doctor

Somebody had to be the first woman doctor in the U.S., but I for one am glad it was somebody as generally awesome as Elizabeth Blackwell, March 21's woman of the day. She was active in the anti-slavery movement, taught herself a lot about medicine, and went to Geneva College where she graduated first in her class. Once she had her degree, though, she was banned from practicing in most hospitals in the U.S. (you know, because she was a woman).

Sooo...she went to Paris, worked as a doctor, lost an eye, got a glass one, came back to New York, founded a hospital, trained women to be Civil War nurses (for the Union), went to England, got another medical degree, co-founded a women's medical college in London with Florence Nightingale, and...yeah. Totally a bad idea to let women into the medical profession! Look at all those things she did! Ugh. She was a suffragist, too.