A slave mixes an ointment while the doctor who owns him diagnoses a patient. Many doctors were themselves former slaves who had been freed by their masters.
Cordoban education began at home, where muslim children listen as an elder, perhaps a grandfather or uncle, teaches the Koran. Older boys sometimes went on to religious schooling in the mosque.
New York offers this young woman an opportunity unthinkable in Alexandria or Córdoba—the chance to live alone. Unlike women in many other times and places, she can also pursue a career, vote, own property, and marry (or not) as she chooses.