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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Historically, African American nurses have had three strikes against them. They were Black, female and in a profession still striving for equality and respect within the medical community. The quest for respect and acceptance has been an uphill battle all the way, but fortunately things are moving in the right direction.
The history of nursing in America as taught in our schools usually begins with the story of Florence Nightingale and her assistants during the Crimean War. But women of all cultures have nursed the sick from time immemorial. Nursing was simply another aspect of family life. If by chance one became particularly adept at the task, word of these skills became known throughout the community and that person was called upon in special circumstances.
When I attended nursing school during the 1950's, the history and struggles of Black nurses were accorded a few pages, if any at all, in most texts. According to Althea Davis in her book, Early Black American Leaders in Nursing: 2
Nursing history as presented in the past taught only selected aspects of nursing history while excluding Black nursing leaders and Black nurses experience, as evidenced in nursing history texts. On rare occasions these texts included fleeting attention to or inaccurate information about Black nurses. But nurse historians and historians have begun to fill the void.
Over time as values changed and legislation was enacted, nursing texts began to include a broader and more enlightened scope of information about the Black nurse and her struggle for acceptance into the larger professional medical community.
Nevertheless, the history of Black nurses cannot be told in isolation, since cultural values of the time heavily impacted the struggle. In 1776, the statement by our founding fathers, "all men are created equal," did not apply to women. For most of the 19th century wives were considered little more than property. Women were considered unsuitable for intellectual pursuits, thus marriage and childbearing were deemed their primary function. Females of the time had few options, and were denied the right to vote until passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. 3
LEGISLATION AND BLACK AMERICANS
The Black population of slaves, however, had no rights at all. Indeed in the Dred-Scott decision...