A Biography of Rosalie Slaughter Morton

As a scientist, Rosalie Slaughter Morton worked endlessly to help foreign countries increase their knowledge of public health and to further the careers of women surgeons everywhere who wished to practice medicine. Born into a prominent family in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1876, Morton was one of three girls and five boys by her father, a well known and respected lawyer and her stay at home mother. Morton was lucky to attend private school with her brothers and sisters rather than being self-taught like most woman of the time period. However, she was also sent to finishing school in Baltimore to further her womanly education as an expected wife and mother.

Instead, Morton opted to defy social expectations and enrolled in medical school like her male relatives before her in her family. As a woman, Morton was expected to be "like a typical southern girl, make me a capable wife-not to imbue me with a desire for a career." As a strict suffragist and an advocator of women's rights it's no surprise that Morton lobbied for recognition of women surgeons as equal to men in war service. This included that women's health, energy, and endurance was equal to men in the doctorial fields of medicine. She believed that women should be diagnosed not only by disease as it related to gynecology, but by their mental, social, and economic status rather than just their roles as woman.

As a woman, Morton studied at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1893 and graduated winning two of the three honors allowed her class. As one of the top students in her class she was able to secure a residency at Alumne Hospital and Dispensary and Philadelphia City Hospital as well as three years of post-graduate study starting in 1899 in nervous diseases, gynecology, and surgery in Berlin. She was given the opportunity to expand her education in Berlin by learning German and furthering her education in microscopic diagnosis and obstetrics.

After Berlin she studied circulatory, repository, and digestive condition in relation to gynecology in Paris with a dabble in brain surgery and neurology in London. The broad spectrum of countries she was able to study in increased her interest in medical politics throughout the world and she began to understand the plight of other nations such as Yugoslavia and Serbia. After completing her studies Morton worked for eight months doing a study with the British lab on prophylactics against three forms of bubonic plague and other tropical diseases in India.

As a scientist, her interests in foreign affairs correlated with her needs for women's rights and she frequently lobbied for a women's medical hospital in Europe taking after their British and Scottish medical practices. She was severely impacted by her work with soldiers in World War I where she gave aid to the largest hospital tents with the most patients in order to immerse herself in education and the environment.

In order to launch her women's hospitals Morton refused to take no for an answer, lobbying against the opposition from Congress and the War Department. With the help of her friends and collogues Morton pulled off a national fundraiser and drive to raise 300,000 dollars in ten days to go to her cause. By 1902 she was able to open her own medical practice in Washington DC and married a lawyer named George Morton who supported her background in medicine as well as her go-get-em attitude. They moved to New York shortly after and never had children though Morton's career and reputation continued to grow and prosper. She was offered a job as an examiner of applications for city employment in NY as well as on the medical staff for the Teachers Retirement System.

In 1909 recognition was given to Morton as a woman and as a scientist when she was offered the first chair on the Public Health Education Committee of American Medical Association. In 1912 she served as a professor of physiology at the University of Vermont Summer School and moved on to be the first woman faculty member at the New York Polyclinic Hospital and post graduate Medical School. Four years later she was the first woman faculty member on Colombia's prestigious University College of Physicians and Surgeons and she was also given the important task of taking supplies from the Red Cross from Paris to the Salonika war front to help attend French soldiers. Through her work with the Red Cross Morton became well known and was able to strike up a friendship with the illustrious Florence Nightingale whose nursing experience and compassion inspired much of her own work.

Finally, Morton's true dream was realized when in 1918 the first American's Women hospital opened in July to rave reviews and leagues of excited women surgeons and the men that supported them. Within her complicated career and life Morton was able to erect two other hospitals in Yugoslavia founding them while her husband lay on his deathbed.

The perseverance and dedication that never wavered paid off when she was given a slew of medals normally reserved for men in her field such as: Cross of Czar Nicholas II in Russia, Joan of Arc Medal, and Conspicuous Service Cross from the state of NY, and Commander of the Order of St. Sava of the Royal Red Cross in Yugoslavia. France recognized her outstanding work by presenting her with the Medaille D'Honneur of France in recognition of her service to France during the war. She was presented with a French uniform and the official insignia as well as buttons worn by the doctors in the French field.

After her various accomplishments in the field of public health and the death of her husband Morton was forced to retire to Florida due to a severe bout with phenomena. However, this did not stop her drive to educate herself and she continued work at her private practice servicing the people of Florida while re-educating herself on arthritis and endocrinology. She used the massive amount of knowledge gained through her love of learning to keep herself active as an author in many fields including articles, books, journals, and public speeches. She was a frequent speaker and public advocate for a variety of causes and was known to lecture at universities as well as substituting throughout the country. One of her secret passions unrelated to science was archeology and she published a few articles in literary magazines on the topic just as happy to start from scratch with a topic that was unrelated to her crusade of public health.

Several obscure facts of about her life unrelated to her scientific endeavors show her not only as a compassionate and forthright scientist, persevering in a field where many women before her had tried, and failed, but also friendly and understanding to men who did not quite see her cause. This is evident when she met with Tolstoy during his excommunication from Russia after writing a controversial book. Morton was charged with the duty of bringing his books illegally into the country and giving them to him at his home. After this she was able to hold an audience with him which she later made into a published paper article. Tolstoy questioned Morton's drive as a woman operating in a male field and conspiring against convention, he questioned her judgment as well as her passion for science itself. She tried to answer him as honestly and fully as possible while he criticized her hands on work overseas. Tolstoy let it be known that he disagreed with a lady working outside the home when instead she could read a book about the places she traveled. Morton counters by questioning the accuracy and validity of an authors work when they've never been to the place their writing about and there would be no comparisons because everyone would be right about their location of choice.

After all these memorable excursions and life events Rosalie Slaughter Morton lived in Florida with a private practice until she died. She complied several books including her own autobiography called A Woman Surgeon where she detailed all her descion making and the scientific methods she used to reach her gender specific goals. Not only was Morton ready for the scientific agenda of a good scientist, staying logical to her research, resources, and data, but she supplied and paved the way for many female scientists in the role of public health after her reign. The spread of information and facts proved by her scientific work as well as the social and economic contributions throughout the world never shied away from her true goal of gender equality and the perseverance of knowledge and education for both men and women. Though thwarted by male driven companies, Congress, and societal standards Morton was unafraid to side step norms and get to them when her independence was secure

Unfortunately, most of her later works and some of her early research was destroyed by bugs in the garage where her niece was storing her manuscripts. Though much is known about Rosalie Slaughter Morton and her contributions to the world, society, and women in science much was lost to time and bugs so future scientists will never know the full extent of this wise woman's knowledge. Morton as a woman fought for the right to practice medicine that gave her power over her own body during many decades where women were oppressed and belittled due to a lack of logical knowledge. As a scientist and as a person her objectives and her thirst for knowledge never wavered making her a memorable person in a world of gender equality.

Works Cited:

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0834143.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Mortn-R.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_231.html