#nursing history
Original caption: “arriving in Australia, the first Negro nurses to reach these shores try bicycle riding near their quarters in Camp Columbia, Wacol, Brisbane.” 2nd Lts: L-R: Beulah Baldwin, Alberta Smith, and Joan Hamilton. 11/29/1943. NARA ID 178140880.
“First Negro WAVES to enter the Hospital Corps School at Nat'l Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD.” L-R Ruth C. Isaacs, Katherine Horton and Inez Patterson. 3/2/1945. NARA ID 520634.
BLACK (military) NURSES ROCK!
By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs
ForNational Nurses Day we highlight Black nurses who served with courage and distinction in WWII.
“In the European Theater… are the first units of Negro nurses and WACS to go overseas… They are described by their Commanding Officer as being the equals of any nurses in the area…”—Truman Gibson, Jr, chief adviser on racial affairs to Secretary of War Henry Stimson
Statement by Truman Gibson, Jr., Aide on Negro Affairs to Secretary of War Stimson, 4/9/1945. NARA ID 40019813 (full doc below). Gibson was the 1st Black awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit, for advocating for black soldiers during WWII.
Capt. Della H. Raney, Army Nurse Corps, head of nursing at hospital at Camp Beale, CA, “has the distinction of being the first Negro nurse to report to duty in the present war…” NARA ID 535942.
“American Negro nurses, commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps, limber up their muscles in an early-morning workout during an advanced training course at a camp in Australia. The nurses will be assigned to Allied hospitals in the southwest Pacific theater.” 2/1944. NARA ID 535782.
Commissioning ceremony: Phyllis Dailey, 2nd from right, became the 1st Black nurse in the Navy Nursing Corps 3/8/1945. NAID 520618.
See also:
- We honor WW2’s #InvisibleWarriors! Black Women in WWII
- Pictorial History of Black Women in the US Navy during World War II and Beyond, by Dr. Tina Ligon, Rediscovering Black History.
- The Closed Door of Justice: African American Nurses and the Fight for Naval Service, by Alicia Henneberry, The Text Message.
- Black Female WWII Unit Gets (Congressional) GOLD! WWII’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
- Their War Too: US Women in the Military During WWII, The Text Message
- Pictures of African Americans During World War II
- African American Women in the Military During WWII
- African American Activities in Industry, Government, and the Armed Forces, 1941-1945).
- African Americans and the War Industry by Alexis Hill, The Unwritten Record blog
- I too, am Rosie by Dr. Tina Ligon, Rediscovering Black History
- Women’s History Month and African American History National Archives News special topics pages.
- Mary McLeod Bethune to Return to Capitol Hill
Today is International Nurses Day!
Here at the UWM Archives, we want to wish all nurses a fantastic International Nurses Day! First celebrated in 1965, International Nurses Day falls on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The International Council of Nurses announced that this year’s theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - A vision for future healthcare. We are incredibly grateful for the hard work of all the nurses this past year!
The black and white photograph featured here shows a group portrait of Milwaukee County Hospital Nurses in 1939, with handwritten labels for Bertha Saunders, Minna Newhouse and Bessie Norstrant on the photograph.
This photograph can be found at the UWM Archives in box 1 of the Roman B.J. Kwasniewski Photographs as well as online in our Milwaukee Polonia Digital Collection.
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