August 19, 2025 • 27 mins
The Blackwell sisters, Elizabeth and Emily, forced open the doors of American medicine for women in the 1800s, transforming the profession despite facing systematic rejection from medical establishments.
• Elizabeth Blackwell, born 1821 to abolitionist parents, became the first female doctor in America despite initially finding medicine "disgusting"
• Rejected by 29 medical schools before Geneva Medical College accepted her—only because male students thought it was a joke
• Graduated top of her class in 1849, later losing an eye to infection while training in Paris
• Emily Blackwell followed her sister into medicine, becoming the third female physician in America despite facing even greater resistance
• Together they founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857 and later a women's medical college
• Elizabeth held surprisingly conservative views—opposing women's voting rights and contraception
• Neither sister married, but both adopted daughters
• By their deaths in 1910, women made up 6% of physicians; today they represent over half of medical students
Sources:
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/review-doctors-blackwell
http://bedside-rounds.org/episode-62-the-sisters-blackwell/
https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_36.html
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbBGRCMXGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7MRGYRx3DQ
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Music by Tim Crowe
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Quote Sister, she is your mirror, shining back at you
with a world of possibilities.
She is your witness who seesyou at your worst and best and
loves you anyway.
She is your partner in crime,your midnight companion, someone
who knows when you are smiling,even in the dark.
Barbara Alpert, as Jessica'ssitting in the dark, dark,
(00:25):
smiling at me like a creep.
That's a sweet quote, it is andit kind of has to do.
It's the most like closest tomy topic that I had I got fun.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I saw another quote that was your sister knows all
your buttons and will happilypush them.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Oh, absolutely Stomp on those things.
Well, welcome back.
Hi, we did it we did it, twoweeks, we did it.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Let's see what happens after this, no promises.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, not solid promises.
Yes, we're going to promise wecan do it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
We will do a Swiss cheese promise.
What does that mean?
I don't know.
It might go through the hole orit might stick on the hard part
of the cheese.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I made it up.
I don't know.
Are you serious?
No wonder, that's terrible.
Oh my God, why are you makingstuff up?
Don't do that, I don't knowit's my turn now.
Oh, I'm Jessica.
Oh my gosh, we didn't do thatlast week.
Yeah, I'm Ingrid.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, we did, didn't we?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, we said welcome.
I don't know if we said ournames, okay.
Well, okay, that's in case youdidn't know last week.
Now you know, one of us isIngrid and one of us is Jessica.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Jessica told the story last week.
Ingrid is telling the storythis week.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That is truth.
And welcome to anothersituation which is the name of
this podcast.
Yes, and jessica has crazychildren in the background, in
case you don't know what thatsound is.
Sort of sounds like a pack ofwild monkeys yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So.
We got a new puppy and he'sawesome, so they're preoccupied
with the puppy and not in myoffice.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So I get what I get, although it does sound like
they're not in my office.
So I get what I get, althoughit does sound like they're
actually in your office.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
but they are not and the door is closed.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's a really great microphone.
You have picking up all thesounds, okay.
Well, how about then you quietyourself?
And I will get into this storyof sisters.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Sounds good.
Can I ask a million questionslike you did in mine?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You can, I probably won't know any of the answers,
though I got a book.
I got a book for this, whichhas, of course, you did, yeah,
but I have like 10,000 books, soit has remained unread until.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh, great yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I didn't even get to open it.
Oh my great, yeah, I didn'teven get to open it.
Oh my goodness, I just found ittoday to get the title of it at
least.
Okay, so here we go.
There's something powerfulabout sisterhood, yeah, yeah,
yeah, especially when thosesisters change the course of
(03:24):
history.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
This is the story of Ingrid and Jessica and how
another situation made humanitybetter.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yes, okay, in all seriousness, this is a story.
We are talking about Elizabethand Emily Blackwell, two sisters
I don't know them, emilyBlackwell, two sisters who quite
literally forced open the doorsof American medicine for women.
Let's start with Elizabeth.
She was born in 1821 in Bristol, england, to abolitionist
(03:58):
parents.
Her father believed ineducating.
Oh, jessica already has aquestion.
I cannot.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can never remember what an abolitionist is you
don't know either.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Isn't it?
Isn't it an abolitionistagainst um slavery?
Slavery, yeah, do a quickgoogle search I'm also doing a
quick google search no, I'mtelling you to do it.
I'm not saying, I'm doing it,you do it.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition
or practice of a practice orinstitution, especially capital
punishment or slavery.
Okay, all All right.
So we were right.
Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Proceed.
Her father believed ineducating all of his children,
boys and girls, equally.
And there were four boys, fivegirls, total of nine.
That's no small feat, obviously, to educate all of them,
especially in the 1800s.
(05:08):
The family moved to the UnitedStates in 1832.
Now here's the funny part.
Kind of, I guess Elizabethfound the whole idea of studying
the human body kind of gross.
She once said, quote the verywell, I don't know if it's
actually her direct quote, itwas quoted, so I guess it's a
(05:29):
quote.
The very thought oh Lord, thisis going to be a long episode,
okay, the very thought ofdwelling on the physical
structure of the body and itsvarious ailments filled me with
disgust.
So how did she end up?
(05:51):
A doctor?
It wasn't really about passion,it was more about proving a
point Love this stubborn woman.
Yeah, no kidding.
She wanted to show that womencould be just as intellectually
capable as men.
Anything you can do, I can dobetter.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I can do anything better than you.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Here's a quick fun fact Men's school back in the
1840s was not what it is today,obviously, but it's like
seriously not even close to whatit is today.
It was basically two 16-weekterms of like back-to-back,
(06:34):
consecutive 16-week terms thatjust repeated the information.
There was no real patientinteraction and almost no
hands-on experience.
Real patient interaction andalmost no hands-on experience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Imagine cramming a whole career into eight months
of lecture and then being adoctor.
Wow, you could be a doctor inless than a year.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, yeah, so anyway , at the age of 26, elizabeth
applied to 29 medical schoolsand got rejected by all of them
until finally, geneva MedicalCollege in New York said yes,
but not for the reason you thinkyou.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, I heard Reggie, but I can't see him Because
he's black, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But the door's open.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Oh God, he's right behind me.
Oh my God, he's like right here.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Faculty couldn't decide what to do with her, so
they left it up to the studentsexpecting it to be a big fat no
yeah, all men.
Right and the faculty were justa bunch of chickens.
Because they didn't.
I don't know why they caredabout saying no.
I'm not really sure what theirdeal is.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Public opinion maybe.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I mean, she was denied by 29 other schools, so
it's not like they would havebeen the first, True?
So I don't know what the dealwas, but the students thinking
it was some sort of a prank fromanother medical school voted
yes just to see what wouldhappen.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh my goodness, Really.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, and they didn't know it was real until when she
actually walked into theclassroom.
That's awesome, that is awesome, and the joke is even more on
them because Elizabeth graduatedat the top of her class in 1849
(08:37):
.
Hell yeah, yes, ma'am, and herthesis on ship fever became the
lead article in the BuffaloMedical Journal, and ship fever
is typhus.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Like what you get like typhoid shots for Like
typhoid fever.
That's what I was thinking ofLike.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
That is what you're thinking of, but it's, I think
it has to do with like lice andstuff.
Anyway, after graduation sheheaded to Paris to get more
hands on training, because backthen European education was and
hospitals were more advanced.
She worked in a maternity wardserving mostly poor women, where
(09:24):
venereal disease wasunfortunately common.
Wealthy women gave birth athome, which is, I guess,
contradictory to your story,because they were not wealthy
yeah, but that was in the US andthen 19 and 100 years later
(09:45):
after I and the great depression, yeah oh, that's true, too
great depression.
They probably obviously okay,yeah, uh, okay.
So obviously.
They probably obviously Okay,okay.
So obviously the hospitalwasn't top tier, and this is
kind of when caring for a babywith gonococcal conjunctivitis,
she got infected herself becausedirty water splashed up into
(10:09):
her eye, something that youwould think obviously today, not
such a big deal, just go takeyour medication, but this is the
1800s.
So she lost the eye.
Oh my God, prosthetic and um,and it meant surgery was off the
(10:41):
table, or should I say it wasoff the operating table.
No, oh, groan that was a goodone, okay, but that incident lit
a fire in her for public health.
Following Paris, she went toLondon and in 1851, she met a
young nurse in training namedFlorence Nightingale.
(11:02):
And yeah, you are not evenpaying attention.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
She met Florence Nightingale.
What are you doing?
I was deleting my emails.
I'm not even reading them, I'mjust pushing buttons.
I'm not even reading them, I'mjust pushing buttons.
Okay, I'm listening.
I mean, she met FlorenceNightingale.
I know that's amazing.
Why are you yelling at?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
me Because you're not listening to me when I'm
talking to you in a normal voice.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I'm listening to you.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I'm going to you, okay.
So the two of them shared a lotof similar beliefs, like they
both wanted to be strong women.
Uh, neither one of them oh, Ididn't mention this, Out of the
five Blackwell sisters, zero gotmarried.
(11:55):
And yeah, Florence was.
She came from a wealthy familyand she did not want to get
married.
She thought there were otherthings to do in life and thank
God, she did.
But their differences was thatFlorence thought women should be
nurses, which she's like thequeen of nurses, mother of
(12:20):
nursing and queen motherwhatever.
And Elizabeth thought womenshould prove themselves to be
equal to men and become doctors.
So, yes, so let's move on.
Now enter Emily, Elizabeth'syounger sister by five years.
(12:43):
Elizabeth basically recruitedher into medicine.
Emily was incredibly smart,deeply curious about science and
totally on board, but it waseven harder for her.
After Elizabeth's success, manymale-dominated which was like
almost all of the schools atthat point just straight up
(13:05):
closed their doors to womenbecause they were embarrassed.
Threatened.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
There were a few women's colleges that existed,
but I'll go into this later.
Emily and Elizabeth thoughtthat the women's colleges were
significantly inferior and Emilywanted to have the real deal,
the same thing, the sametraining, same degree as her
sister.
So she finally was accepted atRush Medical College in Chicago
(13:47):
and finished her first year.
But she was invited backbecause, I think, they were
uncomfortable, probably becauseshe was kicking ass.
But she was able to finish atCleveland Medical College, which
is known today as Case Western,and she became the third woman
in the United States to earn amedical degree.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I know, and like her sister, she went to Europe
afterward for more training.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
This time she went to Edinburgh.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Edinburgh, edinburgh, edinburgh.
Do you like saying that?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, edinburgh, edinburgh, okay, okay, but
getting that degree obviouslydidn't borrow, okay, but getting
that degree obviously didn'tmagically open doors.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Society just wasn't ready.
Patients didn't trust womendoctors and hospitals didn't
hire them.
Actually, the entire time thatEmily was in London, elizabeth
was sitting waiting for patientsand trying to drum up some sort
(15:00):
of work and wasn't gettinganything.
So since no one else wantedthem, they decided to build
their own in 1850.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Where did that come from Edinburgh?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Edinburgh 50.
Fitty See, you can't even do it.
Oh my gosh.
In 1857, the Blackwell sistersopened the New York Infirmary
for Indigent Women and Children.
It treated underserved womenand trained female nurses, and
(15:44):
they turned to really focus ontraining female nurses for the
Union Army during the Civil War.
And in 1868, elizabeth decidedto go a step further and,
despite thinking women's medicalschools were inferior, she
(16:05):
opened a medical college forwomen in New York City.
Her goal was a program that wasmore rigorous and hands-on than
anything else out there.
It lasted longer than the men'scolleges and it had a more
difficult, I think, didacticJust a year.
(16:27):
I used that word twice today.
I guess I like it.
Just a year later she handedthe reins over to Emily and she
moved back to London and shebecame a professor of gynecology
at the London School ofMedicine for Women, and the two
of them remained separated, ohgosh.
(16:50):
And I can't remember if this isaccurate or not, but I think it
was four decades from.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
There.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So, given all of this , you might assume that
Elizabeth was a full-on feministhero.
I mean, she broke barriersright, but she was complicated.
She did not support the idea ofwomen voting.
What complicated.
(17:20):
She did not support the idea ofwomen voting.
She thought most women were noteducated enough and would just
vote however their husbands toldthem to, so more or less the
men just got more votes becauseof these I can't even think of
the word but just poorlyeducated women who can't think
for themselves.
She was strangely anti-vaccine.
(17:43):
She was definitelyanti-contraception and very much
anti-abortion and she called ita gross perversion and
destruction of motherhood.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Which is, you know, it's fine to have those beliefs,
obviously, but like when yousee a woman who's breaking down
barriers and just standing up tothe man, you kind of think that
all goes together.
So I think it's kind of cool toshow that just because you have
, you know, one way of thinking,a forward way of thinking,
(18:23):
doesn't mean that youautomatically have everyone
else's ideas.
I know I mentioned this before,but none of the five Blackwell
sisters ever married.
But each of the doctor sistersadopted a daughter.
Isn't that cute that is.
(18:45):
And there is an author Janice.
Janice, my good Lord Janice.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Janice owes me pity Good.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Shut up.
Okay, now I can't.
How do you say it, janice?
It's J-A-N-I-C, janice.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Janice, it's definitely.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Janice, janice.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
If she's Southern, maybe it's Janice.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Namura, author of the Doctor's Blackwell.
Where is the rest of that booktitle Hold on.
So the book is actually.
The full title is the Doctor'sBlackwell how Two Pioneering
(19:45):
Sisters Brought Medicine toWomen and Women to Medicine.
So she it's the book that Ididn't read that I do own,
anyway.
She wraps up their legacy bysaying when the sisters died
within months of each other in1910.
I know there were more than athousand women doctors in the
United States, making up about6% of all physicians.
(20:07):
Today, slightly over a third ofall doctors and over half of
medical students are female.
Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell,reluctant feminists, are the
matriarchs of them all.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Dang, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, don't mess with sisters.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No, and all because the guys thought it was a joke.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Joke's on you, that's right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
See what happens, guys, when you think we're jokes
.
Mm-hmm, we break that ceiling.
Oh my God, there are so manywords.
I almost said that we're tryingnot to say on this podcast
(20:58):
PG-13.j-13, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
So uh, we're gonna be a doctor be a revolutionary
person, revolution,revolutionist Is that a real
word?
Yeah, be a revolutionary, berevolutionary there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay, oh my God, and don't be dumb.
How about that, oh my goodness?
Don't be a woman who can'tthink for herself, ingrid uh,
don't be.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Oh, don't be taking women as a joke I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, don't be closed-minded, don't be uh
patronizing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Don't give unsolicited advice to your
sister.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Wait, how does that have to do with anything that we
just talked about?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Oh my gosh, I so thought it did.
That's crazy.
That must have been anothersituation earlier today.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Oh my God, See typical younger sister taking
the older sister's like successand riding the coattails into
the sunset.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
What are you talking about?
You gave me unsolicited advicethat I did not want it or care
for.
It was about a dog.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Chill the.
F out, man.
It was about a dog that Ihappen to have, that you just
acquired, fitty, that's all Well.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I guess that's the name of this episode.
I think it should be.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Janice owes you pity, okay.
Well, congratulations to us,for I mean, look at what these
Blackwell sisters accomplished,and we are so proud we have two
episodes out in a total of amonth.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Breaking doors yeah, breakingdown doors, probably also
breaking doors.
Thanks for sticking around withus.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I hope you actually did, and I guess, if
you didn't, we're talking to noone anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It's just playing in the background while they drive
and zone out.
Wake up.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Oh my gosh, no, oh no , your face.
This is why we need to do video.
Hey, let us.
Oh my gosh, no, oh no, yourface.
This is why we need to do video.
No, hey, let us know.
Should we do video podcast?
Do you want to see Jessica'smug on your screen?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
No, no one wants to see that.
It's a cute face.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Thanks.
You look so perplexed.
Okay, but seriously, let usknow.
Do you want us to do video andwe would not drop the audio.
The audio would always remain.
Do you want us to add video foryour viewing pleasure?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
just be a video and you can't hear the words at all
no audio, maybe moreentertaining.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
You probably would learn a lot more, much more
educational, if you could nothear us speaking.
Fair, fair statement.
Okay, well, we're gonna be backagain in two weeks with I'm not
gonna say what because, whoknows, we might change our minds
by then.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
That's true but a lot of time, a lot of time we might
change our minds about givingyou another episode too.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
So you know, you know how you can save yourself is
subscribe, and you won't missany of them no one a year every
other year.
All right, okay, we're rambling.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
We love you love you and au revoir, au revoir what is
wrong with you today?
(25:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Okay, Look how swollen my eyes are too.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Or just say bye in a language you know well.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Adios, or could have been bye.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, bye, bye, bye.
If you'd like to reach out tous or submit your situation,
please contact us at anothersituation podcast at gmailcom.
Or find us on Instagram atanother situation podcast.
We're also on Facebook atanother situation.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Another situation is produced and edited by
Point5Pinoy Music is written andperformed by Tim Crow.
Quote Sister, she is your mirror, shining back at you
with a world of possibilities.
She is your witness who seesyou at your worst and best and
loves you anyway.
She is your partner in crime,your midnight companion, someone
who knows when you are smiling,even in the dark.
Barbara Alpert, as Jessica'ssitting in the dark, dark,
(00:25):
smiling at me like a creep.
That's a sweet quote, it is andit kind of has to do.
It's the most like closest tomy topic that I had I got fun.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I saw another quote that was your sister knows all
your buttons and will happilypush them.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Oh, absolutely Stomp on those things.
Well, welcome back.
Hi, we did it we did it, twoweeks, we did it.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Let's see what happens after this, no promises.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, not solid promises.
Yes, we're going to promise wecan do it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
We will do a Swiss cheese promise.
What does that mean?
I don't know.
It might go through the hole orit might stick on the hard part
of the cheese.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I made it up.
I don't know.
Are you serious?
No wonder, that's terrible.
Oh my God, why are you makingstuff up?
Don't do that, I don't knowit's my turn now.
Oh, I'm Jessica.
Oh my gosh, we didn't do thatlast week.
Yeah, I'm Ingrid.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, we did, didn't we?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, we said welcome.
I don't know if we said ournames, okay.
Well, okay, that's in case youdidn't know last week.
Now you know, one of us isIngrid and one of us is Jessica.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Jessica told the story last week.
Ingrid is telling the storythis week.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That is truth.
And welcome to anothersituation which is the name of
this podcast.
Yes, and jessica has crazychildren in the background, in
case you don't know what thatsound is.
Sort of sounds like a pack ofwild monkeys yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So.
We got a new puppy and he'sawesome, so they're preoccupied
with the puppy and not in myoffice.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So I get what I get, although it does sound like
they're not in my office.
So I get what I get, althoughit does sound like they're
actually in your office.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
but they are not and the door is closed.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's a really great microphone.
You have picking up all thesounds, okay.
Well, how about then you quietyourself?
And I will get into this storyof sisters.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Sounds good.
Can I ask a million questionslike you did in mine?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You can, I probably won't know any of the answers,
though I got a book.
I got a book for this, whichhas, of course, you did, yeah,
but I have like 10,000 books, soit has remained unread until.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh, great yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I didn't even get to open it.
Oh my great, yeah, I didn'teven get to open it.
Oh my goodness, I just found ittoday to get the title of it at
least.
Okay, so here we go.
There's something powerfulabout sisterhood, yeah, yeah,
yeah, especially when thosesisters change the course of
(03:24):
history.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
This is the story of Ingrid and Jessica and how
another situation made humanitybetter.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yes, okay, in all seriousness, this is a story.
We are talking about Elizabethand Emily Blackwell, two sisters
I don't know them, emilyBlackwell, two sisters who quite
literally forced open the doorsof American medicine for women.
Let's start with Elizabeth.
She was born in 1821 in Bristol, england, to abolitionist
(03:58):
parents.
Her father believed ineducating.
Oh, jessica already has aquestion.
I cannot.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can never remember what an abolitionist is you
don't know either.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Isn't it?
Isn't it an abolitionistagainst um slavery?
Slavery, yeah, do a quickgoogle search I'm also doing a
quick google search no, I'mtelling you to do it.
I'm not saying, I'm doing it,you do it.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition
or practice of a practice orinstitution, especially capital
punishment or slavery.
Okay, all All right.
So we were right.
Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Proceed.
Her father believed ineducating all of his children,
boys and girls, equally.
And there were four boys, fivegirls, total of nine.
That's no small feat, obviously, to educate all of them,
especially in the 1800s.
(05:08):
The family moved to the UnitedStates in 1832.
Now here's the funny part.
Kind of, I guess Elizabethfound the whole idea of studying
the human body kind of gross.
She once said, quote the verywell, I don't know if it's
actually her direct quote, itwas quoted, so I guess it's a
(05:29):
quote.
The very thought oh Lord, thisis going to be a long episode,
okay, the very thought ofdwelling on the physical
structure of the body and itsvarious ailments filled me with
disgust.
So how did she end up?
(05:51):
A doctor?
It wasn't really about passion,it was more about proving a
point Love this stubborn woman.
Yeah, no kidding.
She wanted to show that womencould be just as intellectually
capable as men.
Anything you can do, I can dobetter.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I can do anything better than you.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Here's a quick fun fact Men's school back in the
1840s was not what it is today,obviously, but it's like
seriously not even close to whatit is today.
It was basically two 16-weekterms of like back-to-back,
(06:34):
consecutive 16-week terms thatjust repeated the information.
There was no real patientinteraction and almost no
hands-on experience.
Real patient interaction andalmost no hands-on experience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Imagine cramming a whole career into eight months
of lecture and then being adoctor.
Wow, you could be a doctor inless than a year.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Well, yeah, so anyway , at the age of 26, elizabeth
applied to 29 medical schoolsand got rejected by all of them
until finally, geneva MedicalCollege in New York said yes,
but not for the reason you thinkyou.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, I heard Reggie, but I can't see him Because
he's black, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But the door's open.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Oh God, he's right behind me.
Oh my God, he's like right here.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Faculty couldn't decide what to do with her, so
they left it up to the studentsexpecting it to be a big fat no
yeah, all men.
Right and the faculty were justa bunch of chickens.
Because they didn't.
I don't know why they caredabout saying no.
I'm not really sure what theirdeal is.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Public opinion maybe.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I mean, she was denied by 29 other schools, so
it's not like they would havebeen the first, True?
So I don't know what the dealwas, but the students thinking
it was some sort of a prank fromanother medical school voted
yes just to see what wouldhappen.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh my goodness, Really.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, and they didn't know it was real until when she
actually walked into theclassroom.
That's awesome, that is awesome, and the joke is even more on
them because Elizabeth graduatedat the top of her class in 1849
(08:37):
.
Hell yeah, yes, ma'am, and herthesis on ship fever became the
lead article in the BuffaloMedical Journal, and ship fever
is typhus.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Like what you get like typhoid shots for Like
typhoid fever.
That's what I was thinking ofLike.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
That is what you're thinking of, but it's, I think
it has to do with like lice andstuff.
Anyway, after graduation sheheaded to Paris to get more
hands on training, because backthen European education was and
hospitals were more advanced.
She worked in a maternity wardserving mostly poor women, where
(09:24):
venereal disease wasunfortunately common.
Wealthy women gave birth athome, which is, I guess,
contradictory to your story,because they were not wealthy
yeah, but that was in the US andthen 19 and 100 years later
(09:45):
after I and the great depression, yeah oh, that's true, too
great depression.
They probably obviously okay,yeah, uh, okay.
So obviously.
They probably obviously Okay,okay.
So obviously the hospitalwasn't top tier, and this is
kind of when caring for a babywith gonococcal conjunctivitis,
she got infected herself becausedirty water splashed up into
(10:09):
her eye, something that youwould think obviously today, not
such a big deal, just go takeyour medication, but this is the
1800s.
So she lost the eye.
Oh my God, prosthetic and um,and it meant surgery was off the
(10:41):
table, or should I say it wasoff the operating table.
No, oh, groan that was a goodone, okay, but that incident lit
a fire in her for public health.
Following Paris, she went toLondon and in 1851, she met a
young nurse in training namedFlorence Nightingale.
(11:02):
And yeah, you are not evenpaying attention.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
She met Florence Nightingale.
What are you doing?
I was deleting my emails.
I'm not even reading them, I'mjust pushing buttons.
I'm not even reading them, I'mjust pushing buttons.
Okay, I'm listening.
I mean, she met FlorenceNightingale.
I know that's amazing.
Why are you yelling at?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
me Because you're not listening to me when I'm
talking to you in a normal voice.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I'm listening to you.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I'm going to you, okay.
So the two of them shared a lotof similar beliefs, like they
both wanted to be strong women.
Uh, neither one of them oh, Ididn't mention this, Out of the
five Blackwell sisters, zero gotmarried.
(11:55):
And yeah, Florence was.
She came from a wealthy familyand she did not want to get
married.
She thought there were otherthings to do in life and thank
God, she did.
But their differences was thatFlorence thought women should be
nurses, which she's like thequeen of nurses, mother of
(12:20):
nursing and queen motherwhatever.
And Elizabeth thought womenshould prove themselves to be
equal to men and become doctors.
So, yes, so let's move on.
Now enter Emily, Elizabeth'syounger sister by five years.
(12:43):
Elizabeth basically recruitedher into medicine.
Emily was incredibly smart,deeply curious about science and
totally on board, but it waseven harder for her.
After Elizabeth's success, manymale-dominated which was like
almost all of the schools atthat point just straight up
(13:05):
closed their doors to womenbecause they were embarrassed.
Threatened.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
There were a few women's colleges that existed,
but I'll go into this later.
Emily and Elizabeth thoughtthat the women's colleges were
significantly inferior and Emilywanted to have the real deal,
the same thing, the sametraining, same degree as her
sister.
So she finally was accepted atRush Medical College in Chicago
(13:47):
and finished her first year.
But she was invited backbecause, I think, they were
uncomfortable, probably becauseshe was kicking ass.
But she was able to finish atCleveland Medical College, which
is known today as Case Western,and she became the third woman
in the United States to earn amedical degree.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I know, and like her sister, she went to Europe
afterward for more training.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
This time she went to Edinburgh.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Edinburgh, edinburgh, edinburgh.
Do you like saying that?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, edinburgh, edinburgh, okay, okay, but
getting that degree obviouslydidn't borrow, okay, but getting
that degree obviously didn'tmagically open doors.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Society just wasn't ready.
Patients didn't trust womendoctors and hospitals didn't
hire them.
Actually, the entire time thatEmily was in London, elizabeth
was sitting waiting for patientsand trying to drum up some sort
(15:00):
of work and wasn't gettinganything.
So since no one else wantedthem, they decided to build
their own in 1850.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Where did that come from Edinburgh?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Edinburgh 50.
Fitty See, you can't even do it.
Oh my gosh.
In 1857, the Blackwell sistersopened the New York Infirmary
for Indigent Women and Children.
It treated underserved womenand trained female nurses, and
(15:44):
they turned to really focus ontraining female nurses for the
Union Army during the Civil War.
And in 1868, elizabeth decidedto go a step further and,
despite thinking women's medicalschools were inferior, she
(16:05):
opened a medical college forwomen in New York City.
Her goal was a program that wasmore rigorous and hands-on than
anything else out there.
It lasted longer than the men'scolleges and it had a more
difficult, I think, didacticJust a year.
(16:27):
I used that word twice today.
I guess I like it.
Just a year later she handedthe reins over to Emily and she
moved back to London and shebecame a professor of gynecology
at the London School ofMedicine for Women, and the two
of them remained separated, ohgosh.
(16:50):
And I can't remember if this isaccurate or not, but I think it
was four decades from.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
There.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So, given all of this , you might assume that
Elizabeth was a full-on feministhero.
I mean, she broke barriersright, but she was complicated.
She did not support the idea ofwomen voting.
What complicated.
(17:20):
She did not support the idea ofwomen voting.
She thought most women were noteducated enough and would just
vote however their husbands toldthem to, so more or less the
men just got more votes becauseof these I can't even think of
the word but just poorlyeducated women who can't think
for themselves.
She was strangely anti-vaccine.
(17:43):
She was definitelyanti-contraception and very much
anti-abortion and she called ita gross perversion and
destruction of motherhood.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Which is, you know, it's fine to have those beliefs,
obviously, but like when yousee a woman who's breaking down
barriers and just standing up tothe man, you kind of think that
all goes together.
So I think it's kind of cool toshow that just because you have
, you know, one way of thinking,a forward way of thinking,
(18:23):
doesn't mean that youautomatically have everyone
else's ideas.
I know I mentioned this before,but none of the five Blackwell
sisters ever married.
But each of the doctor sistersadopted a daughter.
Isn't that cute that is.
(18:45):
And there is an author Janice.
Janice, my good Lord Janice.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Janice owes me pity Good.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Shut up.
Okay, now I can't.
How do you say it, janice?
It's J-A-N-I-C, janice.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Janice, it's definitely.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Janice, janice.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
If she's Southern, maybe it's Janice.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Namura, author of the Doctor's Blackwell.
Where is the rest of that booktitle Hold on.
So the book is actually.
The full title is the Doctor'sBlackwell how Two Pioneering
(19:45):
Sisters Brought Medicine toWomen and Women to Medicine.
So she it's the book that Ididn't read that I do own,
anyway.
She wraps up their legacy bysaying when the sisters died
within months of each other in1910.
I know there were more than athousand women doctors in the
United States, making up about6% of all physicians.
(20:07):
Today, slightly over a third ofall doctors and over half of
medical students are female.
Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell,reluctant feminists, are the
matriarchs of them all.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Dang, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, don't mess with sisters.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No, and all because the guys thought it was a joke.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Joke's on you, that's right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
See what happens, guys, when you think we're jokes
.
Mm-hmm, we break that ceiling.
Oh my God, there are so manywords.
I almost said that we're tryingnot to say on this podcast
(20:58):
PG-13.j-13, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
So uh, we're gonna be a doctor be a revolutionary
person, revolution,revolutionist Is that a real
word?
Yeah, be a revolutionary, berevolutionary there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay, oh my God, and don't be dumb.
How about that, oh my goodness?
Don't be a woman who can'tthink for herself, ingrid uh,
don't be.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Oh, don't be taking women as a joke I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, don't be closed-minded, don't be uh
patronizing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Don't give unsolicited advice to your
sister.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Wait, how does that have to do with anything that we
just talked about?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Oh my gosh, I so thought it did.
That's crazy.
That must have been anothersituation earlier today.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Oh my God, See typical younger sister taking
the older sister's like successand riding the coattails into
the sunset.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
What are you talking about?
You gave me unsolicited advicethat I did not want it or care
for.
It was about a dog.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Chill the.
F out, man.
It was about a dog that Ihappen to have, that you just
acquired, fitty, that's all Well.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I guess that's the name of this episode.
I think it should be.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Janice owes you pity, okay.
Well, congratulations to us,for I mean, look at what these
Blackwell sisters accomplished,and we are so proud we have two
episodes out in a total of amonth.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Breaking doors yeah, breakingdown doors, probably also
breaking doors.
Thanks for sticking around withus.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I hope you actually did, and I guess, if
you didn't, we're talking to noone anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It's just playing in the background while they drive
and zone out.
Wake up.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Oh my gosh, no, oh no , your face.
This is why we need to do video.
Hey, let us.
Oh my gosh, no, oh no, yourface.
This is why we need to do video.
No, hey, let us know.
Should we do video podcast?
Do you want to see Jessica'smug on your screen?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
No, no one wants to see that.
It's a cute face.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Thanks.
You look so perplexed.
Okay, but seriously, let usknow.
Do you want us to do video andwe would not drop the audio.
The audio would always remain.
Do you want us to add video foryour viewing pleasure?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
just be a video and you can't hear the words at all
no audio, maybe moreentertaining.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
You probably would learn a lot more, much more
educational, if you could nothear us speaking.
Fair, fair statement.
Okay, well, we're gonna be backagain in two weeks with I'm not
gonna say what because, whoknows, we might change our minds
by then.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
That's true but a lot of time, a lot of time we might
change our minds about givingyou another episode too.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
So you know, you know how you can save yourself is
subscribe, and you won't missany of them no one a year every
other year.
All right, okay, we're rambling.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
We love you love you and au revoir, au revoir what is
wrong with you today?
(25:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Okay, Look how swollen my eyes are too.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Or just say bye in a language you know well.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Adios, or could have been bye.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, bye, bye, bye.
If you'd like to reach out tous or submit your situation,
please contact us at anothersituation podcast at gmailcom.
Or find us on Instagram atanother situation podcast.
We're also on Facebook atanother situation.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Another situation is produced and edited by
Point5Pinoy Music is written andperformed by Tim Crow.
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