The Achievement
On January 23, 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College in upstate New York, earning a Doctor of Medicine degree. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree from a fully accredited institution.
She graduated first in her class. The president of the college, Dr. Charles Lee, rose to present her diploma. According to Blackwell's own account, he stood, bowed, and said: "I am now about to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Medicine. By virtue of the authority vested in me, I do..." He paused. He had never done this before.
She was 27 years old. She had been rejected by 29 other medical schools before Geneva admitted her.
The Path to Medicine
Blackwell was born in Bristol, England, in 1821. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1832. Her father, Samuel Blackwell, was a sugar refiner who supported abolitionism and women's education. He died in 1838 when Elizabeth was 17, leaving the family in financial difficulty.
The idea of becoming a doctor came from a dying friend who told Elizabeth that her suffering would have been eased by a woman physician. The suggestion repelled Blackwell at first. She later wrote that she found the physical body distasteful and had no natural inclination toward medicine. But the challenge itself drew her.
She spent two years studying privately with sympathetic physicians while teaching music to earn money. In 1847, she began applying to medical schools. Every major school rejected her, including Harvard, Yale, and every medical college in New York and Philadelphia.
Medical School
Life at Geneva Medical College was isolating. Professors initially barred her from anatomy demonstrations, relenting only after she wrote a formal letter arguing that her exclusion was illogical given that she was studying to be a doctor. Fellow students, who had voted her in as a prank, gradually accepted her as they watched her work.
Local townspeople were less accommodating. Women crossed the street to avoid her. Rumors circulated that she must be "either a bad woman or a lunatic." She spent her time studying, attending lectures, and working in the hospital ward.
She graduated first in her class on January 23, 1849. The event drew national attention. The Buffalo Medical Journal called her admission "a farce" and warned it would "degrade the profession."
Building a Career Without a Welcome
After graduation, Blackwell traveled to Paris for additional training. She enrolled at La Maternite, the city's leading maternity hospital. While treating an infant with purulent ophthalmia (a severe eye infection), she accidentally infected her own left eye. Despite treatment, she lost sight in that eye permanently. The loss ended any possibility of becoming a surgeon.
Returning to New York, she found that no hospital would hire her and no physician would rent her office space. She opened a small practice in a rented room. Patients were slow to come.
In 1857, she founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children with her younger sister Emily (also a physician) and Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. It was the first hospital in the United States staffed entirely by women.
In 1868, she opened the Women's Medical College at the New York Infirmary, providing a full medical education for women at a time when most schools still refused to admit them.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1869, Blackwell moved back to England, where she helped establish the London School of Medicine for Women. She spent the rest of her life in England, writing, lecturing, and advocating for sanitary reform and preventive medicine.
She died on May 31, 1910, in Hastings, England, at age 89.
The transformation she helped start is now complete in one sense: as of the mid-2020s, women make up more than 50% of US medical school students. But it took 168 years from Blackwell's graduation for women to become the majority in medical education.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first woman doctor in the United States?
Elizabeth Blackwell, who graduated from Geneva Medical College on January 23, 1849.
How was Elizabeth Blackwell admitted to medical school?
After 29 rejections, Geneva Medical College put the decision to a student vote. The all-male students voted to admit her, reportedly as a joke. She graduated first in her class.
Who was the first Black woman doctor?
Rebecca Lee Crumpler, who earned her MD from the New England Female Medical College in Boston in 1864.
What hospital did Elizabeth Blackwell found?
The New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children (1857), staffed entirely by women physicians.
What percentage of doctors are women today?
Women represent more than 50% of US medical students and approximately 37% of active physicians as of the mid-2020s.