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Dr. Mary Edwards Walker showed incredible courage during the course of her remarkable career. At a time when Victorianism ruled, and females were second-class citizens, she was an outspoken advocate of woman’s rights in many areas. Walker was not content to just talk about such issues—she actually became a living embodiment of them. The capstone of her career—and controversy—came when she was awarded the Medal of Honor, the only woman to date to have received the coveted prize.
Early Feminist
Walker was born in Oswego, New York in 1832. Her parents were liberal, even radical, by the standards of the day, insisting that girls be educated on an equal basis as boys. Though the term wasn’t invented yet, young Mary became a feminist at an early age. It was said she did not like women’s clothes, because the long dresses were too confining and unsanitary, the latter because they trailed on the ground. As a young girl on the farm she wore men’s clothes to do chores. Later, as an adult, she supported the dress reforms of Amelia Bloomer, whose skirt-baggy pants combination were considered shocking by some.
Woman Doctor
Mary Walker became a teacher, but only to help finance her real goal, medical school. She entered Syracuse Medical College and graduated in 1855, the only woman in her class. She was n She married fellow physician Albert Miller, and the couple opened up a private practice in Rome, New York. The idea of a woman doctor was so new, and so novel, even women hesitated to become patients. Women were considered creatures of emotion, not intellect, fit only for their “natural” roles as mothers and wives.