Rosalie Slaughter Morton
Rosalie Slaughter Morton | |
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Born | Blanche Rosalie Slaughter October 16, 1872 |
Died | May 5, 1968 | (aged 91)
Resting place | Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia |
Alma mater | Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania |
Occupation | Physician |
Known for | Co-founder of the American Women's Hospitals Service and chairperson of the Public Health Education Committee |
Spouse |
George B. Morton Jr.
(m. 1905; died 1912) |
Awards | Cross of Czar Nicholas II Joan of Arc medal Conspicuous Service Cross |
Rosalie Slaughter Morton (born Blanche Rosalie Slaughter; October 16, 1872 – May 5, 1968)
Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Morton studied at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania despite her family's expectation that she would aim to find a husband who could provide for her. She went on to conduct further study and research across Europe and Asia before returning to the United States to open her own medical practices.
In 1937 Morton published an autobiography – A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton, and released a second book titled A Doctor's Holiday in Iran in 1940, both to positive reviews. She received a number of awards during her career, including the Conspicuous Service Cross. Rosalie Morton Park in Belgrade is named in her honor.
Personal life
Early life and education
Blanche Rosalie Slaughter was born in 1876 in Lynchburg, Virginia to Mary Harker and John Flavel Slaughter, in a family with a strong tradition of careers in surgery.[2][3] She had five brothers and one sister (three other siblings died in childhood), and was educated in Lynchburg before travelling to a finishing school in Baltimore.[3] As a child, she occasionally assisted her two older brothers, who were doctors, on their house visits or by sterilizing their medical instruments, and also attended to pets in her neighborhood.[4] Following the death of her father, who had strongly opposed her desire to become a doctor, she enrolled at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1893, using money saved from her childhood allowance.[3][4]
In her autobiography, Slaughter remarked that her upbringing and education had "been designed... to make me a capable wife—not to imbue me with a desire for a career,"[4][5] noting that her father had left her no money. He had expected her to find a husband who could provide for her, and many others in her family did not want her to pursue a career in medicine.[2]
Slaughter graduated from college in Pennsylvania in 1897 with two of the three honors available to her, along with prizes for the best invention of surgical equipment and the best clinical case report.
During this time, Slaughter took courses, observed surgeries, and wrote a number of scientific papers including several comparing the health of women and men.
Later life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Rosalie_Slaughter_Morton.jpg/220px-Rosalie_Slaughter_Morton.jpg)
In 1905, Slaughter married George Baxter Morton Jr., an attorney who had previously studied medicine, at St. Paul's Church, Lynchburg.[3][11] The pair moved to New York, but in 1910, it was reported that they were living apart and she was filing for divorce.[12][13] He died in 1912 of an aneurysm.[8][14] After her husband's death, Morton was reportedly overcome with sadness; she later wrote "If my parents had been living, if we had had children, if there had been domestic duties, I would have found palliative comfort in them; but with [my husband's] going my domestic life was ... absolutely demolished".[12] Morton never remarried after her husband's death.[14]
Morton was a vocal supporter of women's suffrage,[15] and was a member of the Equal Suffrage League of both New York city and New York state.[8]
In the early 1930s Morton suffered a bout of pneumonia. She decided that she could no longer remain in New York due to the cold winters, and by happenstance received a letter inviting her to Winter Park, Florida to receive an honorary degree from Rollins College. She moved to the city shortly after visiting it.[3][16][17]
In 1942, Morton commissioned a statue by a sculptor in New York, which she donated to Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, dedicating it to the youth of the city.[18] Morton died on May 5, 1968, while still living in Winter Park.[3][17] She was cremated and her ashes were placed alongside her mother's grave at Spring Hill Cemetery.[18]
Career
1902–1909: Post-graduation medical practices
Having finished her studies, Slaughter returned to the United States in 1902 and opened a medical practice specializing in
Following her marriage to George Morton Jr. in 1905 and move to New York, Morton passed the New York Board exams and opened a new medical practice there, where her husband was an attorney. Without the professional network she had in Washington D.C., she additionally took on work as an examiner of applicants for city employment and as part of the medical staff of the Teachers' Retirement System.[3] Morton became active in medical societies in New York, both at the local and state level.[6]
1909–1914: Lecturing on public health
In 1909, at the urging of Morton, the American Medical Association created a Public Health Education Committee, with the aim of educating the public on subjects including health, hygiene, child care, and other medical topics. Morton was made the first chairperson of the committee, through which she organized public lectures by women physicians across the United States, remaining in the position for three years.[12][19]
Between 1911 and 1912 Morton was the vice president of the American Medical Association, the first woman to hold the position.
1914 onwards: War efforts and women's hospitals
Inspired by the voluntary
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Rosalie_Slaughter_Morton_and_Anne_Morgan_in_1918.jpg/220px-Rosalie_Slaughter_Morton_and_Anne_Morgan_in_1918.jpg)
Morton had used her time in Macedonia learning about field hospitals, looking to replicate the success of the British and Scottish women's hospitals.
After her request to send one thousand medical women who had volunteered for foreign service was opposed by the General Medical Board in Washington, Morton began attempting to raise funds to send them through the AWH. She initially struggled, raising only $11,000 by the end of 1917.[6] She found herself strained between her work with AWH in New York and chairing the Committee on Women Physicians in Washington. Morton began separating the AWH from the MWNA, aligning it more with her personal aims than those of its parent organization as she tried to placate the Red Cross in order to receive official recognition for their hospitals. After the AWH hired a professional fundraiser, the organization was able to raise nearly $200,000 through a national fundraising drive. Morton led the AWH for one year, and was not re-elected in 1918, being officially succeeded by Esther Pohl Lovejoy the following year.[6]
Morton continued running her New York practice while attempting to aid young people in Yugoslavia and Serbia who had been disrupted during the war into education.[3] In March 1919, she established the International Serbian Committee, through which she helped dozens of young Serbians join American places of education.[23] After moving to Florida in the early 1930s, Morton established a small clinical practice where she conducted research into arthritis and endocrinology.[3]
Awards
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Rosalie_Morton_Park_-_Belgrade-1.jpg/220px-Rosalie_Morton_Park_-_Belgrade-1.jpg)
By 1937, Morton had been awarded 9 decorations by world governments, including those of the United States, France, and Serbia.
A tree was planted in Central Park, New York in her honor, commemorating her "distinguished patriotic service",[7][25] and both a street and park in Belgrade are named after her.[4][26] A historical marker was placed at the location of Morton's childhood home in Lynchburg in 2019.[18][27]
Literary works
In 1897, Morton wrote a short story titled One Short Hour. It was published in a compilation titled Daughters of Aesculapius alongside other fiction and non-fiction works written by alumni and students at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.[7][28] In her 13-page story, a woman is forced to choose between a career in medicine and marriage to her fiancé, ultimately choosing the former.[28]
Over the course of her career, Morton published 23 scientific articles in medical journals and is credited with 11 inventions, including a surgical shoe and adjustable bed-lifting blocks.[7][17]
Morton later wrote an autobiography titled A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton, which was published in 1937 by Frederick A. Stokes. The book was reviewed well, with praise given to both the writing and the breadth of experiences chronicled within it.[29][30] The Pittsburgh Press described Morton's autobiography as an "excellent book on a woman's accomplishments" commending both the descriptions of medical topics as well as political ones.[29] A review in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle read "at no time is her book boring," calling it an important book for documenting the contributions of "a woman crusader."[30] The Salt Lake Tribune described the book as "informative, thrilling and colorful",[2] and The Sydney Morning Herald called it "particularly interesting."[24] The Indiana Gazette rated the book as one of the best medical autobiographies of recent times.[31]
After finishing her autobiography, Morton traveled to Iran, and in 1940 published a book on the country and her time there titled A Doctor's Holiday in Iran.[32][33] Writing in the journal The Moslem World, S. M. Jordan described the book as "good reading" and a "worthy successor" to Morton's previous publication.[34]
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ Q-6-50: Rosalie Slaughter Morton M.D. (1872–1968) (Historic marker). Lynchburg, Virginia: Virginia Department of Historic Resources. 2018.
- ^ a b c "Noted Woman Physician's Story of Life Informative, Thrilling and Colorful". The Salt Lake Tribune. April 25, 1937. p. 22. Retrieved February 21, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 041592040X.
- ^ a b c d e Rosalie Slaughter Morton (1937). A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton. Frederick A. Stokes Company. p. 345. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Dr. Rosalie Slaughter Morton". National Library of Medicine. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 9780674766617.
- ^
- ^ a b c Leonard, John William (1915). Woman's Who's Who of America, 1914–15. The American Commonwealth Company. pp. 580. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1922). The History of Woman Suffrage. Vol. V.
- ^ "Social and Personal: Ceremony in Alexandria". The Washington Post. September 7, 1905. p. 7. Retrieved February 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ S2CID 43285778.
- ^ "Woman Physician Seeks to Divorce Lawyer Husband". The Evening World. December 20, 1910. p. 6. Retrieved February 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 0813512565. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
rosalie slaughter.
- ^ "Woman happiest at 60 now". The Kansas City Star. January 25, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ Rosalie Slaughter Morton (1937). A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton. Frederick A. Stokes Company. pp. 381–382. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ a b c Anne Commire (2007). Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016 – via Highbeam.
- ^ a b c Keith, Shannon (April 19, 2019). "Historical marker to honor Lynchburg women's-health pioneer". The News & Advance. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ ProQuest 97436010. Retrieved April 16, 2022 – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b "First Woman Doctor at Columbia Formerly Taught in Brooklyn". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 8, 1916. p. 21. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
- ^ "Lady Doctor Heads Women's Hospitals". The Hutchinson News. July 17, 1917. p. 6. Retrieved February 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 978-1438110332. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ Edith Moriarty (July 16, 1922). "With the Women of Today". The Charlotte News. p. 28. Retrieved February 21, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Distinguished Woman Surgeon". The Sydney Morning Herald. November 2, 1937. p. 22. Retrieved March 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Marion Brown (January 4, 1939). "'Develop Daring Spirit' Urges Renowned Doctor". The Evening Independent. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ^ "Отворен парк "Розали Мортон" у Београду" (in Serbian). April 22, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ Irby, Taylor (May 2, 2019). "PHOTOS: Marker in Lynchburg honors Dr. Rosalie Slaughter Morton". The News & Advance. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 0807876089.
- ^ a b Harry Hansen (February 28, 1937). "Doctor's Work Is Education as Well as Cure, Noted Woman Surgeon Holds in Story of Life". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ^ a b George Currie (February 23, 1937). "Passed in Review". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Retrieved March 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "A Book A Day". The Indiana Gazette. March 15, 1937. p. 9. Retrieved March 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Rosalie Slaughter Morton (1940). A Doctor's Holiday in Iran. Funk & Wagnalls Company. p. 1. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "A Doctor's Holiday in Iran – Rosalie Slaughter Morton". The Morning News. November 14, 1940. p. 6. Retrieved March 8, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- .