Elizabeth Blackwell – first woman doctor
Elizabeth Blackwell was the world’s first woman doctor. Blackwell had to struggle all her life to practice medicine.
Elizabeth was born on February 3, 1821, in Bristol, England. In 1832, her family emigrated to America. Elizabeth helped to support the family by teaching and, in 1838, the year of her father’s death, she opened a school in Cincinnati. In her free time she read medical books. It was difficult for her to get training as a doctor but eventually she entered Geneva Medical School in New York State. The men who taught medicine didn’t think it was right for a woman to be a doctor. She was the only woman in a class of 150. Two years later Blackwell was the best student in her class. In 1849 she became the first female doctor in the United States.
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