EDUCATION


EDUCATION
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Pursuit of Medical Education

Elizabeth needed money and more skills for medical school. She taught and lived with a doctor to learn and study. In 1847, Blackwell moved to Philadelphia to attend medical school, facing rejection from over 29 institutions before Geneva Medical College in New York accepted her, mistakenly thinking her application was a joke since no woman had applied to medical school before.

Dr. Joseph Warrington doubted Elizabeth's acceptance to a US medical school due to her gender,.n.d.,NIH (NLM).

Elizabeth lived in Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson's Charleston home, studying medicine under his mentorship to prepare for medical school,1847,National Library of Medicine.

“Elizabeth, it is of no use trying. Thee cannot gain admission to these schools. Thee must go to Paris and don masculine attire to gain the necessary knowledge.”

                       ~ Dr. Joseph Warrington

College Life 

Initially, Elizabeth faced challenges as a new and unique female student, barred from demonstrations. However, her intelligence and perseverance soon earned her the respect of peers and faculty.

“I had not the slightest idea of the commotion created by my appearance as a medical student in the little town. Very slowly I perceived that a doctor’s wife at the table avoided any communication with me, and that as I walked backwards and forwards to college the ladies stopped to stare at me, as at a curious animal. I afterwards found that I had so shocked Geneva propriety that the theory was fully established either that I was a bad woman, whose designs would gradually become evident, or that, being insane, an outbreak of insanity would soon be apparent.”

     ~Elizabeth Blackwell’s Diary, November 22, 1847

Geneva Medical College in Geneva, N.Y.,1834, hws.edu.

Anatomy Class, 1846–47, National Library of Medicine.

​​​​​​​“November 22.—A trying day, and I feel almost worn out, though it was encouraging too, and in some measure a triumph; but ’tis a terrible ordeal! That dissection was just as much as I could bear. Some of the students blushed, some were hysterical, not one could keep in a smile … My delicacy was certainly shocked, and yet the exhibition was in some sense ludicrous. I had to pinch my hand till the blood nearly came … Dr. Webster, who had perhaps the most trying position, behaved admirably.”

~Elizabeth Blackwell’s Diary, note about Anatomy class, November 22, 1847

Elizabeth fighting her way into the anatomy class. (Audio: healthmatters.nyp.org)

"I venture to say in ten years' time one-third the classes in our college will consist of women. After the precedent you will have established, people’s eyes will be opened".                           

                            ~ Dr.Charles Lee, one of Blackwell's teachers​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Elizabeth's acceptance letter into Geneva Medical College,1847,National Library of Medicine.

Geneva College Faculty comprised solely of males. July, 1846, National Library of Medicine.

Elizabeth Blackwell's thorough lecture notes for Dr. Charles Lee, 1848, National Library of Medicine.

Elizabeth's Thesis Honored in the Journal, 1849, National Library of Medicine.

BACKGROUND
GRADUATION