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WOMEN IN
MEDICINE

tice. While she did note in a
1957 interview with the Dal-
las Times Herald that some
people initially scoffed at a
“lady doctor” in town, the
decision to relocate there
proved to be fortuitous. The
early 20th century was trans-
formative for the city of
Dallas, which evolved from
a frontier town to a thriving
urban center that offered
women a broader role in its
many cultural and commer-
cial developments.
But just as Dr. Hopkins
began to build her medical
practice, war broke out. Like
many of her generation, Dr.
Hopkins felt the stirrings of
patriotism and duty and wanted to serve. And like most women of with a group of women from Smith College. In fact, four groups
her generation, she was shut out of many opportunities to do so. of women had arrived in France under the organization of a special
For doctors who wished to serve, the most direct route to the Ivy League commission, including alumnae from Radcliffe College,
European front was the Army Medical Reserve Corps, but women Wellesley College, and Vassar College. The Red Cross broke up the
physicians were explicitly barred from enlisting. Women could serve other three groups, giving those women individual assignments.
as stateside military physicians, but there would be no rank, no pro- Only the Smith group remained intact.
motion, no bonus, and no pension. When Dr. Hopkins headed out to the front lines on Aug. 12, she
The American Red Cross provided another option. The organi- was part of a coterie of 12 other women. At dusk, they arrived at
zation placed women directly in France to staff the Children’s Bu- Chateau-Thierry, a deserted town that only three weeks prior had
reau, where they could perform medical services for displaced been held by the Germans during the Battle of the Marne.
women and children. This was not battlefield medicine, but it was Locating the former Red Cross headquarters was the women’s
an opportunity Dr. Hopkins eagerly accepted as it afforded her pas- first priority, but they discovered it was uninhabitable. The roof
sage across the Atlantic to work near the war zone. had partially collapsed, all the windows were blown out, and the
When Dr. Hopkins left for France in July 1918, she was 35 years walls were riddled with shell holes. The women found the garden
old and had never traveled outside of the United States, as she noted more hospitable. They laid out their bedrolls underneath the starry
on her passport application. But like most new recruits, she was ex- skies and nervously awaited a German air raid, which they had
cited to be of service and eager to jump into action. been told happened on a regular basis. They were unexpectedly
Told she would first need to fill out a couple of forms, Dr. Hop- given a reprieve.
kins was frustrated to discover this involved four days of repetitive “The enemy was good to us the first night,” Dr. Hopkins told the
paperwork. She then sat idle for two more weeks as she waited on Herald, “and let us sleep in peace.”
official orders from the French government. The next morning the women further explored the village, but
found no buildings intact. The village was unlivable and offered no
Battlefield medicine safe refuge, so the women pitched tents on a nearby hillside. They

When Dr. Hopkins at last received an assignment, she was paired hardly had finished this task when American troops approached re-
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