Trailblazer Mary Mahoney, R N: Nurse Leader and Pioneer of Equality - (955 hits)
In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to focus on pioneer Mary Eliza Mahoney (May 7, 1845 – January 4, 1926). She is the first black woman to study and work as a professionally-trained nurse in the United States.
Mary Mahoney worked for 15 years as a maid, washerwoman, janitor, and cook at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Roxbury, Massachusetts, before she was allowed to enroll in nursing school at the age of 33. In 1879, out of 42 students who started the program with her, Mahoney was one of only four to complete the extremely difficult practicum.
In the past, only one African-American student and one Jewish student could be enrolled in the rigorous training class at a time. Her graduation changed the face of nursing education at the institution.
Mahoney then recognized the need for nurses to work together to improve the status of blacks in the nursing profession. She co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) with Adah Belle Samuels Thoms and Martha Franklin in 1908.
