Despite all odds: a three-part history of the professionalization of black nurses through two professional nursing...

This is the first in a series of articles which highlight the professionalization of Black nurses through two Black nursing organizations during the twentieth century. The second and third articles will appear in forthcoming issues of the JNBNA. The first article provides background information which sets the stage by highlighting the reasons why a separate professional organization was needed. The reasons include the practice or tolerance of institutional racism by society and White professional nursing organizations, the promotion of inferior status for Black nurses by Whites, and the maintainance of exclusionary membership policies limiting Black nurses' admission to professional nursing organizations such as the NLNE and the ANA. The purpose of these articles is to document contributions of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (1908-1951, the first Black professional nursing organization recognized by the ANA and other White nursing organizations) and the National Black Nurses Association (1971-present). These two organizations advance the standards of nursing and develop leadership within the ranks of Black nurses. To accomplish this series, an historical method was used to identify political, social, and nursing events relevant to the development, growth, and establishment of the two Black nursing organizations. This investigation fills a void in the historiographies of professional nursing, Black studies, and women's studies.