Changing the face of Medicine: Elizabeth Blackwell Determination is the key in accomplishing anything, Elizabeth Blackwell certainly knew this when she fought long and hard to accomplish her dreams of becoming the first woman doctor in the United States. “Elizabeth Blackwell is known for changing the course of modern medicine, founding hospitals and medical colleges for women in the United States and England, pioneering in preventive medicine and infection control, and breaking prejudicial barriers against women in medicine on two continents” (Khalsa). She has contributed a great deal to American society by expanding women's rights through her courage and determination to become the first woman doctor in America. She fought hard to be accepted …show more content…
She was one of nine children. All of her siblings and herself were homeschooled because “her father was dissenter (one who refuses to accept the authority of an established church)” (Encyclopedia). The homeschooling teachers did not follow English tradition and taught the girls the same subjects as the boys. When Blackwell and her family moved to the New York her father did not prosper as well as he did in England and lost most of their wealth when the economy crashed in 1837. They decided to move to Ohio hoping for a new start, when a few months later her father died. The Blackwell girls had to figure a way to provide for their family and started a boarding school for young …show more content…
She later learned that she was only accepted on a practical joke because no female had ever tried to be accepted into a medical college (Encyclopedia). While attending Geneva College she faced many hardships such as prejudices and being an outsider because she was the only female. A woman studying medicine was an abnormality back in those times and people thought she was immoral or insane. She did not partake in this judgment and kept her head clear for her main goal. During the summertimes in between semesters, Blackwell went to Philadelphia to work at Blockley Almhouse where she would study and learn from clinical experience (Markel). This made her drive to finish school even stronger because she got a feel for working in the