Blackwell, ELIZABETH

Blackwell, ELIZABETH, the first woman that obtained a medical diploma in the United States, was born at Bristol in 1821. Her family emigrated to the States in 1832, and six years later the father died, leaving a widow and nine children. Elizabeth helped to support the family for some years by teaching, steadily devoting her leisure the while to the study of medical and anatomical books. After making many fruitless applications for admission to various medical schools, she was permitted to enter that of Geneva, in New York State, and to graduate in 1849. She next visited Europe to prosecute her medical studies, and after much difficulty was admitted into the extensive Maternité hospital at Paris, and St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. In 1851 she returned to New York, and there established herself in a successful practice. In 1869 she returned to England, where she took an active part in connection with questions of social reform and the position of women. She has lectured frequently, and is author of several popular books on the laws of health, especially for girls. See her autobiography (1895).