History of Black Nurses Essay

Trained take aims for students who treasured to pursue a explosive chargeer in bring off for came ab stunned in the 1800s when Florence Nightingale advocated the conceit. The only students that were accepted into these programs where white students, coloreds were not exclusivelyowed any education during this age. colors were not granted play off rights as the white people, and were denied the right to have an education.There were many down in the mouth young women who were very raise in nursing, and were dedicated to pursue their dream, and wouldnt confirmation trying until they were given equal rights and accepted into these nursing programs. Some dark women would follow along with the threatening soldiers in the accomplished War and provide care to these wounded soldiers, as fountainhead as provide food, and also teach them to read and right. The kickoff school of nursing was variety showed after two ignominious men in loot, Illinois won the complement of the ir community, and do a hospital out of a small brick building. The dumb people also came together to form the National Association of aslope Graduate Nurses, an organization formed to protect the black nursing profession, and to stop discrimination towards them.History of Black Nurses During the early 1800s nursing was primarily caring for the sick by family members or slaves. Nurses provided care in homes, and when World War I and II came active, nurses were send off to provide care to the wounded soldiers. There was not a trained system for nurses to learn and gain experience in the profession, so all of the care that the sick were provided was by untrained nurses. It wasnt until Florence Nightingale recognized the idea of providing a trained, organized system for nurses to learn before they worked as a professional nurse. umteen schools arose out of her idea, however white students were only accepted into these nursing schools, blacks were not accepted. Black people were no t given equal rights as the whites, and were denied the right for education and were at that placefore, denied acceptance into these nursing programs.Mary Eliza Mahvirtuosoy was born(p) to Charles and Mary Jane Mahoney in 1845, in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to show an interest in nursing when she was a teenager, and worked at the New England Hospital for Women and Children as an unofficial nurse aid, a cook, janitor, and washerwoman. When she was thirty-three years old, she was accepted to a nursing program. as one of forty-two, being the only black student, (Hines, 2004). Although she had to deal with racial discrimination and long hours of lectures and patient care, she made it to the goal of the program as one of four. In 1879, she gradatory from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, making her the inaugural black professional nurse in the United States.After Mary Mahoney graduated from nursing school, she worked mainly as a hole-and-corner(a) dut y nurse for the next thirty years. Her work became widespread as a private duty nurse. Her patients loved her calmness, and professionalism, and she began receiving requests from different states, (Haltey, 2010). After working for private duty for thirty years, Mahoney opened a director of an orphanage in Long Island, New York, and remained there for the next ten years. In 1908, she became a co separate to the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, (Hines, 2004).Mary Mahoney became an inhalation to many black women wanting to pursue a rush in nursing. She fought through discrimination, as well as the pressures of nursing school, and graduated with a nursing degree. She helped to open the door for the black race that wanted to become a professional nurse and put an end to the discrimination.Susie King Taylor was born a slave in 1848 on the Grest family farm in Georgia. When Susie was seven years old her owner, Mr. Grest, captureed her to move to Savannah with her granni e who had been previously freed by him, (MacLean, 2007). Susie was denied education because she was black , however, her Grandmother would not let this stop her from becoming educated. Susie was move next door to the neighbor who taught her how to read and compose for the next two years, and after she learned this, she was sent to a few other people to become educated.At 14 years old, Susie was taken by boat by Union Soldiers to St. Simons Island. Here she met her future husband, Edward King, an army sergeant. She worked with the First Regiment of southeastern Carolina Volunteers, which was made up of slaves, who had been freed by the Union Army. Susie was asked to start a school for children on St. Simons Island, and she volitionally agreed. Susie taught about forty children, and she also taught adults at night. (MacLean, 2007).In 1863, Susie traveled with her husbands regiment. She became the first black nurse during the Civil War, and helped to care for wounded soldiers. Duri ng her off hours she taught the soldiers how to read and write, and also cooked and laundered for them. She wrote in her diary about the nursing shortages during the war, and was happy to provide nursing care to the sick soldiers. She continued to serve as a nurse until the war ended in 1865. (MacLean, 2007).When the war was over, her and her husband go to Savannah, Georgie. In 1866 she opened a school for freed black children. Shortly after the school opened, and Susie gave birth to her son, her husband Edward King passed away. In the 1870s, Susie moved to Boston and remarried nine years later. She also joined and became chairwoman of the Womens Relief Corps, which was an association for the Veterans of the Civil War.After being asked by the Womens Relief Corps, as well as the Army, she agreed to write an autobiography about her experiences during the war. In 1902, Susie King Taylor published her autobiography, Reminiscneces of my Life in Camp A Black Womans Civil War Memoirs, (Ma cLean, 2007). In 1902, Susie throwd a letter from the commanding policeman in the First South Carolina volunteers stating, I most sincerely regret that through a technicality you are barred from having your name placed on the roll of pensioners, as an Army nurse for among all the number of heroic women whom the government is now rewarding, I know of no one more merit than yourself, (MacLean, 2007).Adah Thoms was born in 1870 in Richmond, Virginia. Before she pursued a nursing career, she attended school canvass elocution and speech at Cooper Union. Shorty after, she attended the Womens Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage and graduated in 1900. She was the only black woman of thirty students, (White, 2010). She also attended the Lincoln Hospital and kinsperson School of nursing. After graduating she became assistant superintendent of nurses at the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing for eighteen years. During her years there, she added another course to the nur sing curriculum, public health, and made public health a recognized line of nursing, (White, 2010).Adah Thoms helped with Martha Franklin, and Mary Mahoney to organize the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses, and was appointed as its first treasurer, and was later president of the organization for seven years. She was also very dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for black nurses, and worked herculean to try and achieve these rights. Thoms worked with the chairmen of the American Red mishandle to convince the Surgeon General to allow black nurses to enroll in the Army Nurse Corps, (White, 2010). Black women would enlist to try and serve as nurses during World War I, however the Surgeon General refused to let any black nurses serve. Eighteen black women were eventually accepted to serve as nurses during WWI due to the nursing shortages, and were only allowed to provide care to black soldiers. (White, 2010).Thoms was recognized for her dedication to obtaining equ al rights for black nurses. She added to the nursing curriculum, served in the NAGCN as treasurer and president, worked with the Red Cross to campaign for equal rights of black nurses, and opened the door for nurses to serve in the military. For her bravery and commitment, she was the first to receive the Mary Mahoney award when it was established in 1936, and was also inducted into the American Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976, (White, 2010)Mabel Keaton Staupers was born in 1890, in Barbados. In 1903 she moved with her family to the United States, and made a home in Harlem. She graduated from Freedmans Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC in 1917, and began her nursing career as a private duty nurse. In 1920, she collaborated with Dr. Louis T. Wright, and Dr. James Wilson, to organize the Booker T. Washington Sanatorium, which was the first facility in Harlem where black doctors could treat black patients, (American Nurses Association, 2010). In 1922 she was assigned to create a muckle for the Harlem area for the health needs of the community. With the results of this survey, the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association was organized, and Mabel Staupers was the first Executive Secretary, and kept this position for the next twelve years, (American Nurses Association, 2010).In 1934, Mabel was appointed as the first nurse executive of the NACGN. During this time she began a campaign for nurses to gain integration into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps, and by 1941 black nurses were allowed into the Army, but not with entire integration, and the US navy continued to prevent black nurses from enrolling. Staupers gained the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, who was first lady at the time, and wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt to recognize black nurses. With support from the public, the Army and Navy both accepted black nurses by January, 1945, (American Nurses Association, 2010).Mabel Staupers is recognized for ending the discrimination of colored nurses, and allowing the colored nurses full-of-the-moon integration into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps. She was appointed president of the NACGN in 1949, and the association voted itself out in 1951, and merged with the American Nurses Association after their goal of full professional integration had been met. In 1951, Staupers was given the award for the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and published an autobiography in 1961 called, No Time for Prejudice A Story of the Integration of Negroes in Nursing in the United States, (American Nurses Association, 2010).The first school of nursing for blacks was formed in 1891 in Chicago Illinois, (Provident Hospital History, 2010). Emma Reynolds was a young black women trying to gain an education to pursue a career in nursing. She applied to nursing schools in Chicago, and had been denied by everyone, for the simple fact that she was a black woman. Her sidekick was Reverend Louis Reynolds, who felt t hat something should be done so that black women could be educated in nursing. He sought help from a respected black surgeon in Chicago, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. The two of them gained support from their community, many blacks, and a few white citizens. They were given donations of supplies, equipment, and financial support. The Armour Meat Packing follow had secured a down payment on a three story brick house with twelve beds, that they off into the first school of nursing for blacks, Provident Hospital, (Provident Hospital History, 2010).Many black nurses have made storey as they were struggling for equal rights for their profession. During this struggle, the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was formed in 1908, (Massey, 1993). The founder of this association was Martha Franklin, with cofounders Mary Eliza Mahoney, and Adah Thoms. This association was founded to fight discrimination towards black people who wanted an education in nursing, as well as being a part o f the American Nurses Association.The association fought long and hard for their rights as equals, and led campaigns across the United States. One of its biggest achievements was successfully fighting for full integration of black nurses into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps. After black nurses were allowed to serve in the US Army and Navy, they were also allowed full integration into the ANA. After this association gained their right to become educated in nursing, be a part of the nurses in the US Army and Navy, and join the ANA, they voted their selves out and merged with the American Nurses Association in 1951, (Massey, 1993).The black population in the 1800s were not given equal rights as the white population. They were denied many rights, and education was one of them. Many brave women struggled to fight to put an end to discrimination, and to be able to pursue a career in the field that they loved, nursing. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, however they made it happened. These women opened the doors for other black people who wanted to become a professional nurse, and because of them all minorities are now welcome into the field of nursing.