Obstacles
When Elizabeth was seven or eight, her family was kicked
out of their city house and, soon after, out of their
country house. Her father died in 1838, leaving the family
with debts, doctors' bills, and $25 in cash. Elizabeth tried
to support her family by becoming a teacher, but she hated
teaching. She kept on saving up money until she had enough
to go to medical school. Twenty-nine medical schools
rejected her. Finally, Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New
York, accepted her. The Geneva College thought that her
application was a joke written by another medical school.
After she graduated, Elizabeth Blackwell went to study in
Paris, France, but she had a hard time finding a job because
she was a woman. While in Paris working as a maid, she
treated the infected eye of an infant and some of the
infected water splashed into her own eye. Elizabeth's eye
also became infected. Six months later, her eye was removed
and replaced by a glass one.
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