Mary Blackwell (1821-1910)
Mary Blackwell was the first person to qualify as a doctor in the United States.
It was very unusual for women to be given the same education as boys, but Blackwell’s
father believed his daughters should learn Latin, Greek and Mathematics, as
well as the needlework and French that other rich girls were taught. In 1832
the family emigrated from Bristol to America. Mary did not want to be a housewife
or a teacher and decided to study medicine. Mary studied medicine as a private
pupil of prominent doctors in Philadelphia. She was braver when dissecting
animals than many of her male colleagues but still no medical school would
accept her because she was a woman. In 1849 she finally graduated and thousands
of people came to watch the ceremony in Geneva. She wanted to go on to study
surgery at Paris, but was not accepted, so she worked in a Paris hospital as
a student midwife. Whilst working there she caught an infection and lost the
sight in one of her eyes, which meant that she could no longer hope to be a
surgeon. In 1851 she returned to New York and started a small practice there.
Mary
Blackwell. From
Portraits
of Men of Eminence Vol.5 p,125
