The first women in the United States to receive a medical degree
Before she became a doctor, she worked as a schoolteacher because this was one of the few careers deemed suitable for women during the 1800s.
Blackwell was inspired to pursue medicine after her dying friend told her that she wouldn’t have suffered so much if a female physician took care of her.
Blackwell then decided to apply to medical school but because of her gender, she was rejected from all but one of the schools she applied to, Geneva Medical College. The male students at this medical school had to vote on whether or not to accept her--luckily, these students were somewhat sensible.
Her professors forced her to sit separately during lectures and often excluded her from labs, and local townspeople shunned her, labeling her a “bad” woman because she defied her gender role. Despite all this, Blackwell graduated first in her class in 1849, earning the respect of her professors and classmates.
In 1857, she founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and began giving lectures to female audiences on the importance of educating girls. She also played a significant role in organizing nurses during the American Civil War.