Unsung Heroes in History : Black Nurses during World War II
By Veronica R . Bucher
This article won first place in the 2021 American Association for the History of Nursing ( AAHN ) Essay Contest . To learn more , visit :
www . aahn . org
On a summer day in 1944 , 63 nurses from the United States Army Nurse Corps ( ANC ) disembarked at a seaport in England . It was in the midst of World War II and the first time that a Black nursing unit had been deployed to Europe . The nurses were destined for the 168th Station Hospital near Warrington ( Warrington Museum & Art Gallery [ WMAG ], 2019 ). As the uniformed women huddled together , they were greeted by Brigadier General Benjamin O ’ Davis , the first Black General to serve in the U . S . Army ( U . S . Army Center of Military History , 2021 ). O ’ Davis welcomed the women , each bearing a white armband with a small red cross . She told them , “ You are the first colored nurses to come to this area . I know that you are going to live up to all of the tradition of your noble profession and the American people expect great of you ,” ( Potter & De Meo , 2002 ). Though it was not explicitly stated , everyone on the platform knew that it had taken much more than an Army ship crossing to bring these nurses to England .
At the onset of U . S . entry into the war , especially after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor , Americans from all professions and backgrounds were inspired to serve their country . Thousands of Black nurses from all over the United States patriotically applied for nursing positions within the ANC ( Clark , 2019 ). What these applicants did not know was that , despite the high demand for nurses , the ANC would deny every single application with a letter stating that there were “ no provisions in Army regulations for the appointment of colored nurses ” ( WMAG , 2019 ). During World War I , the American Nurses Association ( ANA ) membership and exclusionary training facility requirements indirectly barred Black nurses from service ( National Women ’ s History Museum [ NWHM ], 2019 ). This time , the exclusion was more direct .
In the face of systemic discrimination , nurses from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses ( NACGN ) fought for equal treatment and their right to serve . The NACGN was the Black nurses ’ answer to the ANA because , at that time , the ANA did not offer membership to Black nurses ( African American Registry [ AAREG ], 2020 ). NACGN Executive Secretary Mabel Keaton Staupers , alongside President Estelle Masse Riddle , fought tenaciously for the elimination of the ANC ’ s discriminatory requirements ( AAREG , 2020 ). As a result of these nurses ’ diligent organizing and advocating , the War Department finally began accepting Black nurses in 1940 ( Encyclopaedia Britannica , 2020 ).
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