Inspiration:
When one of Blackwell's friends was dying from cancer she expressed that examined by male doctors was worse than the illness itself. Women were very modest about their bodies during this time and were extremely reluctant in visiting doctors. Her friend told her that she would have preferred a women doctor and asked her to study medicine("DIScovering Bio"). Blackwell at first was repulsed by medicine and thought becoming a doctor was horrible idea because illness and bodies disgusted her. Over time she though about it and decided to take the challenge (Binns21) |
"You are fond of study, have health and leisure; why not study medicine? If I could have been treated by a lady doctor, my worst sufferings would have been spared me" |
Gaining Experience Blackwell wrote to physician's and talked to family and friends about her interest in the medical field, they all said it was impossible("Changing the face...")She need to have prior medical experience to get into college and was also lacking the money. She traveled to Asheville North Carolina in 1845, where she studied under Reverend John Dickson and taught in his school to raise money(Binns23).However the school closed in December of that year and then traveled to Charleston, North Carolina and studied medicine under Reverend Dickson's brother Dr. Samuel H. Dickson. There she was also able to teach at a boarding school near by to collect money for school(DISCovering Bio). |
"This verdict, however, no matter from how great an authority, was rather an encouragement than otherwise to a young and active person who needed an absorbing occupation. If an idea, I reasoned, were really a valuable one, there must be some way of realizing it. The idea of winning a doctor's degree gradually assumed the aspect of a great moral struggle, and the moral fight possessed immense attraction for me" |
I felt more determined than ever to become a physician, and thus place a stronger barrier between me and all ordinary marriage
-Elizabeth Blackwell (Lewis)