Underappreciation Can't Deter Us

When you think of a trailblazer, who comes to mind?

Is it Rosa Parks, a Civil Rights icon? Or how about Jackie Robinson? Maybe it’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who paved the way for women to live independently.

One we likely don’t know but should is Elizabeth Blackwell.

Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the U.S., the first female student to publish a medical article and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council.

These accomplishments did not come easily. Patients refused care from Blackwell because she was a woman, residents refused to work with her, and people in the small town where Blackwell went to medical school scoffed at the idea of a female doctor. Yet, she pushed through it all.

“It is not easy to be a pioneer but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world,” Blackwell once wrote.

After her own struggles finding work after school, Blackwell opened the New York Infirmary, which hired women who’d previously been discriminated against.

Blackwell did not crumble at the first roadblock or stop sign she came to. Instead, she found a solution to achieve her desired place in the world — inspiring generations to come.

“I do not wish to give (women) a first place, still less a second one- but the complete freedom to take their true place, whatever it may be,” she wrote.

Elizabeth Blackwell inspired these 10 characteristics we should all take with us:

1. self-freedom

2. self-fulfillment

3. self-preservation

4. self-respect

5. self-awareness

6. self-love

7. self- understanding

8. self-leadership

9. patience

10. perseverance

“None of us can know what we are capable of until we are tested,” she said.

Fame and notoriety don’t equate to power. Our positive contributions truly do matter, even if they’re not recognized until years later. There was no better embodiment of this than Elizabeth Blackwell.

We should know her story.

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