The Doctors Blackwell: how two pioneering sisters brought medicine to women and women to medicine

2021-02-10

Nimura, Janice P.; University of Virginia. School of Medicine

The world recoiled at the idea of a woman doctor, yet Elizabeth Blackwell persisted, and in 1849 became the first woman in the U.S. to receive an MD. Her achievement made her an icon. Her younger sister Emily followed her, eternally eclipsed despite being the more brilliant physician of the pair. Together, they founded the first hospital staffed entirely by women, in New York City. While the Doctors Blackwell were visionary and tenacious—they prevailed against a resistant male medical establishment—they weren't always aligned with women's movements, or even with each other. In this Medical Center Hour, biographer Janice Nimura celebrates the Blackwells as pioneers, change agents, and, for women in medicine today, compelling yet somewhat equivocal role models.

Co-presented with Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Nimura, Janice P.; Childress, Marcia Day (Moderator); University of Virginia. School of Medicine

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Filmed lectures

Women in medicine; Women physicians; Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910; Blackwell, Emily, 1826-1910

Medical Center Hour

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

English

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1 online resource (1 video file, 59:12 min.) : sound, color