Dr Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell was a pioneering figure in the field of medicine and a prominent advocate for women's rights. She became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States and is recognized as the first female physician in the country.

Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821, in Bristol, England. In 1832, when Elizabeth was 11 years old, the Blackwell family immigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. They faced financial difficulties, and Elizabeth worked as a teacher and governess to support herself and her siblings. She was determined to pursue a career in medicine, despite societal norms and opposition.

Despite facing numerous obstacles and prejudice, Blackwell was determined to pursue a career in medicine. She faced rejection from multiple medical schools due to her gender but was eventually accepted to Geneva Medical College (now part of Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in upstate New York in 1847, becoming the first woman to be accepted as a medical student. 

When Elizabeth Blackwell applied to Geneva Medical College,  the dean decided to hold a vote in the class she was applying to. If just one of the 150 male students objected, she would be rejected. All the 150 young men voted to accept her.

On January 23, 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to qualify as a doctor of medicine in America when she was awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College. She graduated at the top of her class.

After graduating, Dr. Blackwell traveled to Paris to undertake advanced studies. However, she was rejected from many hospitals due to her gender and she was unable to pursue her medical exams. The only option was to enter a large maternity hospital as a student midwife, where she fell sick resulting in the loss of sight in one eye, leaving her without hope of becoming a surgeon.

Portrait of Elizabeth Blackwell by Joseph Stanley Kozlowski, 1905. Syracuse University Medical School collection

After convalescence, Dr. Blackwell went to London, where she was permitted to continue her studies. On her return to New York City in 1853, Dr. Blackwell was not permitted to practice in any of the hospitals she applied to, so she started the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, aided by her sister Emily who had also passed her medical exams. They trained Union Army nurses during the Civil War then together they founded a medical college for women in her hospital.

The next year, Dr. Blackwell moved to England where she spent the remainder of her life teaching and working to increase medical opportunities there for women. Back in 1859 she had placed her name on the new British Medical Register, thus becoming Europe’s first modern female doctor.

Blackwell's impact extended beyond her own medical practice. She actively promoted women's rights and advocated for female participation in the medical profession.  Blackwell also played a crucial role in establishing the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary in 1868.

Blackwell formed close friendships and professional collaborations with other women. She maintained a close relationship with her sister Emily Blackwell, who was also a physician and played a significant role in supporting Elizabeth's endeavors. Elizabeth also had close friendships with notable women of her time, including suffragist and abolitionist leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone.

In her later years, Elizabeth Blackwell faced health challenges, including a severe stroke that left her partially paralyzed. She returned to England in 1907 and spent her final years there, residing in Hastings, Sussex. Elizabeth Blackwell passed away on May 31, 1910, in Hastings aged 89.

Dr. Blackwell was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp in 1974 (see below), designed by Joseph Stanley Kozlowski. 

Antoinette Blackwell

Antoinette Brown Blackwell was a notable American suffragist, abolitionist, and the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the United States. 

She was born Antoinette Louisa Brown on May 20, 1825, in Henrietta, New York. She grew up in a progressive, abolitionist household and was raised with a strong emphasis on education. Her father encouraged her to pursue her intellectual interests, and she received a thorough education at home.

Antoinette attended the Monroe County Academy and eventually enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Inspired by the preaching of evangelist Charles Finney, Brown enrolled at the Presbyterian Oberlin College to study theology in 1847. After three years of poverty, ridicule and discrimination because of her gender she graduated, but as a woman was refused a degree and ordination.

After lecturing on women's rights and occasionally preaching at progressive churches, Brown was eventually given a license to preach by the Congregational Church in 1851. On September 15, 1853, Blackwell was offered a position as Minister of a Congregationalist church in South Butler, New York, becoming the first woman in the United States to be ordained a minister. Antoinette Brown served the members of the Congregational Church of South Butler until June 1854, when due to theological disagreements she resigned.

Antoinette Brown Blackwell was an ardent advocate for women's rights and played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement. She participated in the 1850 National Women's Rights Convention and went on to become a prominent speaker and writer on female issues. Blackwell also co-founded the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869.

At the age of thirty, she married Samuel Blackwell, a prominent abolitionist and physician, on January 24, 1856. He was the brother of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first British woman doctor and the first woman to gain a medical degree anywhere. Their nuptials took place, at the fieldstone house in Henrietta where she had spent her childhood.

They both respected each other's work and shared a commitment to social reform. Samuel actively supported Antoinette's endeavors, including her ministry and her involvement in the suffrage movement.

They had six children together. Antoinette Brown Blackwell faced the challenge of balancing her family responsibilities with her activism. She was a devoted mother, and her children were an important part of her life. However, she also maintained a significant presence in the public sphere, delivering lectures and engaging in various reform movements.

Antoinette Blackwell's personal experiences, including her own difficult pregnancies, led her to advocate for women's health issues. She wrote and spoke about topics such as childbirth practices, reproductive rights, and women's access to medical care. Her advocacy in this area reflected her dedication to improving the lives of women and promoting gender equality.

Throughout her life, Antoinette Brown Blackwell continued to be involved in various social causes, including temperance, education reform, and women's health. Blackwell published several books, including her autobiography, The Physical Basis of Immortality.

Antoinette Brown Blackwell lived a long and fulfilling life. She continued to be involved in activism and writing well into her later years. She passed away on November 5, 1921, at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy as a trailblazer for women's rights and religious equality.

Blacksmith

Legend has it that when listening to the sounds made by a blacksmith striking his anvil, Pythagoras was led to a perception of the relationship between arithmetic ratios and harmonic intervals in music.

Viking blacksmiths would often add bones from ancestors or animals like bears to their iron ore to add carbon content, and to imbue the weapon with mystical properties.

The medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri once smashed up the workshop of a blacksmith whom he heard singing his poems as he worked, but muddling up the words.

Due to advances in native forge technology in many places in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa, native blacksmiths produced steel at a better grade of quality compared to steel produced in Europe at the time.

The world’s first pedal bicycle was made by a Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan (d 1878) of Keir Mill, Dumfriesshire in 1839. His novel design for the first time enabled cyclists to ride with both their feet continuously off the ground. The popular bicycle of the time, the Hobby Horse, only provided momentum through the swinging of the riders feet back and forth.

Coal forges in a blacksmith's workshop reach temperatures of roughly 1,600 C.

The term 'blacksmith' comes from the black layer of oxides that forms on molten iron, the metal they specialized in. 

A modern blacksmith By Matěj Baťha

The opposite of a blacksmith is a whitesmith, a smith who works with lighter-colored metals, particularly tin. There are also "brownsmiths" who work with brass or copper.

Sources Whaleoil.co.nz, Europress Encyclopedia

Blackcurrant

Blackcurrants are a type of berry that is native to Europe and Asia. They are a member of the gooseberry family, and they are closely related to currants.

Blackcurrants have a long history of cultivation, dating back to the 11th century in Europe. Initially, they were primarily grown for their medicinal properties and were used to treat various ailments.

By the 17th century, blackcurrants gained popularity and began to spread across Europe. They were cultivated in monastic gardens and were valued for their high vitamin C content.

In the 19th century, blackcurrants gained significant attention in the United Kingdom. They were recognized for their health benefits and became widely cultivated in Scotland and northern England. Blackcurrants were particularly popular for making jams, jellies, and cordials.

Blackcurrants were once grown in abundance in the USA as well, but in the early 1900’s it was banned federally due to the belief that blackcurrants helped facilitate white pine blister rust, which was once thought of as a threat the US lumber industry. In 1966 the ban was transferred to State status and several states have now lifted the ban. However, the ban is still in effect for at least some blackcurrant species in Delaware, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Many Americans still aren't aware of blackcurrant flavor (one of the most popular soft drink and confection flavours in the world) due to the ban on the plant in the early 1900s. Less than 1% of Americans have tasted one.

Ribena is a popular soft drink that is made with blackcurrants that was first created in 1933 by a doctor named James Henry Black, He was looking for a way to help his patients with their colds and flu, and he thought that blackcurrants might be a good source of Vitamin C. He started making a syrup from blackcurrants, and he gave it to his patients. The syrup was a success, and Black decided to start selling it commercially. Ribena quickly became popular, and it is now one of the most popular soft drinks in Britain.

In the early days, Ribena was made with real blackcurrants. However, in the 1970s, the blackcurrant market in Britain collapsed due to a virus that wiped out many of the crops. Ribena was forced to switch to using blackcurrant concentrate from other countries. This change in ingredients led to some controversy, as some people felt that Ribena was no longer the same drink that it used to be.

Like most berries blackcurrants contain a wealth of bioflavonoids and anthocyanidins, which are some of the most powerful anti-oxidants known to mankind.

Blackcurrants are one of the best sources of Vitamin C which is essential in fighting infections and breaking down mucus, so these little berries are excellent for winter colds and generally helping to boost the immune system.

They are also anti-bacterial and can be very useful in tackling bouts of diarrhoea caused by foreign bacteria, as they help to neutralise such 'unfriendly' bacteria.

Blackcurrants have a tart flavor that some people find appealing. However, they can also be quite bitter, so they are often sweetened when used in food and drinks.

Blackcurrants are a popular ingredient in traditional English and Welsh cuisine. They are often used to make pies, puddings, and cakes.

Soutces Juicemaster.com, Myfolia.com

Blackbird

It may not immediately be clear why the name "Blackbird", first recorded in 1486, was applied to this species, but not to one of the various other common black English birds, such as the Raven, Rook or Jackdaw. However, in Old English, and in modern English up to about the 18th century, "bird" was used only for smaller or young birds, and larger ones such as crows were called "fowl". At that time, the Blackbird was therefore the only widespread and conspicuous "black bird" in the British Isles.

The Common Blackbird is 23.5 to 29 centimetres (9.25 to 11.4 in) in length, has a long tail, and weighs 80–125 grammes (2.8 to 4.4 oz).

Pixiebay

The male common blackbird is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and bill. The adult female and juvenile have mainly dark brown plumage.

The Common Blackbird breeds in temperate Eurasia, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and South Asia. It was introduced to Australia at Melbourne in the 1850s, but has expanded from its initial foothold in Melbourne and Adelaide to occur throughout south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands.

The Common Blackbird has an extensive range, estimated at 10 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles), and a large population, including an estimated 79 to 160 million individuals in Europe alone.

The male Common Blackbird defends its breeding territory, chasing away other males or utilising a "bow and run" threat display. This consists of a short run, the head first being raised and then bowed with the tail dipped simultaneously. If a fight between male Blackbirds does occur, it is usually short and the intruder is soon chased away.

The male Common Blackbird attracts the female with a courtship display which consists of oblique runs combined with head-bowing movements, an open beak, and a "strangled" low song. The female remains motionless until she raises her head and tail to permit copulation. This species is monogamous, and the established pair will usually stay together as long as they both survive.

Blackbirds lay between three and six eggs. They each take 11-17 days to hatch.

Blackbird egg. Pixiebay

A Common Blackbird has an average life expectancy of 2.4 years, and, based on data from bird ringing, the oldest recorded age is 21 years and 10 months.

The Common Blackbird is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, seeds and berries. It feeds mainly on the ground, running and hopping with a start-stop-start progress. It pulls earthworms from the soil, usually finding them by sight, but sometimes by hearing, and roots through leaf litter for other invertebrates. Small vertebrates such as frogs, tadpoles and lizards are occasionally hunted. This species will also perch in bushes to take berries and collect caterpillars and other active insects.

The city blackbirds have shorter beaks; don’t migrate anymore; have different stress responses; start breeding much earlier in the year; and sing at a different pitch. This has evolved them into a new species.

As with other passerine birds, parasites are common. 88% of Common Blackbirds were found to have intestinal parasites, most frequently Isospora and Capillaria species.

Blackbirds can be found breeding in every European country except Iceland. 

Pixiebay

The blackbird is the most common breeding bird in Britain, with about six million pairs.

The Common Blackbird is the national bird of Sweden, which has a breeding population of 1–2 million pairs.

Paul McCartney wrote the Beatles song "Blackbird" about the civil rights struggle for blacks after reading about race riots in the US. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after Little Rock, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital's school system. McCartney told Mojo magazine October 2008: "We were totally immersed in the whole saga which was unfolding. So I got the idea of using a blackbird as a symbol for a black person. It wasn't necessarily a black 'bird', but it works that way, as much as then you called girls 'birds'; the Everlys had had 'Bird Dog,' so the word 'bird' was around. 'Take these broken wings' was very much in my mind, but it wasn't exactly an ornithological ditty; it was purposely symbolic."

Sources Daily Express, Wikipedia 

BlackBerry (Gadget)

The BlackBerry device is a line of smartphones and tablets that were developed and manufactured by BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM). BlackBerry devices were known for their physical keyboards, secure messaging capabilities, and email integration.

The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was developed by the Canadian firm Research in Motion and introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager. In 2002, the more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and other wireless information services. The original BlackBerry devices, the RIM 850 and 857, used the DataTac network.

The BlackBerry is so called because its black miniature buttons on its keyboard look like Blackberry fruit seed. Branding consultants came up with the name as a punchier version of 'strawberry,' after the buttons evoked in one observer that particular fruit.

The same creative company, Lexicon Branding. that came up with the name BlackBerry' also christened the ‘PowerBook’, and ‘Pentium.’

There have already been more than 10 different commercial models of BlackBerry introduced since year the first model released in year 1999.

In the early 2000s, BlackBerry devices gained popularity and became synonymous with mobile communication and productivity. They were particularly popular among business professionals and government organizations due to their robust security features, including encrypted messaging and push email.

At one time the US government had 500,000 BlackBerries, and Barack Obama refused to give up his personal BlackBerry when entering the White House. 

In 2010, BlackBerry had half of the US smartphone market and 20 per cent globally.

The addictiveness of the device led it to be dubbed the "CrackBerry", which is a reference to crack cocaine. Use of the term CrackBerry became so widespread that in November 2006 Webster's New World College Dictionary named "crackberry" the "New Word of the Year." A popular BlackBerry user forum is called crackberry.com.

The company failed to predict the rise of smartphones for personal use, was slow to innovate and released slow, bug-riddled models. Eventually BlackBerrys started using the Android system – but it was too late.

By the mid 2010s BlackBerry had since lost its dominant position in the market due to the success of the Android and iOS platforms. In 2015, BlackBerry re-focused its business strategy and began to release Android-based smartphones, beginning with the BlackBerry Priv slide. On September 28, 2016, Blackberry announced it would stop designing its own phones. However, BlackBerry continues to develop software and services for its devices, and it remains a popular choice for businesses and government agencies.

The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) was available in over 91 countries worldwide on over 600 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies, including 2G, 3G, and 4G.

BlackBerry announced on October 31, 2019, that it would be shutting down BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) on January 31, 2023. This means that users of BlackBerry devices will no longer be able to access email, calendars, contacts, and other corporate data through their devices.

Sources Scottish Mail, Onlinemarketingtrends

Blackberry (Food)

Botanically, blackberries are not true berries, they are aggregate fruits forming from a single flower.

Blackberries are native to every continent except Antarctica, and there are up to 2,000 varieties, with more than 300 wild species in Europe alone. They can naturally hybridize and create new forms to adjust to climate, soil and other environmental factors.

The berries have been harvested since prehistoric times and have been used as food, medicinally and also as natural barriers due to their heavy growth and thorns - they were originally known as bramble or brambleberries (and still are in England).

Forensic analysis revealed that the the last meal of one of the best preserved bog people ever discovered, Haraldskaer Woman, who lived around 540 BC, was blackberries and millet.

Blackberries were prescribed in ancient Greece as an antidote for piles.

In medieval England, blackberries were considered unfit to eat after Michaelmas (September 29) as it was believed the Devil spat or urinated on them after that.

The first commercial plantings in the United States were made in Beverley, Massachusetts by a Captain Lovett.

Most commercial cultivation is limited to the United States. There are literally thousands of varieties, including an albino 'white blackberry,' and the dewberry, which bears a smaller fruit.

Michigan and New Jersey produce 66% of all the blueberries in the United States.

There are also red colored blackberries and sometimes they may be difficult to distinguish from raspberries. One sure way to tell them apart is that when the blackberry is picked it comes away from the plant with its core intact; when a raspberry is picked it leaves the core behind.

Blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and fiber.

Batology is the study of blackberries.

Source http://www.foodreference.com/html/fblackberry.html