Excerpts from "Letter Concerning the Education of Women Physicians"
Elizabeth Blackwell (1851)

URL: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amtitle.html (search by title)

SITE SUMMARY: This letter, written by the first American woman to become a doctor, reveals Dr. Blackwell's viewpoint that human beings should be ranked by character rather than gender, and that women should be ranked not in second place or even in first place, but in their true places, in professions, especially in the medical profession. The letter was written in response to a comment made by Baroness Anne Isabella Milbank Byron that Blackwell objected to. Lady Byron had suggested that women doctors should assume a secondary position in the medical profession. Note also background information on Blackwell and the letter on the main Web page before search. Click letter page link for an online reproduction of the handwritten letter.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Read the first and second paragraphs of the excerpts from Dr. Blackwell's letter to Baroness Byron. Explain her statements, applying them to her situation, then to women and the medical profession in general, women and a particular medical profession, and women and any science profession. (Tip: Give comments by, or about, other women, if possible.) (Hint: Check sites noted in Questions/Activities no. 4 and no. 6 below.)
2. Visit the Web sites or pages National Library of Medicine—Elizabeth Blackwell Exhibit Online, Creative Quotations from Elizabeth Blackwell, On One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of Blackwell's Graduation from Medical School, and Blackwell quotations at Quotations in Medicine Online. (Their urls are cited in the Related Internet Sites section below, or in this book's Appendix C.) Choose three quotations by Dr. Blackwell. Apply to these quotations parts of Question/Activity no. 1, specifically the part beginning "Explain her statements …," then the tip and hint.
3. Keeping in mind that, and how, Dr. Blackwell struggled to obtain a medical education, then find patients and be a doctor, read student Sarah Sellers' 1998 article "The First Test! Through the Eyes of Dr. Virginia Apgar," especially paragraph four. (Its url is cited in the Related Internet Sites section of this book's chapter featuring "A Proposal For a New Method of Evaluation of the Newborn Infant" by Dr. Virginia Apgar, 1953.) What did Sellers write on Dr. Apgar's early professional life? (Hints: Note her choice of specialty within the medical profession, why she changed her mind, and how she fared in her new specialty.)
4. See "North American vs. European Attitudes Toward Advent of Women Physicians." (Its url is cited in the Related Internet Sites section below.) See also the Web sites Women in Science and Medical Fields; and Important Figures in Health Sciences, noting its links to Women in Health History, Distinguished Women of the Past and Present: Health and Medicine, and Real Women in Health Care. (Their urls are cited in the Related Internet Sites section below, or in this book's Appendix B.) Choose one of the first women who strove to become a doctor, and find out if she was successful or had a hard or a challenging time. Next, choose a woman of any time in a particular medical profession, then describe how she fared within it.
5. See the Web sites and pages Careers in Health and Medicine; Medical and Health Career Descriptions; Medical Doctor Occupational Profile; Physicians and Surgeons, and Related Occupations, in the Occupational Outlook Handbook. (Their urls are cited in this book's Appendix B.) See also to the Web sites cited in Question/Activity no. 4 above. Choose a medical profession you find interesting. Imagine you are thinking of pursuing this profession as a career. Note how people of your gender have fared in this profession or in one of its specialties, and if you would you still pursue it if it is considered an occupation for the gender opposite from yours. Consider if you would choose to "swim against the tide" and try to make it in this controversial profession, or if you would choose a profession or a profession's specialty that has traditionally been a profession for your gender then "sail through the calm or navigable waters" or try to "surf the waves" (i.e., make inroads within that accepted profession)? Explain your decision, emphasizing why or why not.
6. Visit at least one Web site from each of the following groups. Group one: Women Physician Autobiographies; National Women's Health Information Center; Journal of American Medical Women's Association (JAMWA); Female Patient Magazine; Women's Health and Adolescent Health in Health Topics A-Z at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Online; and Girl Power! in the News Index (with Research Studies and News); plus group two: Exploring the Relationship of Medicine and Literature; Roster of Physician Writers; the Literature, Arts and Medicine Database; and Reflections at the Medical College of Wisconsin—HealthLink. (Site urls are cited in the Related Internet Sites section below; or in this book's Appendix B, C, D, or F.) Choose from two sites (one each from the groups above) a woman physician and something she wrote; describe what she wrote about, quoting her when possible. Identify the format in which she wrote. (For help with identifying writing formats, see the Note in Question/Activity no. 7 below.)
7. Look at the various writing formats, at the sites in group two in Question/Activity no. 6 above, in which women physicians have written; then choose a format; next choose a subject that a particular woman physician has written about at one of the sites in group two; and write something of your own on the subject in general in the format you chose. (If possible, include in your writing something you, a family member, or friend, have experienced.) Next, look at the short writing formats at the sites cited below and in group one of Question/Activity no. 6 above; then choose one format; and write something on a medical subject in the chosen format. (Note: For help with identifying writing formats, visit the Web pages with Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences; JAMWA instructions for contributors, and Journal of Adolescent Health author information. Their urls are cited in this book's Appendixes C and D.)

RELATED INTERNET SITE(S)

On One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of Blackwell's Graduation from Medical School

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/press_releases/blackwell.html

On January 28, 1999, the National Library of Medicine commemorated Blackwell's life accomplishments in an exhibit, with quotations from her diary and publications. This press release on the event provides a biography including quotations by Blackwell, and quotes about her by Tenley Albright, the chair of the library's board of regents; by Charles A. Lee, the library's director; and by Donald A.B. Lindberg, the dean of her medical school.

Elizabeth Blackwell, America's First Woman M.D., at NLM Exhibit Online

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/blackwell/index.html

An online version of the National Library of Medicine exhibit on Blackwell, this site features a biography with reproductions of pages from Blackwell's medical college notes, and her publication Medicine as a Profession For Women, plus her comment on how people reacted to her being a student in a medical school. Sections include Admission to Medical School, College Life, Graduation, and Career.

Elizabeth Blackwell on the Web

http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/blackwellelizabeth

This site features links to About Elizabeth Blackwell, some quotations, and an 1868 biography of her by a Rev. H.B. Elliott.

Creative Quotations from Elizabeth Blackwell

http://famouscreativewomen.com/one/1092.htm

Featured are some quotations from an 1848 letter and from her 1895 book Pioneer Work for Women.

"North American vs. Western European Attitudes Toward Advent of Women Physicians"

http://www.upstate.edu/library/advent.html

A speech presented April 9, 1999, by Eric v.d. Luft, collections curator, Health Sciences Library, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, at the Fourteenth Annual Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies Conference "Transatlanticisms" at Ohio State University, Columbus. A featured part is "The Struggle of Elizabeth Blackwell."

National Women's Health Information Center

http://www.4.woman.gov

See links to Featured Health Articles with guest editors, News Archives, Press Releases, FAQs, Hot Topics, Women's Health News Today, Women's Health Time Capsule, Hot Topics in Congress, Information for Special Women's groups, Journals, and Young Women's Health Summit.

Women Physicians' Autobiographies

http://research.med.umkc.edu/teams/cml/womendrs.html

This bibliography has writings by women of the past and of recent times, from various areas of the world, and includes some annotations.