1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So this quote about 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: Sophia Jex Blake perfectly sums up why I wanted to 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 1: do an episode about her. It was written by someone 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: very close to her, and it reads quote she was 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: merely a clever young woman with a rather outlandish name 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: who had conceived the extraordinary desire of obtaining a medical 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: education by hook or by crook. I mean, if that 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: doesn't make a person sound interesting, I don't know what does. So. 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: Sofia jex Blake was a young english woman in the 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 1: nineteenth century who, after initially pursuing a career in teaching, 13 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: fell in love with medicine while she was visiting the 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: United States, and that passion transformed her life. But also 15 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: because of her actions the lives of countless others as 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: she battled for women's rights in education. And she is 17 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: someone that is surely familiar to listeners from the UK 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,479 Speaker 1: and particlellarly in Scotland. But I sure didn't ever hear 19 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: of her until recently when I just randomly came across 20 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: her name in a book about women in science. Yeah. 21 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: When you told me you were doing this episode, I 22 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: was like, I don't know who that is. Yeah, spoiler alert, 23 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: she's pretty great. This is one of those delights where 24 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: you keep waiting for something horrible to arise about a 25 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: person and if it's there, I did not find it, 26 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: and I read a lot. But here's the thing. She 27 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: gets talked about a lot in terms of her work 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: in education reform, particularly in opening the schools of Britain 29 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: to women, but one thing that doesn't get a lot 30 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: of discussion in most mentions is her early life. And 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: looking at that one I found it really. I don't 32 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: know if endearing is the right word, but I recognize 33 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: a lot of her life experience as similar to my own, 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: so I love those. But also it's really illuminating in 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: who she became as a person. So this is a 36 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: two parter because part one is going to cover her 37 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: early life in her teaching career and when she falls 38 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: in love with medicine. But then in part two we 39 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: will talk about her more well known aspect of her story, 40 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: which is her part in the Edinburgh Seven, which is 41 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: a group of women who sought to get medical degrees 42 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: in Edinburgh in the late nineteenth century. Sofia Louisa jax Blake, 43 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: whose name you may also hear Sophia because that's got 44 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: variations by time and place. Yes, I will talk about 45 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: why we went with Sofia on this one in the 46 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Yeah. So. She was born January twenty first, 47 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: eighteen forty, in Hastings, Sussex, England. Her parents were Mariah 48 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: Emily Cubitt jax Blake and Thomas jax Blake. Thomas was 49 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: the proctor of Doctor's Commons, which was an educational institution 50 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: of law that specialized in civil law. Sophia was their 51 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: third child, and she was the baby of the family. 52 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: She often described her childhood as incredibly happy, although she 53 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: was a bit more rambunctious than her very religious and 54 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: quiet parents were accustomed to in their other children. It's 55 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: not fully clear where Sophia, whose mother called her Sophie, 56 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: learned to write, but she did so quite early before 57 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: she really had any formal schooling. By the age of seven, 58 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: she was corresponding regularly with her mother while she was 59 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: away at school. One of these letters is very sweet, 60 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: and she writes to Mariah quote, I wish you would 61 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,119 Speaker 1: be so kind as to come see me every night 62 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: in Bedfordshire, at least tonight on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 63 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: Saturday and next Sunday after tomorrow. It's so sweet. And 64 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: I will say, reading those letters that she was writing 65 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: when she was seven, she is way more articulate than 66 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: most seven year olds in her writing, Like I was 67 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: still like, you know, whooping it up with kiddies and princesses, 68 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: and she's having like deep thoughts. Sofaya also, much to 69 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: my delight, created an entire imaginary world as a child, 70 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: known as Sacermenty, and this was spread out over several 71 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: islands that she drew and mapped out over a long 72 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: period of time. And she also carefully and very extensively 73 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: wrote out all of the laws and rules of succession, 74 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: basically anything a government would need for this imaginary land. 75 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: And when I say that, I mean like pages and 76 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: pages more than some actual governments have. I think this 77 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: is kind of a hint at the way her mind 78 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 1: worked even from an early age. And charmingly, she stitched 79 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: together all of this documentation into a little book titled 80 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: The Sacramenty's pocketbook containing many little accounts of their and 81 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: she published this book first in eighteen forty eight, and 82 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: then she amended it and added to it for the 83 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: same book. But it becomes its own second edition in 84 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty. I'm imagining published here means means she handed 85 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: it out. She wrote it out herself. Yeah. Published has 86 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: big old air quotes around him. Yeah. A close friend 87 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,239 Speaker 1: and biographer who we will be talking more about later, 88 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: described Sephia in her youth as a quote terrible pickle. 89 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: She was boisterous and had a temper and just seemed 90 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: to overflow with energy. And this was really a lot 91 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: for the Jex Blake household. According to accounts, this household 92 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: had been very placid before Sepia's birth, even though there 93 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: were two other children in it. She really struggled with 94 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: efforts at school to make her be ladylike like. Notes 95 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: from her earliest educators indicate that she had quote the 96 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: desire to be conspicuous and lacked so self control. She 97 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: loved it when the family went on holiday to the 98 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: country so she could shoot a bow and arrow and 99 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: gather plant specimens. But all this really rambunctious and inquisitive 100 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: spirit made some of the adults in her life on edge. 101 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: Letters written about her behavior describe her making people uncomfortable. 102 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: This became particularly concerning as her mother, Mariah, who was 103 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: never especially robust, started to decline in health. Mariah needed 104 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: quiet and rest, and it was hard for Sofia to 105 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: live in a house where that was the expectation. Still, 106 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: she remained very very close to both of her parents, 107 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: and there appears in their letters a very mutual adoration 108 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: between them and their youngest child. Her father, for example, 109 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: would write her jokey little poems in rhyming couplets, encouraging 110 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: her to Behave one of those reads, my little child, 111 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: you're very wild. Could you be still and yet not ill? Then? 112 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: Little so this, I do know you'd be a blessing 113 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: worth possessing. And her reply to that one was, my 114 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: dear father, I had rather you'd believed me and relieve 115 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: me when I say as I may, that I'll be 116 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: good as I should. And the two of them kept 117 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: this ongoing game of rhyming notes up in their correspondence 118 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: for quite a while. I love that It's very very charming. 119 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: At the same time, though there were dark periods When 120 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: Sepaia was away at school, she yearned to be at home, 121 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: but when she was at home, people thought she was 122 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: a terror, especially according to her parents' standards. At one point, 123 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: around the age of eleven, she developed a nebulous health 124 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: issue that was characterized by poor digestion and weak joints. 125 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: Sephia's teacher and former governess, who's referenced only as Miss 126 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: b took her to a number of doctors to try 127 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: to identify the problem. Sephia was given a lot of 128 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: leeway behaviorally during this time, and it seems like when 129 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: she next went home to see her parents, the whole 130 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: experience was so awful that after she had returned to school, 131 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: her mother Mariah wrote to her that quote more sad 132 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: and foolish behavior than yours. Is difficult to imagine your 133 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: ever being with us again for three weeks at a 134 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: time is quite out of the question till you have 135 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: the good sense to understand that to be happy and comfortable, 136 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: and to enable me, in my weak state, to have 137 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: you at all, you must be good. Mariah continues in 138 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: this letter that they will try visits of one week 139 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: at a time, and if Sepia behaves, they can extend 140 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: them longer. She also notes that part of the reason 141 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 1: for all this concern and chastisement is that if Sefia 142 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: doesn't behave quote, the medical men will not allow us 143 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: to be together. But she asked her daughter in her 144 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: closing lines to tear up this letter. Not long after this, 145 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: and for no recorded reason, then Sephia was removed from 146 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: her school and put in another boarding school that was 147 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: near her parents new home in Brighton. This kind of 148 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: makes me think of when we talked about the letter 149 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: that Mary Todd Lincoln wrote Vinnie Reams or not wrote 150 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: any Reams, but wrote about Viny Reams that she's ream 151 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,599 Speaker 1: And She's like, destroy this letter, And I'm like, anytime 152 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: that is how a letter ends, I'm like, you know, 153 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: this was not a cool letter to write. Throughout her teens, 154 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: Sephia's strong willed behavior and her tendency to get excited 155 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: at things continued to be a source of stress for 156 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: her parents. They wrote her so many letters that they 157 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: surely believed were loving, but all of them really seemed 158 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: to express this hope that she would become a fundamentally 159 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: different person than she was. In one, her father wrote, quote, 160 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: do you think Darling that by divine grace, you are 161 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: less self willed day by day. Everybody seems to deprecate 162 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: your presence as that which will spread discomfort all around, 163 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: which I can only imagine. That's a heartbreaking thing for 164 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: a father to write a child. But Sofia's own writing 165 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: evidence is a girl who was keenly aware of other 166 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: people and their feelings. For example, in one of her 167 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: diary entries, she notes that a new girl whose father 168 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: had died recently arrived at school, and that the head 169 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: mistress went on and on to the entire student body 170 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: about how fatherless children are in God's special care. And 171 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: Sepia saw how uncomfortable this entire thing was making the 172 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: girl in question, who was named Agnes, and she wrote 173 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: in her diary of that teacher quote, Oh, I could 174 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: have knocked her down. Sofia was asked not to return 175 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: at the end of the school year. We don't know 176 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:43,719 Speaker 1: if that's related or not, but she seemed to be defiant. 177 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: Sephia was placed back in her previous school, and the 178 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: same cycle continued. Her mother and sister were both very 179 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: ill for a time, and when Mariah had recovered a 180 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: little wrote to her daughter of an upcoming visit. Quote, 181 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: I look forward with great pleasure to Saturday week, but 182 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: pray try to be quiet in your joy when I 183 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: meet you, because I am still weak and soon upset, 184 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: and people will be very vexed with you if I 185 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: am the worst. In a surprising twist, when Sefia finished 186 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: school and moved back home permanently, her relationship with her 187 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: mother became really closer than ever, and they didn't seem 188 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: to have any more issues. When the two of them 189 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: talked of a potential marriage for Sophia, Sepia told her 190 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: mother that she quote did not fancy I should ever marry, 191 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: for I thought I should require too many qualities to 192 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: meet in the man I could think for a husband, 193 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: for it to be likely that I should ever meet 194 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: such a paragon who could be willing to marry me. 195 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,200 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty eight, at the age of eighteen, Sepia 196 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,959 Speaker 1: enrolled in Queen's College, London, and she loved this entire 197 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: experience and wrote after arriving, quote, very delicious it is 198 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,719 Speaker 1: to be here. Oh, if there be an elysium here 199 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: on herth, it is this. It is this. I am 200 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: happy as a queen, work and independence. What can be 201 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: more charming, really perfection. In addition to her own coursework, 202 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: she started tutoring at the school, helping other students with 203 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: their mathematics studies. She had started assisting other students with 204 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: their math problems way back in her early days of school, 205 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,679 Speaker 1: so this was a very natural fit. Coming up, we'll 206 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,199 Speaker 1: learn about her family's reaction to this job, but first 207 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 1: we will pause for a sponsor break. When he learned 208 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: that his daughter was teaching other students' math, Sophia's father 209 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: was mortified that she tutored for pay, and he wrote 210 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: to her that it was beneath her to take money 211 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: for such work and that it quote would lower you 212 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,439 Speaker 1: sadly in the eyes of almost everybody, and that was 213 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,559 Speaker 1: because she would be quote accepting wages that belonged to 214 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,360 Speaker 1: a claim beneath you in social rank. And she wrote 215 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: back to him that she loved to teach and that 216 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: the tutorship position had been unfilled for months because there 217 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: was no one else who was able to do that job, 218 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: so she did not feel like she was taking a 219 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: position from someone who needed it more. She also noted 220 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: to him, quote, you as a man, did your work 221 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,680 Speaker 1: and received your payment, and no one thought it any degradation, 222 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: but a fair exchange. Why should the difference of my 223 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: sex alter the laws of right and honor. The two 224 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: of them argued back and forth about this issue in letters, 225 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: and Sofia offered to donate any money that she made 226 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: in her first term to the college, but that if 227 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: she liked the job in her mind, that money was 228 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: fairly hers for all future terms. By the way, she 229 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: regretted making that deal. She wish she could have kept 230 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: her first term wages because she kind of ran a 231 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: little low on her allowance and was like, I really 232 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: could have used that money. Jax Blake also started to 233 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: reveal in her write that she was more drawn to 234 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: women than to men. This wasn't cloaked in any kind 235 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: of Koi language. She literally wrote quote, I believe I 236 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: love women too much to ever love a man, yet 237 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: who can tell. During these years, she formed some very 238 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: intense friendships with women, which may have been romantic in nature. 239 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: One of her closest friends, Octavia Hill, ended their friendship 240 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: abruptly after Sephia had moved in with the Hill family. 241 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: Sepia never fully understood why this friendship had ended, and 242 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: just clung to the idea that they would reconcile for years. 243 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: Friends described this movement as deeply significant for Jex Blake, 244 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: one that bisected her life story into the time before 245 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: it happened and the time after Sephia finished the school 246 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: term but then immediately left for Brighton. Yeah, when we 247 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: say she held on to hope about this for years 248 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: and years, I'm talking decades and decades, like a long time. 249 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: She was still writing about Octavia in her journal. Sophia 250 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: met another young woman at this time in her life 251 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: named Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. At that point, she was just 252 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Garrett. Elizabeth was born in Suffolk, England, in eighteen 253 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: thirty six, so she was a few years older than Sophia, 254 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth was very clear in her life's ambition. She 255 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and understanding and 256 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: experiencing that that was a field normally barred to women, 257 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: Elizabeth found ways to step around the barriers. Her path 258 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: had started with a surgical nurse position at Middlesex Hospital 259 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 1: and then she tried to enroll in the hospital school's 260 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: medical program, but she was declined, so she started to 261 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: study things like anatomy with private instructors. And eventually did 262 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: get a medical license after becoming a member of the 263 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. That was her way in. It 264 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: was a loophole that she exploited. Sophia met Elizabeth early 265 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: in this journey and found her inspiring. Jax Blake had, 266 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: in the meantime gotten a teaching job in Germany at 267 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 1: the Grand Ducal Institution in Mannheim. It was not a 268 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: great experience for her. She was really good at the 269 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 1: actual teaching part of her job, but was not good 270 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: at dealing with students when they got unruly. She found 271 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 1: the period of her contract there overwhelming, and when it 272 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: was over, she packed up to head home again. After 273 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,080 Speaker 1: foundering about to find something that felt like a calling 274 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: to her, Sophia decided to travel to the United States, 275 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: writing as she planned the trip quote, I have such 276 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: a feeling that with the new world, a new life 277 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: will open. On May twenty seventh, eighteen sixty five, Safaia 278 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: sailed from Liverpool on the ship Africa. The ship landed 279 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: in Boston on June eighth, and one of the people 280 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: that Sefaia had a contact for in Boston was doctor 281 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: Lucy Sewell. There were actually some problems with this. She 282 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: had been given the wrong address and so it took 283 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,399 Speaker 1: her a couple of days to actually find where doctor 284 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: Sewell was. But once she did, the two hit it off. 285 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: Doctor Sewell worked at the New England Hospital for Women 286 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: and Children, and she was the resident physician there at 287 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: the young age of twenty eight. Sephia spent a lot 288 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 1: of time with her in her dispensary and watched her 289 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: care for patients. At the same time, jax Blake was 290 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: dealing with her own health issues. This caused her energy 291 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: to really wax and wane from day to day. Sewell 292 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,159 Speaker 1: prescribed a holiday for her and she went to the 293 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 1: White Mountains in New Hampshire. She marveled in her letters 294 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: home at the expanse of the woodlands that she saw 295 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:46,159 Speaker 1: in the United States. When Sephia returned to Boston, Sewell 296 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: included her in the social life of the women's hospital 297 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: and its staff. The team consisted entirely of women, and 298 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,439 Speaker 1: that made a significant impression on Sophia. She wrote to 299 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: her mother, quote, can't you understand how refreshing it is 300 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: to slip into the bright life of all these working 301 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 1: people working hard all day and then so ready for fun. 302 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,919 Speaker 1: When work's over. Eventually, Jex Blake canceled most of her 303 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: other North American travel plans, and she moved into the 304 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: hospital's house for resident doctors. She started helping out around 305 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: the facility, doing things like working on paperwork and filling 306 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: prescriptions in the dispensary. She also started reading to patients 307 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,719 Speaker 1: and reported to her mother that she felt quote so 308 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: exceedingly content that I hardly feel the need of anything beyond. 309 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: She also wrote in her letters that she had thoughts 310 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: of quote, were I not a teacher, I would be 311 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: a doctor if I could. She had throughout her life 312 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: been religious, and she started writing sermons for the hospital 313 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,879 Speaker 1: and got one of the surgeons to play hymns on 314 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: an accordion for these services. Those services got really mixed reviews. 315 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: After a year in Boston, Safia returned home ready to 316 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:02,120 Speaker 1: discuss the thoughts that she was having about a future 317 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: in medicine. She and Sewell had gotten to the point 318 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: where they had discussed a future together, and Sewell wrote 319 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,959 Speaker 1: to her after she had returned to England, quote, I 320 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: really feel quite well satisfied with the increase in my practice, 321 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: and if it continues to increase for the next two 322 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: years as well, we shall be able to take a 323 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: fine house and live in style. I cannot tell you 324 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 1: how much pleasure I get out of anticipating our housekeeping. 325 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: When I am too tired to do anything, I lay 326 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: on the sofa and plan and plan, and think, what 327 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: a good time we are going to have, And I 328 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: am happy as a cricket, so sweet. Jex Blake had 329 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: returned to Brighton in June of eighteen sixty six, and 330 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: on September first, she left again to return to the 331 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 1: United States. She wrote a book titled A Visit to 332 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: Some American Colleges and Schools, based on the touring that 333 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: she had done on her first visit, and when that 334 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: was done, she turned all of her energies to being 335 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: essentially a medical student at the Women's Hospital. During this time, though, 336 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: she realized that even though she was learning a great deal, 337 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: she wasn't earning an academic degree. She tried applying to 338 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: Harvard Medical School and was denied, so she wrote a 339 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 1: letter to the President and fellows of Harvard requesting admission 340 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: to the medical school, and she had that letter published 341 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: in the Boston Daily Advertiser. Her co signer on the 342 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,400 Speaker 1: letter was another woman seeking a medical degree named Susan Dimmick. 343 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,239 Speaker 1: That didn't attain the desired result, but Sofia made it 344 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: her business to find ways to be introduced to anyone 345 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: she could find who worked at Massachusetts General Hospital and 346 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,719 Speaker 1: the Harvard Medical School faculty. She made her case to 347 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: all of them. If you remember our episode on Rebecca 348 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: Lee Crumpler, and you're like, wasn't there a New England 349 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 1: Female Medical College, Yes, we don't really know why she 350 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: seems not to have included that college in her efforts here. No, 351 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: it's a mystery. You can talk about that, moro. We 352 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: could talk about it more on Friday. But since that 353 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: episode was not long ago, I thought, huh. Some of 354 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:14,880 Speaker 1: these folks supported her efforts, including doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, 355 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: who wrote quote, I should not only be willing, but 356 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: I should be pleased to lecture to any number of 357 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: ladies for whom we can find accommodation in the anatomical 358 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: lecture room always provided that any special subject which seemed 359 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: not adapted for an audience of both sexes should be 360 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: delivered to the male students alone. But though Sophia was 361 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: certainly happy to have some degree of support She noted 362 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 1: in her personal writing that all of this really amounted 363 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: to nothing because Harvard had made a decision that women 364 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: would not be admitted. The Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 365 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: which had allowed women to sit in as clinical observers, 366 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: rescinded that permission. Massachusetts General continued to allow interested women 367 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: to observe, but that made it abundantly clear that what 368 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,199 Speaker 1: they had been allowed to learn, even from willing supporters, 369 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 1: was very abbreviated because the students were women. They also 370 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: met with open hostility from some members of the hospital staff, 371 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: so this just wasn't a good environment. Sofia and Lucy 372 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: Sewell were still very close. In one of her letters home, 373 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: she wrote to her parents about Lucy, quote, the doctor 374 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: begs me to send her love. I do hope you 375 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: may know her by this time next year, don't you. 376 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,919 Speaker 1: The two women went on a number of vacations together. 377 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: When there was time to get away, they would take 378 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: long driving tours in a carriage, stopping at a new 379 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: town each night. These were not luxury tours by any means. 380 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes they would stay at inns, but on other occasions 381 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: they stopped at people's houses and just asked if there 382 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: was a place to sleep. This was mostly all out 383 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,399 Speaker 1: in the country, so it wasn't expected that would be 384 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: in places with staff to take care of them. In 385 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: her diary, Saphia relayed one story in which a widow 386 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,840 Speaker 1: let them stay at her home, but there was no 387 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: one else there, so she had to manage their horse 388 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: by herself in the dark, and she came to appreciate 389 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: how hard that particular kind of work was. Sofia jex 390 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: Blake did not give up on trying to get Harvard 391 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: Medical School to change its mind regarding women as medical students. 392 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,879 Speaker 1: In January of eighteen sixty eight, she wrote to the 393 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: school once again, quote, Gentlemen, having during the past year 394 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,160 Speaker 1: been granted access to the clinical advantages of the Massachusetts 395 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: General Hospital, but finding it impossible anywhere in New England 396 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: to obtain adequate theoretical instruction in medicine, we now earnestly 397 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: entreat you to reconsider the subject of admission of women 398 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: to the lectures at Harvard Medical School. Such admission being, 399 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: as we understand, forbidden by no past or present statute 400 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: of the University. We do not wish to enter on 401 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: the vexed question of the capability of women for the 402 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: practice of medicine, as we believe that time and experience 403 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: can only furnish its true answer. This letter goes on 404 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,639 Speaker 1: to say that the interested women are absolutely willing to 405 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: submit to the qualifying exams and to provide references, and 406 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: to agree to any rules that the school might wish 407 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: to set up to make this proposal work. While she 408 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 1: waited on a reply to this particular phase of request, 409 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: a funny thing happened to her and that she adopted 410 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 1: rather by accident, a dog. This dog had belonged to 411 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: the family of a patient at the women's hospital. When 412 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:40,640 Speaker 1: the patient's husband came to pick her up and take 413 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: her home after treatment, the family dog was with him, 414 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: and after that the dog, which Sofaia described as possibly 415 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: being a setter, kept coming back to the hospital by itself. 416 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,719 Speaker 1: The family came and got it several times, and then 417 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: one night it showed up at the resident home and 418 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: as it was cold, Jex Blake let it in and 419 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: then she took it home in the morning. The dog 420 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: was friendly with its owner. It didn't act like it 421 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: had been mistreated in any way, but it kept trying 422 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,680 Speaker 1: to go back home with Sophia every time she tried 423 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: to leave, So she and the gentleman had a discussion 424 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: about it, and she ultimately offered him five dollars if 425 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,919 Speaker 1: she could just keep the dog named Turk, noting quote 426 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: one can't help liking, even a dog who so plainly 427 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: declares elective affinity. Coming up a familiar character to longtime 428 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: podcast listeners, will enter Sophia's story, but first we will 429 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:45,160 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors that keep our show going. Although 430 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: she absolutely adored her life in Boston, Sofia was getting 431 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: frustrated enough with Harvard that she decided to seek out 432 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: alternate possibilities for a medical education in New York. She 433 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: left for New York in March of eighteen sixty eight, 434 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: and there her life intersects with another prior podcast subject, 435 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: doctor Elizabeth Blackwell. Blackwell and her sister Emily took Sophia 436 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: under their wings. Doctor Blackwell was also lobbying for better 437 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: medical education opportunities for women, so their goals were very 438 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: closely aligned. Sephia also managed to get a tiny anatomy 439 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 1: class together for women, just her and one other student, 440 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: so a very tiny class at Bellevue Hospital. After she 441 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 1: got one of the administrators there at doctor Moseley to 442 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,880 Speaker 1: agree to teach it. Sophia's first experience with a dissecting 443 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: class was thrilling to her. She wrote in her diary 444 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: on March twenty eighth, eighteen sixty eight, quote began dissecting 445 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: with doctor Moseley. Oh dear, isn't it good to have 446 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: some real teaching at last? By the bye, the Blackwells 447 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: think they could get us into Bellevue if Harvard refuses 448 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: New York for three winters. That's funny to me because 449 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts for three winters was what she was looking at. Fright. 450 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: So she notes just how much she was learning now 451 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: that she had actual teaching, both in her dissecting lab 452 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: and under doctor Blackwell, compared to the previous observation she'd 453 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,879 Speaker 1: been allowed to do. She was also writing Lucy Sewell 454 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: long letters, which included, among other things, how to manage 455 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,640 Speaker 1: the various day to day things that Seviyah had been 456 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: handling for her, like how to manage her bookkeeping and 457 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: how to take care of turk. It's so cute some 458 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: of these letters where she's like, Okay, there's a Ledger book. 459 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: It looks like this. It's on this shelf. Please don't 460 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,399 Speaker 1: forget to write down invoices that you sent out like 461 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: it is the funniest, most kind of mothering that it's 462 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: very cute. At the end of April, she sailed back 463 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,119 Speaker 1: home for a visit, writing in her diary quote, nearly 464 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,160 Speaker 1: three years in America. In that time, complete health regained, 465 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: probably better than ever before, real strength and power of study, 466 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: A profession opening calmly and clearly before me becoming clearer daily, 467 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: my vocation given up or laid aside, and I quietly 468 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:12,520 Speaker 1: learning knowledge chiefly because of its power. Hardly yet shaping 469 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: out any end. But what does come selfish enough? Professor 470 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:22,199 Speaker 1: of anatomy, surgeon, doctor, teacher. She credits all of this 471 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: hope and new life to l Ees, meaning Lucy Sewell. 472 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: And when she got back home to England, she brought 473 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,880 Speaker 1: Lucy with her to introduce her to friends and family. 474 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: Everyone really adored Lucy. She gave medical advice to sick 475 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 1: people in Bristol. She easily won over the entire Jax 476 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: Blake family, inspiring Sephia's parents to want to buy her 477 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: a new carriage when she returned home to Boston as 478 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: a memento of their affection. For her. Sephia was very 479 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 1: aware that her parents would not be around forever, and 480 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 1: it was important to her that they understand her new 481 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: path in life, that they like her dearest friend Lucy, 482 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,880 Speaker 1: and that they all have a good holiday together. And 483 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: all of these things happened. Saphia wrote in her diary quote, 484 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: I think the wheel is beginning to sway upwards again. 485 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: Please God, it's It's very sweet that this entire visit is. 486 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: All of her notes are about how everyone is just 487 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: as bananas about Lucy as she is and thinks she's 488 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: the best thing that ever walked the earth. When Saphia 489 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: returned to the US after that wonderful visit home, jax 490 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: Blake got the news that Harvard had once again said 491 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: no to her request for admittance to medical school, so 492 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: she headed to New York in the autumn of eighteen 493 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,240 Speaker 1: sixty eight, which was timed well to Elizabeth Blackwell and 494 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: her sister opening their medical school for women. Sophia took 495 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: rooms at two twenty two East tenth Street in the 496 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: East Village. She noted that once her furniture and food 497 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: stores were purchased, which included two barrels of potatoes and 498 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 1: thirty pounds of butter, which made me cheer a little bit. 499 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 1: She was low on money, but also that she knew 500 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: she could borrow from doctor Sewell if she needed to. 501 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: She also wrote to her mother quote, though I have 502 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: no special friends here, I shall be so busy and 503 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: cozy that I expect to get on capitally. During this 504 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: period of her life, Sephia started an interesting practice when 505 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,479 Speaker 1: writing to her parents. She would write most of her 506 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: letters with the intent that her mother would pass them 507 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: on to her father to read, but she also added 508 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: additional sheets of paper with messages only intended for her mother. 509 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: In these, she was more frank about any difficulties or 510 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,720 Speaker 1: challenges that she was working through. Her father's health had 511 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: become more fragile as he aged, she didn't want to 512 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: upset or worry him about anything. It's an interesting twist 513 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: that her mother, who wrote the teenage Sophia letters suggesting 514 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: she was too fragile to deal with her daughter, had 515 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 1: now become the one more trusted with potentially stressful news. 516 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: But the stressful news came not from Sophia but to her. 517 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: In November of eighteen sixty eight, her sister Carrie wrote 518 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,480 Speaker 1: to her of their father quote, I believe if you 519 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: could start from New York today, you would have no 520 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: prospect whatever of seeing him alive. Sophia immediately left for 521 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: home on a frantic journey to get there as quickly 522 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,680 Speaker 1: as possible, only to find that her father, Thomas Jex Blake, 523 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: had died ten days before she even received her sister's message. 524 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: As it turned out, mister Jex Blake had been keenly 525 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: aware of the limited time he had left for several months, 526 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: and he had, without anyone in the family knowing, been 527 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: making sure that all of his affairs were in order, 528 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: and had also been writing farewell letters to all of 529 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,239 Speaker 1: his loved ones to be delivered after his death. His 530 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: last words were reportedly beautiful, beautiful, when a doctor had 531 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: shifted him slightly in the bed before he passed. Her 532 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: father's death shifted Safia's feelings about her studies in New York. 533 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: She stopped working with Blackwell abruptly and vowed never to 534 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: be so far from her remaining family again. Lucy Sewell 535 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: was of course heartbroken that their plans for a future 536 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: together were ended with no real warning, but she also 537 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: seemed to understand the logic of it and she wrote 538 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: to Sofia that she knew she would still become a 539 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: doctor despite the challenges that she faced in that effort. 540 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: Back home, the two of them planned that Lucy would 541 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: help set up a practice for Sophia once she had 542 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: her schooling done and had acquired a medical license. And 543 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: that is where we are going to end part one, 544 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: and next time we will talk about Jex Blake's fight 545 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: for an education in the British Isles and how she 546 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: became part of a group known as the Edinburgh Seven. Dun, Dun. 547 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: You also have some listener mail for us, of course 548 00:32:55,040 --> 00:33:01,040 Speaker 1: I do. This one is about our recent on Margaret Knight, 549 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: and it is from our listener Melissa, who writes, when 550 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: I started listening to your recent episode about Margaret E. Knight, 551 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: I thought to myself, h, this story sounds familiar. And 552 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 1: then you mentioned her nickname Mattie, and I was like, oh, right, 553 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: I have a book about that Maddie in the Machine 554 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: by Lynn ing Quazon. I don't know if I'm pronouncing 555 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: that author's name right. I picked it up in a 556 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: benefit auction. The author wrote a very sweet note in 557 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: it for my kid, who is an inventor himself, he 558 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: hasn't read it yet. It's probably more YA than MG. 559 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 1: But I did, and I found it pretty enjoyable. It 560 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,000 Speaker 1: is fictionalized, of course, there's a whole rival love interest 561 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: side plot that I suspect isn't historical, but as a 562 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: frequent reader of historical fiction, I was satisfied overall. The 563 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: author is an engineer, so the amount of detail into 564 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: the mechanical development of Mattie's bag folder work is great. 565 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 1: My kiddo is way beyond his years in engineering abilities, 566 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: so I often struggle finding books for him that are 567 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,520 Speaker 1: engaging reads with sufficiently geeky details. I just thought i'd 568 00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: drop a line for anyone else who would love to 569 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: spend more time with a brilliant I'm gonna do this 570 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: thing I'm awesome at, regardless of social opinion woman from History. 571 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: Also that book does not include the mislabeled photo of 572 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,400 Speaker 1: her yay, but it does have patent diagrams, which I 573 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: think she would rather us look at anyway. Okay, this 574 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: is where we get to what to me is a 575 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: very thrilling part of this email. Melissa writes no pets 576 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,759 Speaker 1: at present, but attaching a photo of one of my 577 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 1: aforementioned son's latest inventions a critter ridder for our vegetable garden. 578 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,919 Speaker 1: When a motion sensor is tripped, lights and sound will 579 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: go off to startle away the deer and bunnies that 580 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: frequent our forest. At home, Dad helped cut holes in 581 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: the plastic container, but otherwise the coding, writing, etc. Is 582 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,280 Speaker 1: all by my nine year old. Yes, I do believe 583 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,719 Speaker 1: he is the heck and coolest. Thanks for the continually 584 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: excellent podcast. I know it's tough days in the podcast world, 585 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: so I extra appreciate your commitment to shouldering all the 586 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: research you do and crafting such approachable stories from it. Okay, 587 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: this kid is amazing because one, this is like a 588 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: great humane way to keep animals from eating your fruits 589 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: and vegetables. Two, it made me think also of Sofia, 590 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: a little bit who was very advanced when she was 591 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,400 Speaker 1: a kid, although in her case she was not getting 592 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 1: that much encouragement about it. So kudos Melissa for having 593 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,080 Speaker 1: a super bright kid who is also being encouraged to 594 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: use that brightness. If you have an email for us, 595 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,400 Speaker 1: you can send it to History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 596 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,719 Speaker 1: You can also subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, 597 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows. Stuff you 598 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,719 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For 599 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:45,239 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 600 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.