Before reading Janice P. Nimura's book The Doctors Blackwell, I had no idea who the first female M.D. was. I had no idea what the history of women in medicine was.
But this non-fiction book takes us through the life of Elizabeth Blackwell, female doctor, and her younger sister Emily Blackwell, who followed her big sister into the world of medicine, as well. The two sisters eventually worked together in New York, opening up their own practice, starting a hospital, and running a women's medical college.
The book is interesting in that while it's telling the story of the Blackwells (and indeed, you do learn about the whole Blackwell family), it's also about how medicine evolved in America in the late 1800s. Imagine going to a hospital and getting worse because the doctor didn't wash his hands between helping someone else and helping you. In an age of COVID-19, it's unthinkable that people wouldn't practice basic hygiene, but they just didn't know it back then!
What I found most intriguing about Elizabeth Blackwell was that she seemed to only become a doctor because she knew she was smarter than men, and getting a degree would prove that in a very public way. I think Blackwell also thought that she would pave the way for other women to enter a male-dominated field, but instead, Blackwell and the women who came after her still experienced push-back for many years.
Yet, despite these setbacks, the Blackwells never gave up. Whatever their motivations were, they accomplished a lot in their lifetimes and might not actually be getting the credit they deserve.
The Doctors Blackwell is published by W.W. Norton & Company and is on the bookstore shelves today. I received a free e-ARC in exchange for this review.
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