Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo (November 10, 1879 – January 11,1974), a Dominican medical physician.
Doctor Rodríguez was an advocate for family planning in Dominican Republic, social reformer, educator, and she was her nation’s first female physician. She had a rough start and an agonizing death. Doctor Rodríguez was born out of wedlock into a poor family from San Rafael de el Yuma, La Altagracia Dominican Republic. Her mother was a peasant woman and her father was a wealthy officer in the army. Doctor Rodríguez had everything going against her, being born female, out of wedlock, and having some African descent in her.She was eventually raised by her grandmother when both of her parents had abandoned her without a trace.
Her most notable achievements were that she was the first female to graduate medical school from Dominican Republic. She received her medical degree from the University of the Dominican Republic in 1909. She then attended the University of Paris and graduated in 1925. While continuing her medical career Doctor Rodríguez was an author of two books. Her first book was “Granos de polen” which was published in 1915, after returning from Paris she published her second book “Le Guerisseur: Cuento Chino Bíblico Filosófico de Moral Social.” She also published poems in a magazine called “Fémina.” The first book has only a hardcover in certain libraries in the world and is not available on ebook. This link is the only piece of information I found on her first book. “Granos De Polen.” Find in a Library with WorldCat, www.worldcat.org/title/granos-de-polen/oclc/48034175. Doctor Rodríguez’s second book came up on one website here: “Andrea Evangelina Rodr\u00edguez Perozo.docx – Andrea Evangelina Rodr\u00edguez Perozo(1879 1947 Fue Una Poeta y m\u00e9dica Dominicana Naci\u00f3 El 10 De Noviembre De: Course Hero.” Andrea Evangelina Rodr\u00edguez Perozo.docx – Andrea Evangelina Rodr\u00edguez Perozo(1879 1947 Fue Una Poeta y m\u00e9dica Dominicana Naci\u00f3 El 10 De Noviembre De | Course Hero, 27 Sept. 2019, www.coursehero.com/file/47173858/Andrea-Evangelina-Rodr%C3%ADguez-Perozodocx/. The poems from “Fémina” were unable to be found.
After returning to Dominican Republic from Paris, Doctor Rodríguez immediately started helping the women of Dominican Republic. She was treating illness, delivering babies, and teaching the locals on preventing sexually transmitted diseases. She started visiting where the local prostitutes worked , she would offer them free medical advice and treatment. She had a big role in her community, which she will later be remembered for.
Doctor Rodríguez was a determined and groundbreaking physician, participated in a small women’s movement during the peak of Trujillo’s dictatorship. Doctor Rodríguez was openly criticizing the government. Her work was controversial because she was teaching women about birth control and safe sex, she wouldn’t judge those women for their choices Doctor Rodríguez would help them as much as she could. Because of her outspoken opposing beliefs and her involvement with the women of the poor community; Doctor Rodríguez she was taken,interrogated and tortured. She later died after days of agony. Doctor Evangelina Rodríguez advocated for women’s suffrage, a Dominican Feminist who died for her beliefs.
“And when everything around seems to be at its darkest time at the end of the tunnel you will find the light.”
(Evangelina Rodriguez, “And When Everything around Seems to Be at Its Darkest Time At.” Own Quotes: Write Your Own Quotes, Make Your Own Quotes, Create Picture Quotes, ownquotes.com/quote/26703. )
Even through her rough upbringing, Doctor Rodríguez managed to stay positive and focus on helping others through their tough times.
Doctor Rodríguez would not have called herself a feminist because she believed on doing what needed to be done. She wanted to help the women of her community in any way she could. By today’s definition she would have been labeled a feminist. Even though Trujillo tried to erase her from Dominican history; her legacy lives on through her patients and all the people she had helped. There was a women’s hospital and an elementary school named after Doctor Rodriguez, so her legacy can live on for generations.
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This was a really great biography talking about the start of her life till the end. I have never heard of Evangelina, but I am glad I do now. She really achieved a milestone as being the first female physician in her country. it is crazy that her good work was seen as bad and she had to suffer the way she did. Just remember to include a quote from her and at least 2 links. If you can, linking her books could work.
Great biography. You have all the required pieces. You should embed the book links. Also, when you click on the cited work links, it doesn’t take you to the website. Other than that you did a great job! I never knew about Evangelina Rodríguez and it was really interesting to learn about the first female to graduate medical school from Dominican Republic.
I had a great experience creating the bio. It was really interesting to learn about an extraordinary woman from my country. I really enjoyed learning about her story and the great things she did, I faced some challenges creating the bio. I really tried to embed the links to her books and I’m upset that its still not working. I would have only provided the link to the book that worked instead of providing both and messing up the link.
After reading your biography, I felt like I learn something new today. You wrote so in-depth and stayed true to who she was. It was interesting to read about how she didn’t believe in calling herself feminist.