Elizabeth Blackwell
By: Kaylee McCain
Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 in Counterslip, United kingdom. Her family was poor, her, her parents, and her eight other siblings, so they moved from the UK to the United states of American at age 11 to make a better life for them all. Their father died leaving them almost out of money, so they opened a private school to make money for the family. Elizabeth Blackwell moved around many times from the UK: New York; Jersey City; Cincinnati; Henderson, Kentucky; North and South Carolina; London. After teaching for a long time, she decided to pursue her dream to become a woman physician. needing to go to college, she had been turned down from a ton of schools. Finally, there was a school that let her in,Genera Medical College. When they found out she was serious, everyone treated her differently because they thought it was a bad idea for her to be getting her doctor's degree. She was the outcast.Later she became the very first woman in the world to ever get their doctor's degree. in the beginning of college she said," If society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled."After college she tried to find a job, but no one would hire her, so she made a doctor's office at her house treating people from there. Later she moved back to the UK to work at a hospital for many, many years, but found her self back in the United States. During the Civil War, she opened a unit of women field doctors. She also created a National Health Society. throughout her year though she never married, she did adopt a little girl named Katharine Barry Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell also got an award in her later years that was named after her, since she was the first woman to graduate with a college degree in the field of doctors. It was called the Blackwell Award for the woman whose life exemplifies outstanding service to humanity. If she never lived then there wouldn't be women pursuing their dream whether if it was to be a doctor or to be a astronaut. she showed much determination throughout her life that gave every woman strength to pursue their dreams. Sadly on May 31, 1910 in Hastings, UK Elizabeth Blackwell died from a stroke. Though she did accomplish much, she was an educator that taught after helping in the field, a woman's rights activist, and the first woman to go into the doctors field. And although many people didn't believe in her at first, they later looked up to her as their role model.