Emily Blackwell

Emily Blackwell ( born October 8, 1826 in Bristol, England; † September 7, 1910 in York, Maine) was an American gynecology and women's rights activist.

Life

Emily Blackwell was the sixth daughter of nine children of Zuckerraffineurs Samuel Blackwell (1790-1838) and his wife Hannah Lane ( 1792-1870 ). When Emily was six years old, a fire destroyed her father's business. This impoverished the family and emigrated in 1832 to the United States. In New York, Samuel Blackwell rose again into the sugar business, but he wanted to sell no sugar, which was produced with the help of slaves. 1837 the family moved to Cincinnati Blackwell in Ohio, where the father died in it. Her mother ran a small private school, attended by black children were taught.

In 1848, Emily began to study medicine at the " Rush Medical College " in Chicago and was later the exam. 1857 opened her sister Elizabeth ( 1821-1910 ), the first women's and Children's Hospital (Women 's Medical College of the New York Infirmary ) in New York, which was led by women. Emily worked for Elizabeth first as a midwife, later they headed together with the Polish physician Marie Zakrzewska (1829-1902), the New York Women's and Children's Hospital, which later became a medical college was affiliated to facilitate training to practice medicine women. To prevent damage to reputation of the trained with her doctors, Blackwell insisted on very strict approval and final exams. The training was strict and the budding doctors - including Sophia Jex -Blake (1840-1912) and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) - had to demonstrate proper morality, otherwise they were excluded from the study. Emily and Elizabeth Blackwell sat down to rest of their lives - both died in 1910 - in numerous essays and travel for the improvement of sanitary conditions and the development of a universal health insurance.

Other family members

Also other Blackwell child were in professional life successfully. Samuel (1823-1901) and Henry (1825-1909) worked as a social reformer. Anna (1816-1900) worked as a newspaper correspondent, Ellen (1828-1901) as a writer and artist. Samuel married the first American pastor, Antoinette Brown (1825-1921), and Henry the women's rights activist and campaigner against slavery Lucy Stone ( 1818-1893 ).