Black nurses in the United States: 1879-1992

In the fall of 1991, while attending the Annual Convention of the New York State Nurses Association, a group of students who had heard me speak at their school recognized me in the audience. One of them blurted out, "That's Dr. Carnegie, the first Black nurse!" I was flattered by the recognition, but not by the designation. True, I have been in this world a long time but not that long. If Mary Mahoney, America's first Black nurse, had been alive in 1991, she would have been nearly 150 years old. This article focuses on the progress made by Black nurses in the 114 years from the time Mary Mahoney graduated from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, Massachusetts in 1879 to 1992 in the areas of education, employment, and organized nursing.