![]() And the story of the nine Blackwell siblings itself is fitting material for a 19th-century period drama. While Blackwell was awkward socially, her achievement made her a reluctant international celebrity, and she had encounters with Florence Nightingale and Abraham Lincoln. After many rejections, Blackwell's admission to medical school was approved by an all-male student body, essentially as a practical joke. Elizabeth Blackwell is fairly regarded as a feminist trailblazer, but she took a dim view of the women's suffrage movement emerging around her. Their story is told in a new book by our guest, writer Janice Nimura. ![]() But Blackwell persisted and got her degree, and a few years later, her younger sister, Emily, joined her as a fellow physician. But when Elizabeth Blackwell decided to pursue a medical degree in the 1840s, the idea was about as unthinkable in the all-male profession as a man getting pregnant. Today, more than half the students in American medical schools are women. ![]() I'm Dave Davies, in today for Terry Gross. ![]() Janice Nimura tells the story of the "complicated, prickly" trailblazers. Her sister Emily followed in her footsteps. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in America to earn her medical degree. ![]()
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