Jessie Sleet Scales: first black public health nurse

The purpose of this historical study was to document the contributions of Jessie Sleet Scales, a Black public health nurse pioneer who contributed to the development, growth and practice of public health nursing in New York City during the early twentieth century. The significance of this investigation was based on a search for a more complete and unbiased historiography of Black nurses serving in New York City communities. Historically, the investigation of Black women in the field of nursing as portrayed in general nursing history textbooks and nursing journals is a recent phenomenon, possibly because too few records documenting their work had been preserved. However, much of what survived which depicts Black nurses as contributory members of New York City's prestigious public health nursing service has largely gone unpublished. Additionally, the observed disparity between what has been presented about minority participation in the professional nursing literature and general history textbooks begged to be recorded. Therefore, it was significant to a more complete professional nursing historiography to research the health care contributions of Black nurses to New York City's public health development.