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Black Nurses in History
A Bibliography and Guide to Web Resources
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The nursing literature is rich with information on the history of Black nurses and their struggle for equality in the profession. We invite you to learn their story and to visit some web sites that pay tribute to their hard work and courage. For more information on nursing history, you may want to visit the American Association for the History of Nursing or Dianne Brownson's nursing history links
Mamie O. Hale MaryEliza Mahoney  Jessie Sleet Scales
Mary Seacole Mabel Keaton Staupers Susie King Taylor
Sojourner Truth  Harriet Tubman

"African American nurses significant in state's nursing history." Michigan Nurse. 67(2):6-7, 1994. 

Booth J. "Mississippi's granny midwives: pre and post civil wars." Mississippi RN. 55(6):20-2, 1993. 

Brewman, MP. "The Negro Nurse." The Nation. 175(8):160, 1952. 

Buhler-Wilkerson K. "Caring in its "proper place": race and benevolence in Charleston, SC, 1813-1930." Nursing Research. 41(1):14-20, 1992. 

Campinha-Bacote J. "The Black nurses' struggle toward equality: an historical account of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses." Journal of National Black Nurses Association. 2(2):15-25, 1988. 

Carnegie ME. "Black nurses in the United States: 1879-1992." Journal of National Black Nurses Association. 6(1):13-8, 1992. 

Carnegie ME. "Blacks in nursing: an update." American Nurse. 22(2):6, 1990. 

Carnegie ME. The path we tread : blacks in nursing worldwide, 1854-1994.3rd ed. New York: National League for Nursing Press, 1995. 

Davis AT. Early Black American leaders in nursing: architects for integration and equality.   (National League for Nursing Series) Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Pub, 1999.

Elmore JA. "Black nurses: their service and their struggle." American Journal of Nursing. 76(3):435-7, 1976. 

George VD, Bradford DM, and Battle A.  "Yesterday, today, & tomorrow: transitioning through time with the Cleveland Council of Black Nurses."  Nursing & Health Care Perspectives,  21(5):219-27, 2000.

Goldstein, RL. "Negro Nurses in Hospitals." American Journal of Nursing. 60(2):215-217, 1960. 

Holt, R. "Brown Women in White." Negro Digest. 3(2):9-13, 1944. 

House K.  "Nurses of color -- a legacy of healing."  Nursing Spectrum (Greater Chicago/NE Illinois & NW Indiana Edition). 10(24):10, 1997 & Washington, Dc/Baltimore Metro Edition).  7(17):12-4, 1997.

Inman K.  "Care in a cold climate." Nursing Times. 94(16):18-9, 1998.

Jones, E. "The Negro Woman in the Nursing Profession." The Messenger. 5(7):764-765, 1923. 

Mosley MOP. "Beginning at the beginning: a history of the professionalization of black nurses in America, 1908-1951." Journal of Cultural Diversity. 2(4):101-9, 1995. 

Mosley MOP. "Despite all odds: a three-part history of the professionalization of Black nurses through two professional nursing organizations, 1908-1955." Journal of National Black Nurses Association. 7(2):10-20, 1995. 

Mosley MOP. "A new beginning: the story of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, 1908-1951" Journal of National Black Nurses Association. 8(1):20-32, 1996. 

Mosley MOP. "Satisfied to carry the bag: three black community health nurses' contributions to health care reform, 1900-1937." Nursing History Review. 4:65-82, 1996. 

"The Negro Nurse." Opportunity. 15(11):325, 1937. 

Pollitt P and Reese CN.  "The North Carolina Association of Colored Graduate Nurses: a proud heritage."  ABNF Journal. 8(2):32-4, 1997.

Pollitt P and Reese CN.  "St. Agnes School of Nursing: a legacy of hope."  ABNF Journal,  11(1):3-6, 2000.

Smith SL. "White nurses, black midwives, and public health in Mississippi, 1920-1950." Nursing History Review. 2:29-49, 1994. 

Staupers, MK. "The Negro Nurse." Opportunity. 20(11):pp.332-333,352, 1942. 

Staupers, MK. "The Negro Nurse in America." Opportunity. 15(11):339-341, 1937. 

Staupers, MK. No Time for Prejudice: A Story of the Integration of Negroes in Nursing in the United States. New York: MacMillan, 1961. 

Torsch VL. "Oklahoma's pioneer black nurses." Oklahoma Nurse. 37(4):4, 1992. 

Tucker-Allen S.  "The founding of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty: my memories of the first five years."  ABNF Journal. 8(4):73-80, 1997.

Washington BT.  "Looking through the years: 1910. Training colored nurses at Tuskegee..." American Journal of Nursing, December 1910, 11:3 pp. 167-171 reprinted by permission. Creative Nursing: a Journal of Values, Issues, Experience & Collaboration. 3(1):16, 1997.

Wilkins, Roy. "Black Women in White." The Negro Digest. 1(6):61-63, 1943. 

Mamie O. Hale

Bell PL. ""Making do" with the midwife: Arkansas's Mamie O. Hale in the 1940s." Nursing History Review. 1:155-69, 1993. 

More about Mamie O. Hale

Mamie Odessa Hale (1911–1968?) (The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture)

Mary Eliza Mahoney

Chayer, ME. "Mary Eliza Mahoney." American Journal of Nursing. 54(4):429-431, 1954. 

Doona ME. "Glimpses of Mary Eliza Mahoney (7 May 1845 -- 4 January 1929)."  Journal of Nursing History. 1(2):20-34, 1986. 

Doona ME. "Mary Eliza Mahoney... Nursing History Society." Massachusetts Nurse. 62(8):4-5, 1992.  

More about Mary Eliza Mahoney
Jessie Sleet Scales 

Mosley MOP. "Jessie Sleet Scales: first Black public health nurse." ABNF Journal. 5(2):45-51, 1994. 

Mary Seacole

Alexander, Ziggi, and Audrey Dewjee. "Mary Seacole." History Today. 31:45, Sept. 1981. 

Crawford P. "The other lady with the lamp... nursing legacy of Mary Seacole." Nursing Times. 88(11):56-8, 1992. 

Gustafson M. "Mary Seacole, the Florence Nightingale of Jamaica."  Christian Nurse International. 12(4):9, 1996.

King, A. "Mary Seacole, Part I: A Matter of Life." Essence. 4(11):32, 1974. 

King, A. "Mary Seacole, Part II: The Crimea." Essence. 4(12):68,94, 1974. 

Messmer PR & Parchment Y.  "Mary Grant Seacole: the first nurse practitioner." Clinical Excellence for Nurse Practitioners. 2(1):47-51, 1998.

Payne D.  "Face to face... Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole battle it out face to face." Nursing Times. 95(19):26-7, 1999.

Salvage J.  "Speaking out... Florence Nightingale... Mary Seacole."  Nursing Times. 95(19):20, 1999

Smith, JP. "Mary Jane Seacole 1805-1881: a black British nurse." Journal of Advanced Nursing. 9(5):427-428, 1984. 

Watson, C. "Hidden from history... Mary Seacole, the black nurse famous in her day for her work in the Crimea." Nursing Times. 80(41):16-17, 1984. 

More about Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole (1805-1881) (BBC)
Mary Seacole, 1805-1881 (Thames Valley University)

Mabel Keaton Staupers

"Mabel Staupers, who led battle to end prejudice, dies at 99." American Journal of Nursing. 90(2):121, 1990. 

Mosley MOP. "Mabel K. Staupers: a pioneer in professional nursing." N & HC Perspectives on Community. 16(1):12-7, 1995. 

Staupers MK. No time for prejudice: A history of the integration of Negro nursing in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1961.

More about Mabel Keaton Staupers

 

Susie King Taylor
Fleming, John E. "Susie King Taylor." In: Logan, Rayford W. and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro biography. New York: Norton, 1982, pp.581-582. 

More about Susie King Taylor

Sojourner Truth

Davis AT. "Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman: sources of inspiration." ABNF Newsletter. 9(1):1-2, 1995. 

More about Sojourner Truth

Ain't I A Woman? by Sojourner Truth
Honoring Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth, by Alberto, Third Grade (Children's Encyclopedia of Women)
The Narrative of Sojourner Truth 
The Sojourner Truth Page
Harriet Tubman

Bradford, Sarah Elizabeth Hopkins. Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People. Seacaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1974. (Reprint of the 1886 edition of Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman.) 

Conrad, Earl. Harriet Tubman. New York: Eriksson, 1969. 

Davis AT. "Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman: sources of inspiration." ABNF Newsletter. 9(1):1-2, 1995. 

More about Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman, by Jeanine, third grade (Children's Encyclopedia of Women)
Harriet Tubman, by Briana, third grade (Children's Encyclopedia of Women)
Harriet Tubman, by Anthony, fourth grade (Children's Encyclopedia of Women)
Harriet Tubman, by Danny, fourth grade (Children's Encyclopedia of Women)
Harriet Tubman (The National Library of Canada)
Harriet Tubman (Spectrum Biographies)
The Harriet Tubman Historical Society

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