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1821 |
This timeline starts on February 3, 1821 when Elizabeth was born in Bristol in England. Her wealthy parents were Hannah and Samuel Blackwell. She was the third of nine children. All of the children, both the boys and the girls were given a good education. |
1832 |
Unable to pay his taxes Samuel Blackwell moved his family to New York, where her father owned a sugar refinery business. Influenced by their Quaker beliefs the family became active in the abolitionist movement |
1838 |
The Blackwell family moved to Cincinnati. Samuel died in Cincinnati, leaving the family without financial resources |
1839 |
Elizabeth took a teaching job in Kentucky to make money to pay for medical school |
1845 |
She moved to North Carolina where she read medicine in the home of Dr. John Dickson as no medical school would admit a woman |
1847 |
She managed to acquire a place and attended Geneva College in New York studying medicine. She was treated with sheer disgust by many people who believed that medicine was a totally unsuitable career for a woman |
1849 |
January 11, 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, graduating at the top of her class. |
1849 |
She was banned from practicing in most hospitals so she moved to Paris, France to train at La Maternitè |
1850 |
During her training in Paris she contracted a terrible eye disease called purulent ophthalmia which resulted in having her eye removed and replaced by a glass eye |
1851 |
Elizabeth Blackwell returned to New York but still faced the prejudice against female doctors in the medical profession |
1857 |
May 12, 1857 - Elizabeth with her sister Emily and Dr.Marie Zakrzewska, founded their own infirmary, named the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children |
1861 |
Abraham Lincoln elected President of the US and the Civil War starts. During the period of the Civil War Elizabeth Blackwell trained many women to be nurses who were of great help to the Union Army |
1863 |
Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation |
1865 |
The Civil War ends. Lincoln is assassinated. The 13th amendment to Constitution abolishes slavery |
1868 |
Due to the good reputation she acquired during her work in the Civil War Elizabeth Blackwell was able to establish a Women's Medical College at the Infirmary to train women, physicians, and doctors |
1869 |
In 1869 she returned to England and with Florence Nightingale opened the Women's Medical College. Elizabeth Blackwell taught at the London School of Medicine for Women. She was the first female physician and doctor in the UK Medical Register. |
1875- |
She became a Professor of Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for Women from 1875 to 1907. |
1907 |
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell died May 31, 1910 at her home in Hastings in the South coast of England. Her cause of death is unknown. She was 89 years old. |
1910 |
Elizabeth Blackwell Timeline |
Elizabeth Blackwell Timeline |
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