Oregon's Doctor to the World: Esther Pohl Lovejoy and a Life in Activism

by Kimberly Jensen

Esther Clayson Pohl Lovejoy, whose long life stretched from 1869 to 1967, challenged convention from the time she was a young girl. Her professional life began as one of Oregon's earliest women physicians, and her commitment to public health and medical relief took her into the international arena, where she was chair of the American Women's Hospitals after World War I and the first president of the Medical Women's International Association. Most disease, suffering, and death, she believed, were the result of wars and social and economic inequities, and she was determined to combat those conditions through organized action.

Lovejoy's early life and career in the Pacific Northwest gave her key experiences and strategies to use for what she termed "constructive resistance," the ability to take effective action against unjust power. She took a political and pragmatic approach to what she called "woman's big job"-achieving a full female citizenship-and emphasized the importance of votes for women. In this engaging biography, Kimberly Jensen tells the story of this important western woman, exploring her approach to politics, health, and society and her civic, economic, and medical activism.

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464 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Edwin Battistella]

Drawing on the resources, Kimberly Jensen offers a biography of Esther Pohl Lovejoy—one of the first women to graduate from medical school in Oregon, who went on the be the commissioner of public health in Portland, a candidate for Congress in 1920, the head of the Women’s International Medical Association, and the author of several books.
Jensen handles the task of writing a such complex biography –or a women professionally active at until her nineties, tying her life and work to the critical events of the twentieth century. It’s a superb contribution to Oregon history, women’s history and medical history. Especially interesting is Lovejoy’s personal story and her feminist transnational activism, her view of constructive resistance to policy, and the concept of the “big job” of twentieth century women, all of which Jensen expertly weaves together. The timeline, 75 pages of notes, and photos also enhance the book.

[Herb]

marvelous book!