WHO SAYS WOMEN CAN'T BE DOCTORS?

Narrator Jorjeana Marie invites listeners into this biography of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., in 1849. Marie highlights the determination of the young Blackwell, who even slept on a floor “to toughen herself up.” Background music conveys the period, and the soundscape aids in depicting Blackwell’s reality—the laughing of those who doubted her, excerpts from the letters of the 28 medical schools that rejected her before she was accepted at Hobart, and the jeering of her fellow students. Marie’s narration warms with pride at Elizabeth’s eventual successes. At the end, when a male doctor expresses his hope that Blackwell will be the last female in the profession, Marie confidently tells young listeners: “. . . but as you know, she certainly was NOT.” S.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2014]