The Doctors Blackwell How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine

Janice P. Nimura, Laural Merlington

eAudio - 2021

Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an MD. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger sister, Emily, who was actually the more brilliant physician. Exploring the sisters' allies, enemies, and enduring partnership, Janice P. Nimura presents a story of trial and triumph. Together, the Blackwells founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, the first hospital staffed entir...ely by women. Both sisters were tenacious and visionary, but their convictions did not always align with the emergence of women's rights-or with each other. From Bristol, Paris, and Edinburgh to the rising cities of antebellum America, this richly researched... more