1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. Coming up this week, we have a 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: podcast on Sarah JOSETTEA. Hail and the episode is focused 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,399 Speaker 1: primarily on her work editing women's magazines, including Goadie's Ladies Book. 4 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: One of the things that comes up in that is 5 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: her support of Elizabeth Blackwell and becoming the first woman 6 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: to earn an m d in the US. And since 7 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: we don't really get into Blackwell at all in that episode, 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: we thought we should go back to our March episode 9 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: on her for today's Saturday Classics, So enjoy. Welcome to 10 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History class a production of I 11 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 12 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Willson and I'm Holly Fry. Holly, did you 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: know that, according to the American Medical Association of Physicians 14 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: in America today are women. I did not know that. 15 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: It seems like a smaller number than I thought. Yeah, 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: Like I was surprised by the smallness of that number. 17 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: I am too. I mean, when I think about most 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: of the GPS that like I've seen in the last 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: I don't know decade, even in the listings, I remember 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: searching for them at various points. It seemed like there 21 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: was either a more even or even tipped more towards women. 22 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 1: But maybe that's just been a coincidence of my providers. Well. 23 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: And I remember earlier this year when my uh, when 24 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: my general my GP was on maternity leave, the person 25 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: answering the phone at the practice said, well, our other 26 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: female doctor is And I was like, what do you 27 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: mean our other female doctor? There are like nine doctors 28 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: in this practice. I've always been fortunate enough that if 29 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: I want a woman doctor, I can find one. Yeah, Like, 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: there are definitely places where people who want to see 31 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: a woman doctor can only find male doctors. Uh. But 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: before the eighteen fifties, there were basically zero women doctors 33 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: in the United States. And Dr Elizabeth Blackwell was the 34 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: first woman to graduate from an American medical school and 35 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: also the first woman listed in Great Britain's medical register. 36 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: She really paved the way for the women who came 37 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: after her. So she didn't just become a doctor herself. 38 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: She tirelessly worked towards greater access for medical education and 39 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: work in medicine for women. And she was also a 40 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: social reformer. And she's who were going to talk about today, 41 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: and this is not one of those stories where someone 42 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: had a childhood dream of pursuing a career that was 43 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: for some reason closed to them. She had no interest 44 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: in medicine whatsoever as a child, and this was a 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: career that you know, came to her later in her 46 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: life when she was a young adult. She actually started 47 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: out in a career path that was much more available 48 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: to women at the time, which was that she was 49 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: a teacher, and she used her work as a teacher 50 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: to kind of get her foot in the door for 51 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: being a doctor. Pretty cool. It is funny to think 52 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: about because even today, most people that want to be 53 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,679 Speaker 1: doctors know it at a really early age, and that 54 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: kind of education is focused from a very young age often, 55 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: not always, but most of the time frequently. Yeah, so 56 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting to think, like, at some point 57 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: in her teaching career ship doctor. Yeah, we will get 58 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: to that, but first we'll do the basics on her beginning. 59 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: So she was born in Bristol, England, and her parents 60 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: were Hannah Lane and Samuel Blackwell, and they had met 61 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: when they were Sunday school teachers together. Her family was 62 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: a rather large one. She grew up with four sisters 63 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: and four brothers and She also had two other brothers 64 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: who died when they were babies. Uh. This was a 65 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: deeply religious Congregationalist family as well as being socially very liberal, 66 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: and they were also abolitionist, which was a problematic sentiment 67 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: for the family. Elizabeth's father was a prosperous sugar refiner 68 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: and the sugar he refined had been farmed, of course, 69 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: using slave labor. Yeah, they were in a very it's 70 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: a conflicted situation. They were in a knowingly yucky situation 71 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: where they were they were vehemently against this practice, and 72 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: yet that practice was what was supporting their families. So 73 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: they did actually a lot of work with Quakers trying 74 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: to find alternate uh sources of sugar to refine that 75 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: was not farmed with slave labor. Uh. They moved away 76 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: from working in that industry. Also. UM. Their religion though, 77 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: meant that the children couldn't attend Church of England schools, 78 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: so they mostly learned at home under the care of 79 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,239 Speaker 1: governesses and tutors, and all of the children were really 80 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: eager students. They spent most of their pocket money buying books. Um. 81 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: They were also they weren't just stay indoors bookish people, 82 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: although they were that they were also very fond of 83 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: walking and playing outdoors, and the family moved to the 84 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: United States in eighteen thirty two when Elizabeth was eleven. 85 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: Her father's sugar refinery had burned down and he had 86 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: wanted to take a more active part in the fight 87 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: against slavery, and the children had all given up sugar 88 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 1: because of the use of slavery in its farming and production. 89 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: So yes, ultimately they stopped playing a part in the 90 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: practice that they all abhorred. So once they arrived in 91 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,679 Speaker 1: the United States, the family started out in New York 92 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 1: and Jersey City, and this is when Elizabeth and her 93 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: school aged siblings started going to regular schools for the 94 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: first time. The whole family became really involved in the 95 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: fight for abolition also, and William Lloyd Garrison, who was 96 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: the man behind the anti slavery newspaper The Liberator, became 97 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: a family friend and a frequent guest in their home, 98 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: and when Elizabeth was seventeen, the family moved to Ohio. 99 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: A few months after they arrived in Cincinnati, though her 100 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: father died, they had already become far less affluent than 101 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: they had been in England, and of course, before their 102 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: refinery burned down, but this left the family without any 103 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: kind of financial support. Elizabeth and her two older sisters 104 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: started a school for girls, and they're this brother got 105 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: a job in the mayor's office. Together, the four of 106 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: them supported the family until the youngest children were also 107 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: old enough to work, and the sisters also became politically 108 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: active in causes other than abolition, campaigning for greater access 109 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: to education for women and girls, UH primarily, and they 110 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: also joined the Episcopal Church and they developed relationships with 111 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: Transcendentalists who had moved to Cincinnati from New England. They 112 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: kept their school running until eighteen forty two, when enough 113 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: of the younger brothers had gone into business that they 114 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: didn't need quite so much money, and Elizabeth continued to 115 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: teach privately. That year, she was invited to run a 116 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: school for girls that was being started in Kentucky, and 117 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: she accepted the position and she moved, and that was 118 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: a very difficult time for her. She had been kind 119 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: of sheltered in her life up to this point, and 120 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: Kentucky was a slave state, and living there was really 121 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: her first exposure to real world slavery. This thing that 122 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: they had in their family been talking about being against 123 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: for years and years, and the town that she lived 124 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: in was also much poorer and less developed than anywhere 125 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: else she had lived, and Elizabeth was expected to begin 126 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: teaching pretty much the moment she arrived, so the very 127 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: stressful transition. Yeah. She wound up teaching there for three 128 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: years before going back to Ohio, joining her family in 129 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: a town called Walnut Hills, which was at that point 130 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: outside of Cincinnati. It became part of Cincinnati itself a 131 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: few years later in eighteen sixty nine, and when she 132 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: returned to Cincinnati, Elizabeth was about twenty four and the 133 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: idea of being a doctor had still not even entered 134 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: her mind at this point. And while she really liked 135 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: to study, she was primarily focused on history, metaphysics, German, 136 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: and music. But she wanted to do something more and 137 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: something difficult, though she was not sure what that thing was. 138 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: This is a trade. I kind of love about her. 139 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: I think she's kind of like me, and that she 140 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: always wanted to tilt at the windmill. She was looking 141 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: for another windmill. And the idea to study medicine actually 142 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: came from a friend of hers who was dying, and 143 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: in her writing, Elizabeth doesn't specifically say what her friend 144 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: was dying of. We can kind of into it that 145 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: it had something to do with her reproductive system. But 146 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: in Elizabeth's words, it's quote delicate nature made the methods 147 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: of treatment a constant suffering to her. So Elizabeth's friend 148 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: thought that if she had been able to have a 149 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: woman doctor instead of a man doctor, that she would 150 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: have been spared the most uncomfortable and upsetting parts of 151 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: her treatment. So Elizabeth's friend thought that a great next 152 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: thing for Elizabeth do to do would be to become 153 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: a doctor herself. And Elizabeth's response to her friend's suggestion 154 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: was along the lines of what No, I hate bodies 155 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: and everything about them, and I also hate medical textbooks. Uh. 156 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: And in her own life, she also hated being sick, 157 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: and she found any kind of illness to be sort 158 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: of shameful. I identify with all of these things, right, Like, 159 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: I could never do anything medical, and the illness angers 160 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: and frustrates me, and I feel weird shame over it. 161 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: I don't understand this, but I acknowledge and recognize it. Yeah. Well, 162 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: And at the same time, Elizabeth could not get this 163 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: thought of being a doctor out of her mind. She 164 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: she had been so much like, Nope, that not for me, 165 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: but the idea just kept kind of picking at her. Finally, 166 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: a couple of things tipped the scale in favor of 167 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: actually going to medical school, and the first was that 168 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: she described herself as falling in love a little too easily, 169 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: but she didn't like the idea of what marriage would 170 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,079 Speaker 1: mean to her life. She concluded that if she became 171 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: a doctor, she would never have to get married because 172 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: a doctor's life and a traditional wife's life were so 173 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: incompatible with each other that a sort of a wonderful logic. 174 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: She kind of softened on her view about marriage, although 175 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: she never got married. She kind of kind of ease 176 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: back on this idea that like being a wife was 177 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: terrible later in her life, but at this point she 178 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: was like, you know, but if I were a doctor, 179 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: too busy for that, I wouldn't have to get married. Uh. 180 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: It also became, in her words, a moral struggle. She 181 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: really thought the world would be a lot better if 182 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 1: women were allowed to play a more active part in 183 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: all aspects of it, one of those things being practicing medicine. Um. 184 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: She also wanted to reclaim the word female physician, which 185 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: was at this point in history really a euphemism for abortionist, 186 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth started asking doctors that her family knew about 187 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: how to become a doctor herself. Uh. The idea of 188 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: a woman doctor, though, was so unheard of that she 189 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: didn't really know where to start, and everyone she spoke 190 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 1: with seemed to think that it was both a good 191 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: idea and also basically impossible. Medical schools were for men only, 192 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: and they were extremely expensive, So Elizabeth started trying to 193 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: raise money to study medicine in Paris, which, uh, Paris 194 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: comes up over and over again in this story, a 195 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: sort of this place that was so off the rails 196 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: in terms of morality that maybe they would not have 197 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: a problem with a woman studying medicine. Um, she thought 198 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,200 Speaker 1: it might be more acceptable for her to pursue an 199 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: education there, but the cost was just enormous, so she 200 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: accepted a teaching job in North Carolina, hoping to save 201 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,199 Speaker 1: money to pay her way into a school in the 202 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,080 Speaker 1: United States. The school's principle had also been a doctor, 203 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: and he was going to tutor her in addition to 204 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: her doing her teaching duties. All of this was going 205 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: to happen in Asheville, which is my favorite place. Yeah, Uh, 206 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: did you know that when you selected her? Or was 207 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,360 Speaker 1: it one of those magical accidents. I did not, And 208 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: it was one of those things that I was reading 209 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: her autobiography and I suddenly was like, I know where 210 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 1: she's talking about. I got very excited. Uh. And the 211 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 1: school that she went to in Nashville actually disbanded in 212 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: eighteen forty six, and at that point she moved to Charleston, 213 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: South Carolina, and there she studied with another doctor named 214 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: Samuel H. Dickinson, and she also taught music at a 215 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: school that was run by someone that Dickinson knew. She 216 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: kind of had a lot of favory connections going on 217 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: and makings meet and study. Yeah, there was definitely a 218 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: combination of her working as a teacher while someone nearby 219 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: helped her learn about medicine. So by eight Elizabeth finally 220 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: felt like she had enough money for medical school, and 221 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 1: so she went to Philadelphia, which was at this point 222 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: pretty much the capital of medical instruction in the United States. 223 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: She applied to four medical colleges in Philadelphia, and she 224 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,679 Speaker 1: kept studying anatomy in a private school, and her journals 225 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: from this period described being laughed at, being dismissed told 226 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: to try the New England medical schools, or maybe the 227 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: ones in Paris. There was even a Philadelphia medical professor 228 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: who told her that while personally he was completely in 229 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: favor of women studying medicine, it was so impossible that 230 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: the only way it was ever going to happen was 231 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: if she disguised herself as a man. So he was like, no, 232 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,439 Speaker 1: I'm cool, but you're going to have to wear a mustache, right, 233 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: just so weird in her words, But neither the advice 234 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: to go to Paris nor the suggestion of disguise tempted 235 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: me for a moment. It was, to my mind a 236 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: moral crusade on which I had entered a course of 237 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: justice and common sense, and it must be pursued in 238 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: the light of day and with public sanction in order 239 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: to accomplish its end. That is a woman who has 240 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,079 Speaker 1: found her windmill. Uh. And after she exhausted her options 241 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: for medical schools in both New York and Philadelphia, she 242 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: got a list of smaller medical colleges known as quote 243 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 1: country schools throughout the Northeast, and she chose the twelve 244 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: most promising, And she finally got a letter from Geneva University, 245 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: which is in Western New York, and her application had 246 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: been presented to the faculty, which had not really been 247 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: in favor of admitting her, but had presented her application 248 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: to the students, and so she later received the following document. 249 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: It said, at a meeting of the entire medical class 250 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: of Geneva Medical College, held this day, October forty seven, 251 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: the following resolutions were unanimously adopted. One resolved that one 252 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: of the radical principles of a Republican government is the 253 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: universal education of both sexes. That to every branch of 254 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: scientific education, the door should be open equally to all. 255 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: That the application of Elizabeth Blackwell to become a member 256 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: of our class meets our entire approbation, And in extending 257 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: our unanimous invitation, we pledge ourselves that no conduct of 258 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: ours shall cause her to regret her attendance at this institution. 259 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: Two resolved that a copy of these proceedings be signed 260 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: by the Chairman and transmitted to Elizabeth Blackwell. Doesn't that 261 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: sound great? It really does. It was not, actually, uh, 262 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: the there there were some shenanigans. That was some really 263 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: good writing. It was some great writing. So, but the 264 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: thing is, the faculty was not super into this idea 265 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: at all, and a lot of the students who voted 266 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: on it thought that it was a prank being played 267 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: on them by a rival college. Oh dear, Yeah, we'll 268 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: talk about that more in a second, but you know, 269 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: long story short, she got in UH and on November 270 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: four of eighty seven, she left Philadelphia to go to 271 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: Geneva and start medical school. And overall, the other medical 272 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: students that Geneva welcomed her. They were courteous and friendly. 273 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: They would save her seat for lectures, and most of 274 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: the time they treated her as a friend and a colleague. 275 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: And she described the behavior of her male classmates during 276 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: the two years that she studied as that of quote 277 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: true Christian gentleman. Later on, Elizabeth learned that some of 278 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: the students had thought her application was a hoax or 279 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: a prank being played on them by Arrival College. Is 280 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: Tracy said. But once I found themselves with an actual 281 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: female student, they did, for the most part, live up 282 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: to what they had resolved in that letter. Yeah. I 283 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: think that's where they kind of rise above the fact 284 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: that they thought someone was playing a trick on them. 285 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: Her teachers mostly traded her fairly also, although there was 286 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: some level of consternation about how to handle anatomy lectures 287 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: on the reproductive system when there was a woman in 288 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: the room. So occasionally she was asked to sit out 289 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: for particular demonstrations, and some of her anatomical studies were 290 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: conducted in private along with four of the quote steadier 291 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: male students, and they pretty much treated her in these 292 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: lectures like an older sister, and the town of Geneva, 293 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: on the other hand, seemed to see her as something 294 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: of an admiration. She was stared at in the street, 295 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: and she gradually learned that people believed she was either 296 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: immoral or insane. Yeah, they were pretty much waiting for 297 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: her to reach some kind of tipping point and go 298 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: on a rampage through the town in some way, like 299 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: the town did not trust her to snap. She also 300 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,800 Speaker 1: sometimes did have trouble with the distaste for the human 301 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: body that we talked about earlier. She had always had this. 302 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: She was not really sure how she was going to 303 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: deal with it in medical school, and she wrote in 304 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: her journal about some dissections that she could just barely 305 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: stand to witness. But this was not unique to her 306 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: at all. Some of her male classmates were just as 307 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,119 Speaker 1: overcome by them as she was. Was not anything that 308 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 1: had anything to do with her sex. No, And I 309 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: think even today when you hear stories from friends that 310 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: have attended medical school, there is a lot of like 311 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: half the people were sick at this lecture. Kind of 312 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: that's not uncommon. Between our first and second years of school, 313 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: she went back to Philadelphia, where she arranged to study 314 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: in one of the hospital wards at Blockley Alms House, 315 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,719 Speaker 1: which was later known as Philadelphia General Hospital, and in 316 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: addition to working with Philadelphia's poor, she also worked with 317 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: Irish immigrants displaced by the potato famine, many of whom 318 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 1: had typhus, and she actually wound up writing about typhus 319 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: for her thesis. They called it ship fever then, because 320 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,479 Speaker 1: everybody got it on the ship. Yeah. This was one 321 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: of the places where she really started realizing that a 322 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: lot of the problems that people were having in terms 323 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: of sickness were coming straight from hygiene, and she became 324 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: very focused on good hygiene and good sanitation as being 325 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: extremely important to people's health. Um So, while her classmates 326 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,399 Speaker 1: at Geneva were pretty much supportive of the fact that 327 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: she was there, the doctors at the Almshouse really were not. 328 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: A lot of the residents would just stop working when 329 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: she came into the room. Um, and then they stopped 330 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: writing patients diagnoses on their charts to basically make it 331 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: harder for her. She was she wasn't there as a doctor, 332 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: she was there as an observer, and they were basically 333 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,199 Speaker 1: trying to make it so she didn't really have a 334 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: lot to observe. I'm just wondering how that would figure into, 335 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: for example, your hippocratic oath, where you're supposed to be 336 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: doing everything you can to take care of a person 337 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: and then you let this petty stuff get in the way. 338 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,199 Speaker 1: That's a great question. Eizabeth's returned to Geneva after the summer, 339 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: and she graduated at the top of her class in 340 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,199 Speaker 1: eighteen forty nine, becoming the first woman to earn an 341 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: m d from an American medical school. So to get 342 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 1: back to Dr Blackwell as she is now Dr Blackwell, 343 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 1: she wanted to become, in her words, the first lady 344 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 1: surgeon in the world, and she realized that the education 345 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: she was going to need to do this was still 346 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: really not open to her in the United States. But 347 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,880 Speaker 1: fortunately some of her cousins who lived in England had 348 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: been visiting the US, and they invited her to go 349 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,640 Speaker 1: back to Europe with them, and so she went abroad, 350 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: studying medicine in London and Paris for two years, and 351 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: she also studied midwiffery while they're at Limaternita, which is 352 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,160 Speaker 1: a school for training midwives. So it was both very 353 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: difficult and very rewarding. She had very little privacy. It's 354 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: kind of a near monastic experience, and because of nature 355 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: of midwiffery, she did not get very much sleep. She did, though, 356 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: get an enormous amount of hands on experience in a 357 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 1: very condensed time frame, and a lot of this influenced 358 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: her practice later, and it also kept hammering home on 359 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: the fact that hygiene and sanitation were lacking in the world, 360 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: which needed to be fixed. And unfortunately, uh this work 361 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,479 Speaker 1: and these revelations are also what derailed her from her 362 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: plans to become a surgeon. One day, while she was 363 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: treating a baby that had an eye infection caused by 364 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: gna rhea, some of the water that she was using 365 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: splashed into her own eye, which became infected as well. 366 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: She asked for permission to leave until it got better, 367 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: and at first she was denied, but then when Monsieur Blott, 368 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: the intern realized what was happening, he talked to the 369 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,359 Speaker 1: chief physician, who examined her and told her to stop 370 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: work immediately and be treated. This effect on her eyesight 371 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: was pretty much immediate. She she couldn't see very well 372 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: out of it. It was extremely inflamed. In addition to 373 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: the fact that she couldn't see very well, it uh 374 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 1: like it was disturbing to other people to look at. 375 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: It was just a very uh frightening looking infection. But 376 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: Dr Blackwell was hopeful that this was temporary and that 377 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,919 Speaker 1: with treatment it would get better. She continued to have 378 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: flare ups, though, and ultimately the I had to be 379 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: removed and replaced with a glass one, and that pretty 380 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: much made a surgical career impossible. She decided to return 381 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: to London in eighteen fifty and a cousin wrote to 382 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,400 Speaker 1: introduce her to the St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and while studying there, 383 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: she met and worked with the famous Florence Nightingale, the 384 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: founder of modern nursing. They were pretty much contemporaries. We 385 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: could have a whole episode on their relationship with each other. Uh. 386 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: They did not always see eyed eye completely on things. 387 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: Um So Dr Blackwell wanted to practice in London, but 388 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,679 Speaker 1: she didn't have a lot of money, she didn't have 389 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: a huge network of family and friends to support her. 390 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: She ultimately went back to the United States, hoping that 391 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: she could save enough money to go back to England 392 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,640 Speaker 1: in ten or fifteen years and she went to New 393 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: York and she started along and uphill battle of trying 394 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: to build her own practice. And while the students at 395 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: Geneva had welcomed her, the medical community was deeply reluctant 396 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: to associate with her in any way. The first people 397 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: she actually became friends with were Quakers, and the Quaker 398 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 1: community helped her find locations where she could practice medicine 399 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: and deliver lectures on women's health. And she described her 400 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: practice in those years as a very Quaker one. Yeah, 401 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: there's a sort of a thread of different religious influences 402 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,120 Speaker 1: that tracks through her whole life, with this being sort 403 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:42,640 Speaker 1: of the most recent Quaker faith. She did not have 404 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: very much medical companionship because the other doctors were just 405 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: really suspicious of a woman practicing medicine, and so she 406 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: didn't have much opportunity to learn from other doctors either. 407 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: Patients also resisted the idea of seeing a woman, and 408 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: she was such a only existence overall that in October 409 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty four she took in a seven year 410 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: old orphaned girl who she later adopted, and that same 411 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: year Dr Blackwell's sister, Emily graduated from the Medical College 412 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: of Cleveland. She went on to study in Europe as well, 413 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:19,120 Speaker 1: and when she returned, the sisters started a dispensary together. 414 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,400 Speaker 1: It was clear that the doctor's Blackwell were pretty much 415 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: going to have to make their own opportunities for their 416 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: practice and for furthering their own medical education, so the 417 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: two of them collaborated with Dr Marie Zakrazuska, who and 418 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,159 Speaker 1: they together opened the New York Infirmary for Women and 419 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: Children in eighteen fifty seven. They basically rented a house 420 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: and then outfitted it for their own purposes. This wasn't 421 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: just a medical facility. It was also a place that 422 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: other women who were doctors and wanted to become doctors 423 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: could find additional work in the training that Dr Blackwell 424 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: herself had not had a lot of success finding in 425 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: the United States, and this, as you can imagine, was 426 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: in other uphill struggle in an annual report elicted all 427 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: of the objections that the women had encountered. They were 428 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: told that no one would let a house for the purpose, 429 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: that female doctors should be looked upon with so much suspicion, 430 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: that the police would interfere, that if deaths occurred, their 431 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: death certificates would not be recognized, that they would be 432 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: resorted to by classes and persons whom it would be 433 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: an insult to be called upon to deal with. As 434 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: my personal side, I once again have a hippocratic oath 435 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: question mark. There uh that without men as resident physicians, 436 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: they would not be able to control the patients. That 437 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,439 Speaker 1: if any accident occurred, not only the medical profession, but 438 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 1: the public would blame the trustees for supporting such an undertaking. 439 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,479 Speaker 1: And finally, that they would never be able to collect 440 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:49,479 Speaker 1: money enough for so unpopular an effort giant windmill. They 441 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: made it anyway. Their infirmary eventually flourished. They provided medical 442 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: care and instruction, and they taught poor women how to 443 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,880 Speaker 1: care for their children. And this really went on until 444 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: the start of the Civil War. At that point, Dr 445 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: Blackwell founded the Women's Central Association of Relief, or the 446 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: w c a R, which focused on training women to 447 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: be nurses for injured soldiers and on collecting medical supplies. 448 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty seven, so after the war ended, the 449 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: infirmary opened its own medical college, and by this time, 450 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: access to medical education and practice was vastly different for 451 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: women in the United States, but it still had a 452 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: really long way to go. Many medical programs either admitted 453 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: women to their programs or were exclusively for women, although 454 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: these were generally inferior to men's colleges. Hospitals and other 455 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: facilities were also more open to employing women, although the 456 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: opportunities were still not really numerous, uh, and there were 457 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: still schools that stridently worked against women as students, including 458 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: her alma mater, which rejected Dr Blackwell's sister, which I 459 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: find fascinating. Dad. It seems like that worked out great. 460 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: We're never doing it again. Dr Blackwell eventually returned to 461 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: England again in eighteen sixty nine, and what she was 462 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: hoping to do was to stay there a long time 463 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,679 Speaker 1: and practice medicine. She did wind up living there for 464 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: the rest of her life, but her health started to 465 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 1: decline not long after she arrived. She was forced to 466 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,880 Speaker 1: take a lot of time off to recuperate, and by 467 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies she stopped practicing entirely, though she did 468 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: continue to campaign for opportunities for women in medicine, and 469 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,640 Speaker 1: she continued to work towards social reform. She died in 470 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,919 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, a couple of years after a pretty bad 471 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: fall had had really caused her a lot of physical 472 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: and mental issues, and at that point she had paved 473 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: the way for a whole new career path for women. 474 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: She really had. Uh we we haven't really talked about 475 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: a lot of the actual medicine that she was practicing. 476 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,879 Speaker 1: Some of that is sort of saw bones territory if 477 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: you haven't given that podcast a listen yet. For example, 478 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,400 Speaker 1: when she like when her own infection was being treated, 479 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: which is like, this is an infection that was pretty 480 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: common at the time. It was it was something that 481 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: would happen to babies when they were born to a 482 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: woman who had gnaria um, Like the treatment involved leeches 483 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: on her head. Uh, not very effective at treating an 484 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:22,719 Speaker 1: eye infection caused by ganaia. Kind of gross. Yeah, there 485 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: was a lot of stuff that was kind of gross, 486 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: and a lot of the medicine that was being taught 487 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: at that point is actually pretty not recognized as medicine today, 488 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: but like that, that was the state of medicine and 489 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: she helped make it a place where women also could 490 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,920 Speaker 1: learn and practice. Um, we didn't. We also didn't talk 491 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: a whole lot about all of her other social reform 492 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: efforts that went on in conjunction with her medical practice 493 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: and afterwards. That could be a whole other episode. There 494 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: was a lot of that too. Thank you so much 495 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. 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