birth: Born on February 3, 1821
Place of Birth : Bristol, England
Parents: Father - Samuel Blackwell
Mother:
Hannah Blackwell
Background Facts, Information & Ancestry :
The Blackwell family were very religious Quakers.
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1821 |
This timeline starts on
February 3, 1821 when Elizabeth was born in Bristol
in England. Her wealthy parents were Hannah and
Samuel Blackwell. She was the third of nine
children. All of the children, both the boys and the
girls were given a good education. |
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1832 |
Unable to pay his taxes Samuel
Blackwell moved his family to New York, where her
father owned a sugar refinery business. Influenced
by their Quaker beliefs the family became active in
the abolitionist movement |
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1838 |
The Blackwell family moved to
Cincinnati. Samuel died in Cincinnati, leaving the
family without financial resources |
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1839 |
Elizabeth took a teaching job
in Kentucky to make money to pay for medical school |
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1845 |
She moved to North Carolina
where she read medicine in the home of Dr. John
Dickson as no medical school would admit a woman |
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1847 |
She managed to acquire a place
and attended Geneva College in New York studying
medicine. She was treated with sheer disgust by many
people who believed that medicine was a totally
unsuitable career for a woman |
|
1849 |
January 11, 1849: Elizabeth
Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical
degree in the United States, graduating at the top
of her class. |
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1849 |
She was banned from practicing
in most hospitals so she moved to Paris, France to
train at La Maternitè |
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1850 |
During her training in Paris
she contracted a terrible eye disease called
purulent ophthalmia which resulted in having her eye
removed and replaced by a glass eye |
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1851 |
Elizabeth Blackwell returned
to New York but still faced the prejudice against
female doctors in the medical profession |
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1857 |
May 12, 1857 - Elizabeth with
her sister Emily and Dr.Marie Zakrzewska, founded
their own infirmary, named the New York Infirmary
for Indigent Women and Children |
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1861 |
Abraham Lincoln elected
President of the US and the Civil War starts. During
the period of the Civil War Elizabeth Blackwell
trained many women to be nurses who were of great
help to the Union Army |
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1863 |
Abraham Lincoln issues
the Emancipation Proclamation
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1865 |
The Civil War ends. Lincoln is
assassinated. The 13th amendment to Constitution
abolishes slavery
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1868 |
Due to the good reputation she
acquired during her work in the Civil War Elizabeth
Blackwell was able to establish a Women's Medical
College at the Infirmary to train women, physicians,
and doctors |
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1869 |
In 1869 she returned to
England and with Florence Nightingale opened the
Women's Medical College. Elizabeth Blackwell taught
at the London School of Medicine for Women. She was
the first female physician and doctor in the UK
Medical Register. |
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1875-
1907 |
She became a Professor of
Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for
Women from 1875 to 1907. |
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1910 |
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell died
May 31, 1910 at her home in Hastings in the South
coast of England. Her cause of death is unknown. She
was 89 years old. |
