Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821 in Bristol,

England to two very loving and supportive parents. Her

Father died when she was 17 and her mother and sisters

opened a school to support themselves. Elizabeth was a

teacher at this school until it closed in 1842, when her

younger brothers were old enough to provide for their

family. She continued to take teaching jobs, but knew that

wasn't what she wanted to do. She knew she wanted to do

something that she described as a "hard challenge". Soon

after this, a friend of hers, Mary Donaldson, died of an

unknown internal illness. She had been too embarrassed to

see a doctor about the symptoms of her disease until it

was too late to treat. Elizabeth thought that maybe if her

friend had been able to see a woman doctor, she might have

lived. She wrote: "The idea of winning a doctor's

degree gradually assumed the aspect of a great moral

struggle, and the moral fight possessed many attraction for

me."

Her decision to be a doctor was not a long-felt desire,

but a response to a strongly felt need among woman. So in

1847, she decided to apply to a major medical school. No

schools would take her though, until she tried her 29th

school, Geneva Medical College in upstate New York.

The students voted on whether to let her in or not, and

she was accepted by popular demand. She graduated in 1849

at the top of her class.

This was a big accomplishment, but after she graduated, she

had to put her knowledge to use. Finally, after searching

for a hospital of some sort that would take her, she

worked at La Maternite in Paris. This wasn't exactly what

she had in mind, but after a while she decided she'd like

to specialize as an obstetric surgeon. This dream was cut

short then she contracted an eye disease that caused her

to lose sight in one eye, and damaged her sight in the other

. Realizing that she could never be a surgeon because of

her poor eyesight, she decided to pursue the occupation of

a general physician.

In 1850 she was accepted to train at St. Bartholomew's

Hospital in London. Finally she met women there that were

sympathetic to her struggle. She was tempted to stay in

London, but decided to go back to New York where she would

receive less prejudice. On her return, she set up practice,

in 1853 she set up a dispensary, and in 1857 her dream of a

hospital for women run by women was established in the "New

York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children". The

hospital

only charged its patients 4 dollars a week and didn't charge

them at all if they couldn't afford it. Which led to the

Hospitals constant state of financial need.

One year later she returned to England to campaign for the

establishment of medical training for women. She gave many

popular lectures, inspiring, among others, Elizabeth

Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a doctor

in England. But yet again she decided to return to the US

determined to set up a medical school for women, which she

achieved in 1868. When Elizabeth Blackwell was 58 she moved

to a cottage in England, where she began to write an

autobiography. She died when she was 89, not allowing her

to finish her book.