The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine

FAIN: FZ-256442-17

Janice P. Nimura
Unaffiliated independent scholar

Research and writing leading to publication of a dual biography of Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) and her sister Emily Blackwell (1826-1910), pioneering women in American medicine.

A biography of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in America to receive a medical degree (1849), and her younger sister Emily, who received her degree five years later. Together they founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, which they expanded to include a women's medical college a decade later. Their world included eccentric siblings, iconoclastic sisters-in-law--Lucy Stone and Antoinette Brown, two of the most outspoken feminists of the era--and acquaintances like Florence Nightingale, Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, and Lady Byron. The New York Infirmary became the crucible for such medical pioneers as Marie Zakrzewska, Mary Putnam Jacobi, and Sophia Jex-Blake. The Blackwells' story is emblematic of the dawning of a new consciousness for women, both ideological and physical, including contradictions regarding the meaning of feminism as relevant in 2017 as they were in the nineteenth century.

Media Coverage

Two Sisters Who Changed the Medical Profession (Review)
Author(s): Jennifer Szalai
Publication: New York Times
Date: 1/20/2021
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/books/review-doctors-blackwell-women-medicine-janice-nimura.html

The Determined Siblings Who Became America’s First Women Doctors (Review)
Author(s): Joanna Scutts
Publication: New York Times
Date: 1/22/2021
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/books/review/the-doctors-blackwell-janice-p-nimura.html

The Blackwell Sisters and the Harrowing History of Modern Medicine (Review)
Author(s): Casey Cep
Publication: The New Yorker
Date: 1/25/2021
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/01/the-blackwell-sisters-and-the-harrowing-history-of-modern-medicine

Physicians and Pioneers (Review)
Author(s): Donna Rifkind
Publication: Wall Street Journal
Date: 1/8/2021
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-doctors-blackwell-review-physicians-and-pioneers-11610125554

Determined to practice medicine, two sisters defied conventions (Review)
Author(s): Janet Golden
Publication: Washington Post
Date: 2/5/2021
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/determined-to-practice-medicine-two-sisters-defied-conventions/2021/02/04/7814701e-43c8-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html

Redefining Women's Work (Review)
Author(s): Danielle Ofri
Publication: American Scholar
Date: 12/7/2020
Abstract: Book review: The Doctors Blackwell
URL: https://theamericanscholar.org/redefining-womens-work/

'Doctors Blackwell' Tells The Story Of 2 Pioneering Sisters Who Changed Medicine (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Dave Davies
Publication: NPR/Fresh Air
Date: 1/19/2021
Abstract: Interview on NPR's Fresh Air
URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/19/958319302/doctors-blackwell-tells-the-story-of-2-pioneering-sisters-who-changed-medicine

Janice Nimura On Telling The Story Of The First Women Medical Doctors (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Ailsa Chang
Publication: NPR/All Things Considered
Date: 1/27/2021
Abstract: Interview with Ailsa Chang on NPR's All Things Considered
URL: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/27/961279013/janice-nimura-on-telling-the-story-of-the-first-women-medical-doctors

Associated Products

The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine (Book)
Title: The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine
Author: Janice Nimura
Abstract: The world recoiled at the notion of a woman doctor, yet Elizabeth Blackwell persisted―in 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an MD. Her achievement made her an icon―“I am convinced that a new & nobler era is dawning, for Medicine,” she wrote―but her sister Emily, eternally eclipsed, was the more brilliant physician. Together they founded the first hospital staffed entirely by women, in New York City. Both sisters were tenacious and visionary, but their convictions did not always align with the emergence of women’s rights―or with each other. “Doubt is disease,” Elizabeth insisted. They prevailed against fierce resistance from the male establishment, moving among Britain, France, and America during a tumultuous time of scientific discovery and civil war. This major new biography celebrates two complicated pioneers who exploded the limits of possibility. As Elizabeth predicted, “a hundred years hence, women will not be what they are now.”
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.janicenimura.com/doctors-blackwell/
Access Model: Yes
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
Type: Single author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: No

The Way Americans Remember the Blackwell Sisters Shortchanges Their Legacy (Article)
Title: The Way Americans Remember the Blackwell Sisters Shortchanges Their Legacy
Author: Janice P. Nimura
Abstract: Heroines—far more than heroes—are often supposed to look and feel a certain way, and photographs of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell are often misidentified. The Blackwell sisters may not conform to our prevailing image of heroine, but their impact has nothing to do with how they looked.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/way-americans-remember-blackwell-sisters-shortchanges-their-incredible-legacy-180976672/
Format: Magazine
Publisher: Smithsonian Magazine

Miss Blackwell Goes to Medical School (Article)
Title: Miss Blackwell Goes to Medical School
Author: Janice P. Nimura
Abstract: An excerpt from The Doctors Blackwell
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.neh.gov/article/miss-blackwell-goes-medical-school
Primary URL Description: Humanities Magazine
Access Model: open access
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Humanities Magazine
Publisher: National Endowment for the Humanities

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