Women in College-Dr. Annie Alexander
“Women’s Hospital and Medical College of Philadelphia-1920”
Dr. Annie Lowrie Alexander was only one of a few women who tried to get into medical school during the Nineteenth century. It was still thought by society that women should not be in medicine unless it is in midwifery. Her father was a physician and he thought it was very important for his daughter, Annie, to follow in his footsteps. That is exactly what she did, and she devoted her whole life to the medical field. She began “her studies under her father and a hired tutor” before she attended the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia (Riggins). Dr. Alexander went to college at the young age of seventeen. This presented her with many challenges. It was challenging for Dr. Alexander to get into the medical school because she was a female. It was thought that the subjects discussed in medicine were inappropriate for women. However, Dr. Alexander persevered, and graduated in 1884, as well as gained her medical license in 1885. She received her license from the Maryland Board of Medical Examiners. She was 1 of 100 students, the only female, and got the highest grade in the class (Riggins). Dr. Alexander “did postgraduate work in the New York Polyclinic” (Goodpasture, 2007). “She was teaching at a medical college in Maryland when she heard of a Charlotte woman who had died because she was too embarrassed to have a male doctor examine her” (Goodpasture, 2007). Even though Dr. Alexander succeed in the medical field, it was not easy for her in college. Women were not supposed to study in the medical field, and it was still thought to be a male’s profession. Before Dr. Alexander it was nearly impossible for a woman to study in the medical field. However, since then, it has gotten easier for women to succeed in the medical field.