Doctor or Doctress?

Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians

In the stories, find primary source evidence and background information to understand and interpret the history of women in medicine

A Female Civil War Surgeon: "How Dr. Mary is Remarkable”

1864

Explore the story of a controversial woman doctor who served in the Civil War and fought for women's rights

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A Female Medical Student’s Life: “I’ve finished the eye and I’m up on my ear”

1896

Explore what it was like to be a student at Woman’s Medical College at the turn of the 20th century

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Early African-American Woman Physicians: "She has undertaken a Herculean task"

1901

Explore how early African-American women doctors created their own opportunities and cared for their communities

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Early Medical Missionaries in the Middle East: “Why I Want to Go to Arabia”

1920

Explore the challenges faced by American women physicians who worked in the Middle East and South Asia in the early 20th century

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Eliza Grier and Matilda Evans: Two Women, Two Paths

1900

Explore how two early 20th-century African American woman physicians who graduated the same year fared in their medical careers

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Pioneers in the Face of Adversity: “The Mob of ‘69”

1869

Explore the opposition that 19th-century female medical students faced and overcame to acquire a medical education.

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The American Women’s Hospitals and the Fire of Smyrna: “Millions of refugees, almost totally without men”

1922

How were American women physicians involved in the refugee crisis that followed the burning of the city of Smyrna in 1922?

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The American Women’s Hospitals at Home: Public Health in Depression-Era Appalachia

1930

Explore how the AWH helped the people of Appalachia control disease during the 1930s

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The American Women’s Hospitals in World War I France: "Across Battlefields and into Villages”

1919

Explore how American Women’s Hospitals played a vital role in providing medical care to civilians in WWI-era France

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The First Female Medical College: "Will you accept or reject them?"

1850

How were the first women physicians of the 19th century perceived?

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