Elizabeth Blackwell was a very important person in the middle to late 1800s. She was born in Bristol, United Kingdom, on February 3, 1821. Unlike most people during that time period, she was born into a well known wealthy family.

Elizabeth’s father was born into the sugar business, which led him to owning his own sugar refinery. Her mother was born into a merchant family, but later lived her life as a housewife after giving birth to her children. Sadly, her father lost his sugar refinery in a fire, which led to them moving to America.

Elizabeth was a very intelligent girl and loved to read books. She never really went to public schools, but she was taught by her parents and personal tutors that her parents hired.

Elizabeth and her family were very anti-slavery. Her family would attend anti-slavery meetings and fairs on the weekends. When she lived in the United Kingdom, slavery was already illegal at that point.

She never went to a real high school when she was growing up. But she did end up attending college, which was not common for women during her time. While in college she got her degree in medicine, and was the first woman to accomplish that in the United States, and finished college at the top of her class.

Elizabeth never got married because she did not want to have to rely on any man. Even though she never got married, she did have one child. She adopted an orphan girl from Ireland later in her life.

She was part of the women's rights reform movement. As mentioned earlier, she was the first woman to earn her medical degree in the United States. As a result, she made in easier for other women to follow in her footsteps and become doctors.

Elizabeth and her sister went on to open a hospital. Their hospital later became the central women s nursing school. Her nursing school for women was a huge breakthrough for women's rights.