Who Is Mary Edwards Walker?

Mary Edwards Walker was a civil war surgeon and women’s rights activist who was brave and strong. She was a generous person who stuck up for what she believed in and worked hard all her life. She made a mark in history and is remembered and known all around the world. On Monday, November 26th, 1832 in Oswego, New York, Mary Edwards Walker was born to her two parents, Vesta and Alvah Walker. She was the youngest girl in her family, with four sisters and a brother. Her sisters were Vesta, Aurora, Luna, and Cynthia. Her brother, who was the youngest, was named Abel. Growing up, Walker’s parents were strict on the ideas for equal rights for women and everyone should equally get an education. These teachings inspired Walker to become an activist
Walker went to school that her parents owned and taught at. Once Oswego built a school, Mary, at the age of eighteen, went to Falley Seminary, where her sisters had attended. When Mary was nineteen, she was asked to teach for a school. She had decided that all of the funds received from her new job would strictly go to medical school. Women attending medical school was a very uncommon doing. It was very hard for a woman to be accepted into any medical school, so it was difficult for Walker. She was accepted into Syracuse Medical School and graduated with a doctor of medicine degree. She was the only girl in her class, so she was treated unfairly. After medical school, Mary Edwards Walker married Albert Miller in 1855. They moved to Ohio and tried to start a private practice, which failed because Mary was a girl and no one took it seriously. Walker then divorces Miller in 1869. It was very uncommon for women to get divorced because it was challenging to earn a living for a woman by herself with no one to support her.
She opened up so many opportunities for women and men. She was a master at her job, so she was finally recognized. After so much time passed, they finally gave her the Medal of Honor award. Walker is the only woman to ever get the award. She was given it for her amazing work on battlefield. When Walker got the medal, she never took it off. One day, it was determined that the medal was going to be taken away from her because her work did not meet the medal’s requirement. Walker did not care. She wore the medal until she died and was buried wearing it. The president at the time, Jimmy Carter, had restored her medal back to her, even though she was dead. Two years before passing, Walker had “...fell on the Capitol steps and suffered injuries from which she never fully recovered. She died two years later…” (“Mary Edwards Walker” YourDictionary) Mary Edwards Walker passed away on February 21, 1919 in Oswego, New York. She was eighty-seven years