Current Topics of the Town: A Pioneer in the Medical Education of Women Describes Student Battles Once Waged about Them

In the 19th century, medical students would attend classes called clinical lectures to learn about how to treat sick people. At a clinical lecture, a doctor and patient would appear onstage in an auditorium, and the doctor would show the student audience the patient's illness or injury, and demonstrate how to heal or fix it. The doctors would present patients with a range of illnesses from broken legs to pneumonia and everything in between. In 1869 Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) was started in 1850 because most medical schools around the country would not accept female students. WMCP was the only medical school for women in Philadelphia, and for many years one of the only medical schools for women in the nation. Almost 20 years later, in 1869, the number of female medical students and female doctors was still very small compared the number of male medical student and doctors. On November 6, 1869, a group of about 20-30 female students from WMCP, went to the Pennsylvania Hospital amphitheater to attend a clinical lecture also attended by several hundred male medical students. Their attendance drew a strong response from the male students, including jeering, and created a controversial debate about women's presence in the clinical lectures. The Jeering incident and ensuing debate were widely covered in regional newspapers. This event came to be known among students, faculty, and alumnae of WMPC as the "The Jeering Episode."

In the 1926 article, Anna Broomall, an 1871 graduate of WMCP, recalls the events of November 6, 1869 when she was one of a group of female medical students who attended a clinical lecture at Pennsylvania Hospital and were met with harassment and "jeering" by the hundreds of male medical students in attendance. Broomall recounts this event as an illustration of the obstacles that the women of her generation faced in pursuit of their medical education and careers, and expresses pride that they persevered.