1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of My 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Charles Chuck, Wayne Chwayne Bryant, 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: and there's Jerry Jerome Roland, the Rizzy Uh, and I'm 5 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: just Josh, like just Jack was just Jack? Wow. Okay, 6 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: that's a heck, come an intro. Thank you. Let's do 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: a little jazz hands there. Just call me Twayne Chwayne 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: from now on, Chwayne. It's not awkward to pronounce. It's 9 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: really close to schwing. Remember that schwing. Oh man, I 10 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: totally forgot about it until just now. Schwing. Chuck Schwing, schwing. 11 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 1: That's how you have to say it. No, you can 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: say it anyway like schwing. Yeah. Well, what I really 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: love is that we're talking about America's first woman physician, 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: an amazing woman named Eliza, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, who had 15 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: an amazing family and her story is incredible, and we're 16 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: saying swinging at the beginning, right, especially considering that she 17 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: was a m a h. Rather puritanical person in a 18 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: lot of senses, she would probably not have been down 19 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: with us saying swing no, no, because you know what. Uh, 20 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: she and her family were Quakers, And I know some 21 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: Quakers and have known some Quakers. They hate swing, they do, 22 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: but you know what, they love being awesome. Yeah, yeah, no, 23 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: I mean for sure, um this this, I get the 24 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: impression that her entire family is a pretty good example 25 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: of like a like a Quaker family. Quaker. Every Quaker 26 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: I've known has just had it like had it all 27 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: figured out. It seems like they're like the the Buddhists 28 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: of the best. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. They also, Um, 29 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: I think they also go by the Society of Friends, 30 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: which says a lot too if Yeah, I'm pretty sure. 31 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,399 Speaker 1: And then if you remember correctly, Charles, our Pacifist episode 32 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: focused heavily on the Quakers because they're big time Pacifists too. 33 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: So Elizabeth Blackwell, just by virtue of having been a Quaker, 34 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: was a pretty interesting like upstanding, upright person with with 35 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: a good head on her shoulders. But she also like 36 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: individually personally was a very amazing person. And not just 37 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: the fact that she was the first licensed woman physician 38 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: in America. Um, but to get there, she really had 39 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: to blaze her own path and put up with a 40 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: lot of bs. You might put it um, and and 41 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: so much so that even in her um, her autobiography, 42 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: which was published in when she was in her seventies, 43 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: I think um, she called it pioneering work, um, and 44 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: that was There's really no better way to put it. 45 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: She was absolutely a pioneer, and not just getting herself 46 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: established as a woman physician in America, but in making 47 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: it so that there could be more women physician in America, 48 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: physicians and more and more, much more. So let's start with, oh, 49 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: I don't know, February three, what's significant about that date? 50 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: She was born as a little baby uh, near Bristol, England. 51 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: She was the third of nine children. Her mom was 52 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: Hannah Lane, who came from a family of merchants who 53 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: had some dough and her pops was Samuel Blackwell. He 54 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: was a sugar refiner and also prosperous. And like we said, 55 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: they were Quakers, which means that they were very cool. 56 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: They were not then this was one. They were not 57 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: down with slavery. They were activists against lay bree uh, 58 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: they were abolitionists. They supported women's suffrage. Um. Her brother 59 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: Henry married Lucy Stone, who was very famous women's rights activist. 60 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: Her little sister Emily followed in her footsteps in medicine. 61 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: Her sister in law, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, first female ordained 62 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: minister in Protestant the Protestant denomination. Yeah, they're way ahead 63 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: of their time. Yeah, and you can trace I mean, 64 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: both of her parents seem to be pretty cool. Um, 65 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: and you can trace their um the roots of of 66 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: their sensibilities back to their parents. Like um, Samuel was 67 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: a dissenter, like he was a Quaker, which is I 68 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: guess the form of Protestantism. But he was definitely he 69 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: didn't recognize like the sole religious authority of say, like 70 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: the Church of England or anything like that. And so 71 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: as a result, his children could not go to public school. 72 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: He said, fine, I've got some money. I'm a prosperous 73 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: sugar merchant. I'm going to hire the best tutors I 74 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: can find. And not only that, I'm going to defy 75 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: the conventions of England and have these tutors teach my 76 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: daughters the same stuff that they're going to teach my sons, 77 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: which unheard of. But that really formed the basis for 78 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: especially Elizabeth's progression and education that she she came to 79 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,280 Speaker 1: expect to be taught just like she was a boy. 80 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: Um because of how she was raised. Yeah, and you know, 81 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: by all accounts, her parents were both pretty great. Her 82 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: dad was a very caring individual. He thought that all 83 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: kids of any gender should reach their full potential. Uh. 84 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: He didn't physically punish his kids, which was weird at 85 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,840 Speaker 1: the time. People are like, why aren't you hitting your kids? Yeah, 86 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: and he said, I don't believe in it. I've got 87 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: a switch right here you can borrow. Really do not 88 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: have a switch, That's what the deal is. He doesn't 89 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: have a switch or paddle. Let's get him a switch. 90 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: So he you know, they would had sort of like 91 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,239 Speaker 1: a demerit system in their house, and if you added 92 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: up to too many demerits, you would have to do 93 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: something like eat by yourself in the attic or something 94 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: that sounds horrific, also like sticking a kid in the closet. 95 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: But I think it was just a room removed from 96 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: the family dinner. Yeah, it was just you have to 97 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: go away from the family. We can't even bear to 98 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: look at you. You make us want a puke. That's right. 99 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: But everything changed when he lost his sugar refinery and 100 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: a fire and said, you know, what, let's pack our 101 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:36,799 Speaker 1: bags and let's move to New York City. New York City. 102 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: That's right, New York City. Do you remember back in 103 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, like around two thousand and seven eight. 104 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: I feel like it was right when we both started 105 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: working around how stuff works. That a sugar refinery and 106 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 1: Savannah blew up. Remember that I wrote an article about that. 107 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: It's like that sugar dust is is volatile, it can 108 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: can catch fire. And I'm wonder if that's what happened 109 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: to his sugar refinery. You okay, So they moved to 110 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: New York. They lived in New York and in Jersey 111 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: for six years. Yeah. And one of the cool things 112 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: that I liked about him he was he was a 113 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: little paradoxical. So he was a sugar refiner. He made 114 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: his money off of sugar refining. But the sugar industry 115 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: was based almost entirely on slave labor around the world. 116 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: That's how sugarcane was grown, That's how I He didn't 117 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: use slaves, I can tell you that, but he still 118 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: made his money in an industry that was heavy, heavy 119 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: on slavery. And in fact, his children were such staunch 120 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: abolitionists even as young children they refused to eat sugar 121 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: because they knew that slaves had had a hand in 122 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: producing it, so they wouldn't even they wouldn't even need 123 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: it as kids. Little kids wouldn't eat sugar because of 124 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: of the slavery involved. Um, but he still made his 125 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: his money off of that. But Um, when he got 126 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: to America, one of the first things he tried was 127 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:01,239 Speaker 1: to um introduce sugar beets, which don't really require slave labor. 128 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: There's a much less labor intensive process of extracting sugar 129 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: from sugar beets, and this is really revolutionary at the time. 130 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: Like they think they first isolated sugar from beats in 131 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, like thirty years before, and they had been 132 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: introduced to America just like two years before. He he 133 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: took this up, so he was on the cutting edge 134 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: of of sugar beat production. But it didn't actually work 135 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: out very well. No Um, he his original sugar refinery 136 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: went Um went south in eighteen thirty seven, so he said, 137 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: let me move to Cincinnata and I'll get down on 138 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: the on the sugar beat thing. But just a few 139 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: weeks after they got the Cincinnati in August of eighteen 140 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: thirty eight, he died of a fever. And because he 141 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: had lost that sugar refinery and didn't have the next 142 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: sugar beat operation up and going, they didn't have a 143 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: lot of dough. His family was um left without a 144 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: lot of money. Yeah, which I mean, that's gotta be 145 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: really tough to go from wealthy to not, you know, 146 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: and just one fell swoop and but that's kind of 147 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: what happened with Elizabeth's family and UM. A few years later, 148 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: she resolved, and she was twenty one, that she would 149 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: not be dependent on any man, that she was going 150 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: to be self sufficient, and she was never going to marry, 151 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,199 Speaker 1: and she wanted to make her own way. And I mean, 152 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: it's pretty tough not to trace that line directly back to, 153 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: you know, the state that her father left his family 154 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: and UM not in any way that you know that 155 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: was his own doing or his own fault, but that 156 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: was just the conventions of the time. And so for 157 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: a woman to resolve that she would make her own 158 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: way in life was very unconventional. But if Elizabeth Black 159 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: was anything, she was very unconventional, that's right. So she 160 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: and her mom and a couple of her sisters, they 161 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: were teachers for a little while and she eventually and 162 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: we this is kind of jumping ahead of it, but 163 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: she she did adopt a girl, a seven year old 164 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: Irish immigrant orphan that she named Kitty. Her name was 165 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: Katherine Barry and went by Kitty, and she was with 166 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: her for the duration of her life. But she never 167 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: got married, and she decided to become a doctor when 168 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: she had a really close friend who was dying said 169 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: you know what, I think that I might have lived 170 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: if I might have had a woman as a doctor, 171 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: because they're more compassionate and I might have gotten better treatment. 172 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:29,199 Speaker 1: And Elizabeth Blackwell was like, WHOA that really speaks to me. Yeah. 173 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: They they think that the woman was probably dying of 174 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: uterine cancer, and she thinks that she would have She 175 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: would have disclosed more of her condition post sooner, and 176 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: at the very least she would have been more comfortable 177 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: in her dying days being treated by a woman, rather 178 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: than poked and prodded by some man um who who 179 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: seemed to be less compassionate than she believed a woman 180 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: would be. The thing about Elizabeth Blackwell is she, first 181 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: of all, she was struck by this, and she was 182 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: so struck struck by it that she moved her to 183 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: want to become a doctor. But not only that, she 184 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:11,079 Speaker 1: had to overcome a natural, deep seated aversion to the 185 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: idea of the body or anatomy or medicine. Like she 186 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:16,839 Speaker 1: was not at all interested in this to begin with, 187 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: and in fact, she had an aversion to it, but 188 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: she was so moved by that woman um and her 189 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: experience that she resolved to overcome her disgust and her 190 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: aversion at bodily functions and anatomy and become a doctor herself. 191 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: It's pretty I mean, that's a really key detail. It 192 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: is a hugely I mean that's enormous. Like not only 193 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: she like she just wasn't a kid who wanted to 194 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: be a doctor, Like I loved the side of blood 195 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: and internal oregan so this kind of fits anyway. Yeah, 196 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: she had to overcome an aversion to it, on top 197 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: of overcoming the aversion that society had against a woman 198 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: becoming a doctor, because at the time it was it 199 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: was considered that a woman couldn't know enough about the 200 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: human body to be a physician and still be considered 201 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: a morally upright woman, that her morals were at risk 202 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: of being corrupted just by knowing everything there is to 203 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: know about the human body. Yeah, I mean, let's be honest, 204 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: they would have to see a male penis as part 205 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:24,719 Speaker 1: of their training. PP. So, man, we're such children, we are. 206 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: So she said, all right, I'm gonna do this. I'm 207 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:29,839 Speaker 1: gonna get over this. I'm gonna be a doctor. How 208 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,079 Speaker 1: do I do this? I'll just go to medical school. 209 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: Medical school said no, no, no, no, no, women can't 210 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: go to medical school. Um, there are a few ladies 211 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: around the country that are unlicensed physicians that worked as 212 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: apprentices and learned their trade. But um, you're not going 213 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: to go this traditional route. And medical school at the 214 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: time was just weird anyway, which we'll get into a 215 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,839 Speaker 1: little bit later, but we I mean, we also got 216 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: into it in our grave robbing episodes was similar to 217 00:12:55,679 --> 00:13:00,800 Speaker 1: that time. It was crazy. It wasn't like it wasn't 218 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: the I don't think doctors were as respected back then 219 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: even No, they know, because they were the ones who were, um, 220 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: who were cutting open bodies and just kind of figuring 221 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: stuff out as they went along. And if you went 222 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: to a doctor, there was like an eight percent chance 223 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: you were walking out one limb short. Yeah. So she, uh, 224 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: while she was a teacher. She boarded with um families, 225 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: and that she did a lot of this stuff in 226 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 1: the South, which we'll get too as well. But UM, 227 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: two Southern physicians mentored her. Um, she still could not 228 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: get into medical school. Of course, she had some physician 229 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: friends who were Quakers. She asked them about it. They said, 230 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: that's a great idea, but no, it costs too much. 231 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: You're never gonna be able to get in. UM. What 232 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,319 Speaker 1: you should do is disguise yourself as a man and 233 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: go to France. And she was like, not a bad idea. 234 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: If that's the best advice somebody's giving you, you need 235 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: to rethink the people who you take advice from. It 236 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: sounds like she was game, though, but she just had 237 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: to save money instead and apply to medical medical school 238 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: in the United States. So and today dollars I did 239 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: the the the old inflation calculator three grand back then. 240 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 1: It would be about eighty five thou dollars today, So 241 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: that's a lot of money. And she between I think, 242 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: for a period of two or three years, went South 243 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: and taught school and slave states, which was very hard 244 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: for her to do in order to save money for 245 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: medical school. She didn't know what she could get into anyway, 246 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: right exactly. And the first the first place she taught 247 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: in Kentucky, she only lasted a year. She's just found 248 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: the social climate so intolerable. She she was really, you know, 249 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: she couldn't put up with it. And I don't know 250 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: how she was able to better in North and South Carolina, 251 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean she managed in two years to 252 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: raise eighty three grand from teaching I guess rich kids 253 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: in North and South Carolina. And she she um. But 254 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: she also while she was there, she's, well, I want 255 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: to teach the slave kids too. I'll do it pro bono. 256 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: And they said, well, it's against the law for you 257 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: to teach slave kids. And they said, but you can 258 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: teach them Sunday school. And she said, fine, I'll do that. 259 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 1: And there was a great quote um that came from her, 260 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: uh in a letter to her family in and I'm 261 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: not sure what state she was in, maybe even Kentucky, 262 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: but she said, I assure you I felt a little 263 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: odd sitting down before those degraded little beings, not saying 264 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: they were naturally degraded, that they had been degraded by 265 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: other people. I believe, to teach them a religion which 266 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: the owners professed to follow whilst violating its very first principles. 267 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: It really does. She was like, you know, these people 268 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: are professed to be Christians, but are do not treat 269 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: other people like Christians. And that's just such a Quaker 270 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: thing to do. Huh, that is a very quicker thing 271 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: to do. You want to take a little break, Yeah, 272 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: let's do it. Okay, We're gonna take a break everybody, 273 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: and we'll be back to tell you more about Elizabeth 274 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: Blackwell's progress towards med school. So, Chuck, like you said, 275 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: she um was mentored by a couple of doctors who 276 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: she she stayed with while she was teaching in North 277 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: and South Carolina, one of whom was actually a professor 278 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: of medicine, so he had all the books. He was 279 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: very encouraging to her. Um, he taught her everything he could. 280 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: And that was, like you said, a way that a 281 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: woman could become a physician, but an unlicensed physician. Um 282 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: certainly not one that was that was in any way 283 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 1: established as an actual legitimate physician. And that was ultimately 284 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: her goal. Yeah. Like, she continued to get sort of 285 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: tutored by different people in the South that she knew 286 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: who were physicians, and it was great that these uh, 287 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: these men encouraged her and tutored her. Said, here used 288 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: my books. Um. But again, like you said, she wanted 289 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: to do the real deal and and forge a path 290 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: and not just kind of go the back door route. 291 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:17,959 Speaker 1: So she applied to all the medical schools in New 292 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: York and Philly. She applied to twelve more in the Northeast. 293 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: She was rejected by all of them, and on the 294 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: thirtie application to Geneva Medical College in Western New York 295 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty seven, she was accepted. And I said, 296 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: I raised my voice because she got accepted because it 297 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 1: was a joke that uh well, everyone thought it was 298 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: a practical joke. The professor there, the dean of the 299 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,120 Speaker 1: medical med school, basically said, hey, let's take a vote here. 300 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: We'll have all the men here that go here vote 301 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: on whether or not a woman can come to school here. 302 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 1: And if every single person says yes, she can come here, 303 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,360 Speaker 1: and if one person says no, she won't. They all 304 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,639 Speaker 1: thought it was a prank from I guess the neighboring 305 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: rival medical school the west Geneva. Yeah, they said, sure, 306 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: let her in. And it wasn't a joke, and they 307 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: did let her in. They they did, um, And apparently 308 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: they were all very surprised. Like this almost sounds like 309 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: an urban legend, but from what I saw, like this 310 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: is across the board. What happened that they thought it 311 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: was a practical joke and it turned out to be real. 312 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: And that is how she ended up going to medical school. Unbelievable. 313 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: So when she showed up, she was taking this quite seriously. 314 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: She was twenty six already, she spent some time like 315 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: living around seeing the country. Um. Just she was twenty six, 316 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: Like this says a lot about a person, oversay, like 317 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,159 Speaker 1: twenty or nineteen or something like that. And so she 318 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: when she showed up, um, not only was she a 319 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,159 Speaker 1: little more mature, probably than some of her contemporaries, she 320 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 1: also um was she was well aware of the convention. 321 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: She was breaking challenges and the obstacles that laid ahead 322 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: of her. Um. And there's a pretty good report like 323 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: the fact that she showed up at medical school made 324 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: the papers, and in fact, the Boston Medical Journal even 325 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: wrote up something about the facts that that she was yeah, 326 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: that she was there taking medical classes. The Boston Medical 327 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: Journal said that she comes into the class with great composure, 328 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: takes off her bonnet and puts it under the seat, 329 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: exposing a fine phrenology. Are you kidding me? You're talking 330 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 1: about the shape of her head. Yeah. Yeah, But this 331 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,400 Speaker 1: is the Boston Medical Journal at the time. Hopefully the 332 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: b m J has um has officially uh stopped using 333 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: phrenology in any way, shape or form. But we'll have 334 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 1: to We'll have to get a subscription and find out. 335 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,160 Speaker 1: So we talked earlier about the fact that medical school 336 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: at the time was really different. Um, it sounds like 337 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: animal house or something. It was very raucous. Uh. Apparently 338 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: when they were lecturers, you would make crewe jokes out loud, 339 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 1: and no matter what you're talking about. It sounds like 340 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: a bunch of children taking sex at or something. Yeah, 341 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: and like the sixth grade. But apparently Blackwell's effect on 342 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,879 Speaker 1: the whole, like every class she went into was everyone 343 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: took it a lot more seriously because she was there. Yeah. 344 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: Because again, like if you were a man, you acted far, far, 345 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: far differently around a woman. Um at the time, where 346 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: you were just much more genteel. It was just the 347 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: social convention and so you had to bite your tongue 348 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: in medical school. If if um, Elizabeth blackwells in your class, 349 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:36,919 Speaker 1: where you just did that was just kind of the 350 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: effect that she had on class just by being a woman. 351 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: But even beyond that, there was this whole view that like, 352 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: these guys were somehow contributing to this woman's moral corruption 353 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,120 Speaker 1: by even being in the same class with her, let 354 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: alone being the instructor teaching her. And so one of 355 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,880 Speaker 1: the things she ran into in med school was she 356 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,719 Speaker 1: would sometimes be asked to go step outside because this 357 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: particular lecture is a little rough, and Elizabeth Blackwell did 358 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: not truck to that at all, and very adamant that. Remember, 359 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: she was educated like a boy by the tutors her 360 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,400 Speaker 1: father hired. She had a full expectation to be left 361 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,399 Speaker 1: out of absolutely nothing. At med school. She was to 362 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: be a full physician, and so she was to learn 363 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: everything that any physician would learn. And eventually, over time 364 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: she kind of overcame this genteel opposition to her presence 365 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 1: by her professors in male classmates. Yeah, and I think 366 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 1: in no small part due to her serious take and 367 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 1: her fastidiousness in her uh the fact that in the 368 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: end she graduated first in her class. Yeah, this says 369 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: a lot. She was the best student in nine. She 370 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: graduated first um ultimately earned the respect of her fellow students. 371 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: Not to say that it was a um it was 372 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: a cake walk. There were still plenty of jerks there, Uh, 373 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: and you know a lot of them had animosity towards her. 374 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: Remember a cake walker's racist? Is it really? Yeah? I 375 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 1: remember we did a we did a show on what 376 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: was it? I can't remember them, Like words that have 377 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: different origins than you would think, are different meanings than 378 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: you would think. You remember, Yeah, I think I do 379 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: remember that. I'm sorry, everybody, I'm sorry for interrupting you. 380 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: That's okay. So it was no pie walk. Still plenty 381 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: of jerks. Uh. There were some men there that um 382 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: would um would laugh at her, some in there that 383 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: would support her, some men that would jeer at her, 384 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: some men that would help her out. But like I said, 385 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: in the end, she she got that degree first in 386 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: her class. Apparently, and I don't know if this is 387 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: the movie version, but the medical school's dean bowed to 388 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: her when she accepted her diploma, and everyone busted out 389 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: in applause. Yeah, that's what a newspaper account us that 390 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: who from the correspondent who was there, and they also 391 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:08,840 Speaker 1: added and brother Bluto became Senator Blue tar Very. It's 392 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,400 Speaker 1: that wrapped everything up. Do you think that movie age 393 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: as well? We're talking about Animal House again. I haven't. 394 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: I haven't seen it. You know what I should say? Sorry, 395 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,239 Speaker 1: in a while. I'm not sure. Okay, I could have 396 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: seen it plenty of times, but I haven't seen it in 397 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:27,119 Speaker 1: in a while. I'm sure it doesn't it can't. Uh. 398 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I think it's kind of timeless. Um. However, 399 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,120 Speaker 1: I've heard certain people that I won't name say it 400 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: doesn't age well. Noel, oh yeah, yeah, nol didn't think 401 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: you think there's a there's a raft of comedies from 402 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 1: that era that just are not funny. Now wait, not 403 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: funny or political? No, no, no, not funny. Oh gotcha? 404 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: It doesn't age well as in, like, why is this? 405 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: Why do people think this is a comedy classic? It's 406 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: not even that good? Gotcha? Gotcha? Okay, yeah, I'll have 407 00:23:58,280 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: to watch it again. I haven't, I haven't seen it. 408 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I think it's kind of timeless 409 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: in its comedy. I mean, sure, there are parts that 410 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: don't age well in every other respect like any comedy 411 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: made before like four years ago. Sure, that's what I know. 412 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,199 Speaker 1: Like like the last five minutes, I thought that's what 413 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: you were talking about. No, I mean it's entirely possible, 414 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,639 Speaker 1: because I've seen some comedies where I'm like, this is 415 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: this is not at all funny, like spies like us 416 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,920 Speaker 1: give me a break? Not good. No, I haven't seen 417 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: it in a long time. It's not good. See now 418 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: I'm afraid to watch some of those oldies. Yeah, I do. 419 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: My dad taught me. Well, but if you, uh, if 420 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: if you want to continue to cherish any movie that 421 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: you used to love, I would not risk it. No, 422 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: we'll see. Unless it's Ghostbusters. That definitely holds up. Friend. Yeah, 423 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,120 Speaker 1: that new one looks good too. Was the new one 424 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:56,640 Speaker 1: the sequel sort of? So it's technically Ghostbusters three? Yeah? 425 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: Or four? I mean we are Wait was there a third? 426 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: It was just the first two? Yeah, the second There 427 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: was the first two and then the third one had 428 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: like I think Kate McKinnon, different universe, didn't it. Yeah? Yeah, 429 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: that was that was just a reboot, which was great, 430 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: I thought. But this new one is a sequel many 431 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:21,640 Speaker 1: years later, and I think it's one of their grandkids. Um, 432 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: you know, stuff starts happening. It looks good. Paul reads 433 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: in it, okay, and what's his name's kid? Reitman's kid 434 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: is directing it. It's a oh, he's great Jason. Yeah, 435 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: it's a Jason, rightman, jam. So that's good stuff. That 436 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: might he might be a little too high high brow 437 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: for a Ghostbusters. Well, hey, I can tell you you 438 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: know who's spinning in her grave right now about a 439 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: thousand RPMs. Who Elizabeth black Wow, I know, I'm so sorry, 440 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: Dr Blackwell. Should we take a break. I don't know 441 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:50,679 Speaker 1: who knows anymore? All right, let's take a break and 442 00:25:50,720 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: we'll stop talking about dumb old movies right after this. Alright, so, Chuck, 443 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: I think where we officially left off. Um, Elizabeth Blackwell 444 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: received her diploma. The the dean of the medical school 445 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: stood up and bowed, and the auditorium broke out into applause, 446 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: which is pretty awesome. Um. Apparently she when she although 447 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,679 Speaker 1: she won over her classmates, there were still like a 448 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: lot of women actually at the time who were not 449 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 1: very happy with what she'd done. But she said, nuts 450 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: to you guys, I'm gonna move to Paris. And London, 451 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: and I'm going to pursue my my practice there to start, 452 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: that's right, which is a great idea. And when she 453 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: got there, they said, wow, you were a real deal 454 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: doctor and you have a medical degree. Here be a midwife. Yeah, 455 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,639 Speaker 1: a woman saccar blue. Yeah she was, uh, she was 456 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: led into midwife ree and nursing um. But she's like 457 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: really sort of trying to be revolutionary here because all 458 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: she sees are these men walking around not washing their 459 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: hands at all, and she's like, you know, what is 460 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: probably super important is personal hygiene and preventative care. And 461 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: they're like, what's that? Yeah, well they literally were what's that? 462 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: Because this was early eighteen fifties and remember a Great 463 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: Stink episode, So they were still operating under the miasma 464 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: theory that it was like bad vapors and smells that 465 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: made you sick. So her idea that it was like 466 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: that hand washing was part of this preventative medicine was 467 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: really ahead of its time. And so in in addition 468 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: to being a woman who they were just discrediting out 469 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: of hand anyway just for being a woman, they were 470 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: also saying, like you're talking cookie stuff. Everybody knows it 471 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,400 Speaker 1: smells that make you sick. Your nut job over there 472 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: and deliver a baby. And she's like, but I haven't 473 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: washed my hands, Like we just told you. It doesn't matter. 474 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: Babies are dirty. As long as your hands don't stink, 475 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: it's fine. Yeah, we should also mention it's right about 476 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: here where she lost sight in her left eye from 477 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: an accident that I can barely even talk about. Oh, 478 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: I want to, can I please? So she contracted purulent ophthalmia, 479 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: which is which is an infection of the eye, and 480 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 1: her I became infected because she was tending to an 481 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: infant who I guess had some sort of wound that 482 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: was infected, and pus escorted in her left eye from 483 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: the infection and in facted her left eye to such 484 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: a terrible degree that she became blind in her left eye. Yes, 485 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: and that is that is sad, but really sad because 486 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: she was not able to become a surgeon, which is 487 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: what she really wanted to do. It's also said that 488 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: there was a baby with an infection a pussy and actually, 489 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: let's not forget about that baby. H That baby grew 490 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: up to be Roy Cone. She she moved to the 491 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: that's really good, um, she moved to the UK then 492 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: from Paris, and this is where she hooked up with 493 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: a little buddy named Florence Nightingale. Yeah, who deserves her 494 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: own episode two. Totally, they became good friends. They were like, 495 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: you like to wash your hands? I do too, isn't 496 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: it awesome? Let's go do it together. That's kind of 497 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: the long and short of it. They sat around and 498 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: saying ABC S or I don't want no scrubs wash 499 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: their hands, and they were both like, why are none 500 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: of these men doctors ever washing their hands? And they 501 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: were both like, because they're dummies. Yeah, just give him 502 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: a few years in germ theory will be developed and 503 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: then they'll listen to Louis past year or not exactly. 504 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: But I think that's pretty awesome. It's almost like, um, 505 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: I don't know, Einstein and somebody else meeting, you know, 506 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: like just it's cool to know that these too, like 507 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: legendary figures met and we're friends at one point in time. Oh, totally, 508 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: it's almost like a movie, you know what I'm saying. 509 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: This totally should be a movie. I'm surprised it's not 510 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: yet agreed. Maybe Jason Rightman could direct it. That's right, 511 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: and maybe uh, uh, what's who's the guy that wolverine? Yeah, 512 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: maybe Hugh Jackman can be in it. He would play 513 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: um Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, that's right. And Jared from Subway 514 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: can play the pus baby. Yeah, everything would come full 515 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: circle and the universe would collapse in on it and 516 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: then the Sharknado would kill them all. So she uh 517 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: is pals with Florence Nightingale. She decides, you know what, 518 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go back to New York one and I 519 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: really want to get a practice going there. Um. She 520 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: got back, and of course discrimination against women in the 521 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: doctor in industry was still there. So she did and 522 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: have a lot of opportunities. She didn't have a lot 523 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: of patients, she didn't have a lot of other doctors 524 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: that she could even exchange ideas with. Um, and so 525 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: she started applying for jobs instead of starting her own 526 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: practice at the women's department in a big city dispense dispensary. 527 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: But she was not h she was not hired. No, 528 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: and I had to look up a dispensary is it 529 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: like a charity or public clinic? So this ambition, yeah, 530 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: this this woman's ambition, this first woman doctor in the 531 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: United States now UM. Her ambition was to help the poor. 532 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: That was that was what she wanted to do her. 533 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: Her her missions in life were to help the poor, 534 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: help women retain their chastity and purity in the hopes 535 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: of um having a good moral impact on the world 536 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: around them, and then to make it so that more 537 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: women could become doctors from like she was like a 538 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: fireless fighter and champion of all of these things. And so, 539 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: in typical Elizabeth Blackwell fashion, when she was turned down 540 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: for a job at a dispensary, she just opened her 541 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: own dispensary, that's right, and a little single rented room. 542 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: She saw patients a few afternoons each week. It was 543 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: incorporated in eighteen fifty four, where they moved to a 544 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 1: small house uh there on the lower east Side East 545 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: Village area of Tompkins Square. Her sister, we mentioned that 546 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 1: she followed. I believe at the very beginning that she 547 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 1: followed in her sister's footsteps. By this point she was 548 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: doctor Emily Blackwell. She got her degree at Western Reserve 549 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: University of Cleveland, and she joined her in eighteen fifty 550 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:48,000 Speaker 1: six with another doctor, Dr Marie oh Zack. Zack Suska. 551 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: That's the doctor Seuss pronunciation. That's a tough one. I 552 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: would say, zach zach redska, okay, zakrevska, all right. And 553 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: they all opened the New York Infirmary for Women and 554 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,920 Speaker 1: Children on Bleaker Street there in the West Village in 555 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: seven yep. And now you can go left out of 556 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: the doorway and hit a Swatch store and see and 557 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: go get a sandwich at La pan quoity in. I 558 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: saw this Watch joke coming because I did the old 559 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: Google or two and I was like, I guarantee you 560 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: that poked out to Josh. But what's crazy? So sixty four, 561 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 1: at least as far as the Google company is concerned, 562 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: there before Bleaker Street doesn't exist anymore. But that means 563 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: that it was subsumed by either Um, the Kith Clothing 564 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 1: or the the Swatch store. Somebody took over this. But 565 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: there's a think the Swatch store did in eight there's yeah, 566 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: they were all on chains um, but the the the 567 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: there's a there's a physical structure that's still there. That 568 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: was the first um women run infirmary or clinic, I 569 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: should say, in New York, and what became one of 570 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:07,200 Speaker 1: the first um, women's medical schools amazing in the country. 571 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: Not the first, but one of the first. UM. And 572 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: there's no plaque, there's no sign, there's no nothing. But 573 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: the building is that not that I could see, but 574 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: the building is still there. You can still visit the 575 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: spot where poor people went and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell treated them. 576 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: Yeah with one eye. Yeah, let's not forget that one 577 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,760 Speaker 1: of sight in one eye, I should say. So she 578 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: starts going, She's like, I want to do this in 579 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: England to my home country. Let me, I'm gonna go 580 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:34,840 Speaker 1: back and forth. I'm gonna try and raise some money 581 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: to do the same thing over there. Um. At the 582 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 1: same time, she's also taking on and it's amazing what 583 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: you can do when you don't get married and have 584 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,880 Speaker 1: to be subserving it to a man. Right, Like, she 585 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: was living single, so she had nothing but time. You know, 586 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: she had this this adopted daughter. But I imagine that 587 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: she grew she helped her mom out with this stuff. Yeah, 588 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,720 Speaker 1: and in their off time they would watch Living Single together. 589 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 1: So she was getting on other social reform movements. Um, 590 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,360 Speaker 1: all kinds of things to do with women's rights, family planning, 591 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: even way back then. Uh, hygiene always Um, did we 592 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: mention eugenics and how deep she got in that? Do 593 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: we even know? I looked and I could not see, 594 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,719 Speaker 1: because you would think there'd be people that would say, like, oh, 595 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: a little bit blackwell her, but listen to this eugenic 596 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: stuff she was into. I saw basically one of those 597 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: things where it was this. This list was repeated basically 598 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: in the same order across the internet. So I have 599 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: no idea how much she was into eugenics, but I 600 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,839 Speaker 1: do know I did get an impression of her as 601 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: far as women's rights were concerned. Um, she was a 602 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: feminist through and through, absolutely a feminist, but she was 603 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,279 Speaker 1: also a moralist and a prude and died in the 604 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: wool prude, and so she was really concerned with the 605 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,880 Speaker 1: um the moral purity. Yeah, I guess the moral purity 606 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: of women, because her her whole thing was if a 607 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,240 Speaker 1: if a woman has basically had sex out of wedlock, 608 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: she has corrupted her moral She's traded in her morals, 609 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: and now she's going to be interested in men. She's 610 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 1: gonna think about other men rather than her husband her 611 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:23,879 Speaker 1: She's not going to be able to focus on her home, 612 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,279 Speaker 1: and so the home will start to come apart because 613 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: this woman had sex out of wedlock before she got 614 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,400 Speaker 1: married or whatever. And so there that's one home broken. 615 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,600 Speaker 1: And if more and more women do this, then all 616 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 1: of a sudden, the whole country's morals are corrupt and 617 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,359 Speaker 1: there there's nothing but crime and and drinking and all 618 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:45,279 Speaker 1: sorts of horrible things that come out of it. And 619 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: she definitely identified men as a aggressor in this that 620 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: it was definitely men who came along and like persuaded 621 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 1: girls to have sex out of wedlock because these girls 622 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,960 Speaker 1: were not too naive to know the ramifications and consequence 623 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 1: is so she tried to in books and pamphlets and 624 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,319 Speaker 1: lectures and all this Warren mothers to warn their their 625 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 1: daughters away from men like this and also teach them 626 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 1: about the consequences of having like premarital sex and also 627 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,719 Speaker 1: basically identifying as you know, men as as the aggressors 628 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,280 Speaker 1: the wolves in this situation. But so she was super 629 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 1: into that, and she was very widely and well received 630 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: because her line of thinking was very in line with 631 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 1: Victorian super rigid morals. But um, at the same time, 632 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:38,920 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's difficult to reconcile with just straight 633 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,839 Speaker 1: ahead feminism that you know, of the type that we're 634 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,880 Speaker 1: used to today. But there's really no one who could 635 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: who could discredit her as a feminist. No, I mean 636 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,400 Speaker 1: feminist in a Victorian way, was exactly. It was a 637 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: time where you couldn't be like girl, own your sexuality 638 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,239 Speaker 1: and like you asked the man to marry you like 639 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: that just didn't happen at all. So this was the 640 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,359 Speaker 1: opposite of that. Whe she was Toudy, she was also 641 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 1: what would be known today as a feminist for life, 642 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 1: staunch anti abortion feminist. As a matter of fact that 643 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,400 Speaker 1: if you read her diary in a certain way, you 644 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: can make the case that one of the reasons she 645 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: became a doctor is because she read an article about 646 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: a woman who was an abortionist at the time who 647 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: was termed a female physician, which I guess was code 648 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 1: for women abortionists that back then, and she was so 649 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,359 Speaker 1: appalled by this that she wanted to reform the term 650 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:33,240 Speaker 1: female physician to mean an actual like just a woman doctor, 651 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,399 Speaker 1: a general doctor. Um. And that's one of the things 652 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,400 Speaker 1: that drove her too. So um, yeah, she was a 653 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: very complicated character. Reminds us right, But I think she 654 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,720 Speaker 1: reminds us that over time, when you become a legend, 655 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: the you know, a legend grows up around you, and 656 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,759 Speaker 1: you know, the different edges get you know, smoothed over 657 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,760 Speaker 1: or overlooked or whatever. And people are complicated and complex 658 00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,319 Speaker 1: and that's the way that it should be, and they 659 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,719 Speaker 1: should be under stood as such. You know. Yeah, but 660 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,799 Speaker 1: none of that under undermines her, depending on your your 661 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,680 Speaker 1: way of thinking, I don't think anything undermines her that 662 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,719 Speaker 1: she did or thought undermines the work that she did 663 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: and the good that she did well, of course not. 664 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 1: And I think maybe people should try to remember what 665 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,400 Speaker 1: it might be like to be a trailblazing feminist in 666 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:26,839 Speaker 1: the forties through eighties. You know, so the Civil War, 667 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,360 Speaker 1: that was very nice, he said, good job, I hope 668 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 1: so God Uh, civil war rolls around. She and her 669 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 1: sisters trained nurses for the Union for their hospitals. She said, 670 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,800 Speaker 1: you know what, what we really need is a medical 671 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 1: school for women. Um, and so she continued to try 672 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: and get support from Britain. She finally raised enough backing 673 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 1: in America to add that medical school to her women's 674 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: hospital in New York in eighteen sixty eight. This was 675 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,120 Speaker 1: this one you were talking about the UM. The New 676 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:04,839 Speaker 1: York Infirmary was finally established with fifteen students nine faculty, 677 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:09,000 Speaker 1: and she was the professor of hygiene and her sister 678 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:15,919 Speaker 1: Emily was taught, uh was the out well taught obstetrics 679 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: and diseases of women. Yeah. She handled all of the 680 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 1: surgery too at the clinic. Oh Emily did, Yeah, because 681 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:26,359 Speaker 1: her sister couldn't write. But UM, so think about this, like, 682 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: she established not just this UM, this uh, this clinic, 683 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: this dispensary, but also a college to teach women doctors. Right, 684 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,879 Speaker 1: and not only did she do that in New York, 685 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: she did it in London too. After after she had 686 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 1: managed to establish this, she said, okay, Emily you got this. 687 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,600 Speaker 1: I'm moving back to England and I'm going to do 688 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:51,000 Speaker 1: this over here. Yeah. And what it did was it 689 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 1: provided about a thirty two year stop gap until when 690 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:01,879 Speaker 1: medical schools Cornell University UM finally began accepting women into 691 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,920 Speaker 1: their program. So for thirty two years she was running 692 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:10,120 Speaker 1: the show and she was providing that UM almost said service. 693 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,480 Speaker 1: But it kind of is in a way, you know, 694 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:17,319 Speaker 1: until medical until mainstream medical schools began catching on. Yeah, no, 695 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: for sure, And UM, the fact that that she was 696 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,399 Speaker 1: establishing this college, like that this was one of her 697 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:30,040 Speaker 1: big dreams and and focuses and drives. It just kind 698 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 1: of goes to underscore the fact that, like she she 699 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: was trying to make it so that more women could 700 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,480 Speaker 1: become doctors. Yeah, that's just it's just easy to overlook 701 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: when you're like, oh, well she went and became a 702 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,440 Speaker 1: doctor herself and then she did doctoring. She also simultaneously 703 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:47,920 Speaker 1: was trying to expand access to um medical training for 704 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: women as well to become a licensed physician, and she 705 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,399 Speaker 1: did in a big way UM In eighteen sixty nine, 706 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,719 Speaker 1: when she was in her late forties, she uh this 707 00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 1: is when she established the London practice. She had passed 708 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,359 Speaker 1: on the New York Medical College to her sister at 709 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:06,640 Speaker 1: that point, and founded the National Health Society in eighteen 710 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:09,719 Speaker 1: seventy one and was one of the first champions of 711 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,200 Speaker 1: prevention is Better than Cure um, which is a very 712 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: obviously important thing today in all of medicine, but at 713 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,319 Speaker 1: the time it was kind of a revolutionary kind of 714 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,080 Speaker 1: way to go about things. They're all about cures, and 715 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,880 Speaker 1: she was one of the first people standing up and 716 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: be like, hey, let's not get to the point where 717 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,360 Speaker 1: we need to cure by preventing things with handwashing and 718 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: lifestyle and hygiene. Yeah, wash your hands, yeah, what's your problem? Uh. 719 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,160 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventies she finally set up a private practice 720 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:43,359 Speaker 1: in London and UM in eighteen seventy four, along with 721 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,719 Speaker 1: physicians Sophia Jex Blake and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, established that 722 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: London School of Medicine for Women. Yeah. So again she 723 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: did this in New York. She also did it in London. 724 00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:57,480 Speaker 1: She agitated for legislation to be passed in eighteen seventy 725 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 1: six to allow women to get medicals to agrees. Um. 726 00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,840 Speaker 1: She was the first woman added to the medical register 727 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:10,520 Speaker 1: in England. UM. So she did this in two continents. 728 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,920 Speaker 1: She opened up the door for women to become doctors 729 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 1: on two different continents at about the same time. And UM. 730 00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:21,440 Speaker 1: Ultimately she stopped had to stop practicing, She had to 731 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:26,200 Speaker 1: stop seeing patients. UM because she had something called billiary colic, 732 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,360 Speaker 1: which is where gallstone blocks the bile duct, which is 733 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,319 Speaker 1: not good for you. Um. And apparently it's a very 734 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,680 Speaker 1: painful condition and especially back then before they could do 735 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 1: a lot with it or so you break it up 736 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 1: with lasers or something. It could knock you out of 737 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:45,320 Speaker 1: out of your career, and it did for for decades. 738 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: I think she had billiary colic um twenty or thirty 739 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:54,600 Speaker 1: years before she died. She basically didn't practice for the 740 00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:58,400 Speaker 1: last twenty years. Uh, and very sadly. In nineteen o seven, 741 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: at the ripe old age of eighty six, which is great. Um, 742 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:04,680 Speaker 1: she had an accident. She fell down a flight of 743 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,839 Speaker 1: stairs and was mentally and physically disabled after that. Lived 744 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,080 Speaker 1: a few more years after that, uh, and then eventually 745 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:17,719 Speaker 1: died of stroke in nineteen ten. Yeah, that was a 746 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:21,840 Speaker 1: great great lady. Yeah, there's a statistic here in eighteen 747 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:27,840 Speaker 1: eighty one, so she'd moved to the UK permanently in 748 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:31,640 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine. In eighty one there were only twenty 749 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: five registered women doctors in England and Wales, but thirty 750 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,839 Speaker 1: years later nineteen eleven, it was up to four. There 751 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: you have it now, I would guess that there's at 752 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:48,360 Speaker 1: least double that m probably more probably so. So hats 753 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:52,120 Speaker 1: off to Dr Elizabeth Blackwell. Um, way to go. My 754 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:55,480 Speaker 1: bonnet is often under my seat. Oh that's a fine phrenology. 755 00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:58,440 Speaker 1: You've just exposed their child. Thank you. Uh. If you 756 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:00,799 Speaker 1: want to know more about Dr Elizabeth black Well, there's 757 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,600 Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff on the Internet, including a 758 00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: site that we used, among others, famous scientists dot org 759 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,319 Speaker 1: check them out, and scientists is plural. I just have 760 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: a thick tongue, so sometimes it's tough to add that 761 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:15,879 Speaker 1: extra asset. And since I said I have a thick tongue, 762 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:21,719 Speaker 1: it's time for a listener. Mayl uh. This is from 763 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:24,640 Speaker 1: Isaac Hey, guys, I am on day two of six 764 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:28,480 Speaker 1: weeks of staying home in quarantine. I live in Seattle, Washington, 765 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,440 Speaker 1: which was the place where the first North American coronavirus 766 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,000 Speaker 1: case was. There have been rumors at my school I'm 767 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:36,880 Speaker 1: in the seventh grade that would close for cleaning. But 768 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,879 Speaker 1: six weeks is nearly all the third quarter. I've got 769 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,120 Speaker 1: a long stretch of time ahead of me, and I've 770 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:47,160 Speaker 1: spent most of that time playing video games. Great, reading, 771 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,279 Speaker 1: great in listening to stuff you should know. Nice. It's 772 00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:55,080 Speaker 1: a nice three pronged approach, a little fun, little knowledge, 773 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 1: and little goofy knowledge. I listened to nearly ten episodes 774 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: today own there will be plenty more rushing through my 775 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:04,759 Speaker 1: ear holes. So I wanted to say thank you for 776 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,040 Speaker 1: helping me through a worry sometime. I loved the Seattle Show. 777 00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:12,560 Speaker 1: That is from Isaac. Isaac, buddy, glad, we're there for you, 778 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:17,719 Speaker 1: hanging there, be safe, wash your hands and the fact 779 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:19,600 Speaker 1: that you use the word ear holes means that you're 780 00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,960 Speaker 1: the coolest kid. I know. Yeah, you're pretty cool, Isaac. 781 00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:25,080 Speaker 1: We appreciate that. I wonder what video game is playing, Chuck. 782 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 1: I don't know. I just finished Red Dead Redemption and 783 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:29,560 Speaker 1: now I'm onto a new and I've been gaming a 784 00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:32,480 Speaker 1: bit lately. I heard that Red Dead Redemption is like 785 00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:34,839 Speaker 1: one of the most amazing games ever. But it's just 786 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:39,400 Speaker 1: so good and and highbrow like a Jason Rightman film, 787 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:43,600 Speaker 1: that it's it's boring, unlike a Jason Rightman film. M 788 00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:46,520 Speaker 1: I didn't have you heard that? Well, I've played part two. 789 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:48,279 Speaker 1: I did not get the first one, although I might 790 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:50,320 Speaker 1: go I think it was part two that I'm talking about. 791 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:53,640 Speaker 1: I enjoyed it, Okay, good good. I'm glad to hear that, 792 00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:55,399 Speaker 1: because I like to think that things that are well 793 00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:57,520 Speaker 1: done aren't boring. You know. Yeah, I had to learn 794 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:01,080 Speaker 1: to shoot animals, and which was not fun. It hunting 795 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,840 Speaker 1: is a part of it. Really. Yeah, I never shot 796 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:05,839 Speaker 1: a funny though. Maybe you had to like put him 797 00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:07,640 Speaker 1: out of the misery or something because they were rapid. 798 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,200 Speaker 1: Oh that too. If you have a if you crash 799 00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:11,799 Speaker 1: your horse, you might have to do the right thing. 800 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:14,160 Speaker 1: You know what I means, right, you have to strangle it. Yeah, 801 00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:16,480 Speaker 1: it's very sad because you get very attached to these horses. 802 00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:19,640 Speaker 1: I'll bet do you name them? Yeah, you name him 803 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:22,520 Speaker 1: like you actually name them for fun or like they 804 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:24,640 Speaker 1: come with names or they like the game makes you 805 00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:26,799 Speaker 1: name your horse when you go to a stable. You 806 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:28,920 Speaker 1: can upgrade your horse in a lot of ways with 807 00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,719 Speaker 1: the saddles and stuff, and then you can also you 808 00:47:31,719 --> 00:47:33,319 Speaker 1: can also name your horse when you get to a 809 00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:36,040 Speaker 1: stable and type it in and then your horse name 810 00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:39,040 Speaker 1: is up there. Did you name any Josh? I did not. 811 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,160 Speaker 1: I feel bad now. I had three or four horses 812 00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:43,399 Speaker 1: and the name of them all variations of my wife 813 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: and daughter's names. But I'll you'll be next. I appreciate that, 814 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,480 Speaker 1: but you'll be like, oh, yeah, Josh turned lame. I 815 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:52,399 Speaker 1: guess I have to put him out of his misery. Yeah, 816 00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:56,239 Speaker 1: Josh run over by a train. Let me know how 817 00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,719 Speaker 1: Josh turns out? Okay in video game, I will okay uh, 818 00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,600 Speaker 1: And Isaac thanks again for writing in and like Chuck said, 819 00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:05,520 Speaker 1: stay safe, stay smart, uh, and wash your hands and 820 00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:08,319 Speaker 1: don't panic. It doesn't sound like you are. If you're 821 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:10,480 Speaker 1: like Isaac and you're hanging out listening to Stuff you 822 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:12,600 Speaker 1: Should Know, we want to hear from you. You can 823 00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: send us an email, wrap it up, spank it on 824 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,839 Speaker 1: the bottom, and send it off to Stuff Podcasts at 825 00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:23,440 Speaker 1: iHeart radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a 826 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 827 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:29,440 Speaker 1: For my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 828 00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:31,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.