Today in History - 1849
On this day Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College. She was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.
Although Blackwell had been studying medicine on her own for four years when she began applying to medical schools, Geneva Medical College, a forerunner of Hobart College in upstate New York, was the only institution to accept her application. She entered the college in 1847 and graduated the head of her class two years later, despite having endured ostracism by students and townspeople for daring to challenge barriers against women in the field of medicine.
In 1851, after completing graduate studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Blackwell returned to the United States. Barred from practicing in city hospitals, she opened a small dispensary in the tenement district of New York City. In 1857, she and two other recent medical school graduates opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, a hospital staffed entirely by women.
Although Blackwell had been studying medicine on her own for four years when she began applying to medical schools, Geneva Medical College, a forerunner of Hobart College in upstate New York, was the only institution to accept her application. She entered the college in 1847 and graduated the head of her class two years later, despite having endured ostracism by students and townspeople for daring to challenge barriers against women in the field of medicine.
In 1851, after completing graduate studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Blackwell returned to the United States. Barred from practicing in city hospitals, she opened a small dispensary in the tenement district of New York City. In 1857, she and two other recent medical school graduates opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, a hospital staffed entirely by women.
