Black nurses did not just participate in American nursing history. They helped build it. From Mary Eliza Mahoney, widely recognized as the first licensed African American nurse in the United States, to Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, the first Black chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, these leaders widened access to nursing education, military service, professional leadership, and patient care. Their stories matter not only during Black History Month, but anytime nursing students want to understand how the profession changed and who pushed it forward.
This history is still relevant now. The nursing workforce is more diverse than it used to be, but representation gaps remain. The 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey found that Black or African American nurses made up 8.6% of the U.S. RN workforce in 2024, and the report states that nurses from historically marginalized communities still remain underrepresented relative to the nation’s population. That makes the work of earlier Black nurse pioneers more than historical background. It is part of an unfinished story about access, leadership, and equity in nursing.
1. Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845–1926)
Mary Eliza Mahoney is widely recognized as the first licensed African American nurse in the United States. She graduated in 1879 from the New England Hospital for Women and Children, at a time when formal nursing education largely excluded Black women. The National Park Service notes that nursing was seen as a profession for white middle-class women, and Black Americans were often shut out of mainstream training and practice. Mahoney’s achievement mattered because it challenged the idea that professional nursing should be closed to Black women.
Mahoney’s importance goes beyond being “first.” She also helped lay the groundwork for collective action by Black nurses. The National Park Service notes that she helped found the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in 1908 as part of a broader effort to improve the standing of African American nurses. Her legacy still matters because she showed that excellence alone was not enough; the profession also had to confront exclusion directly.
2. Martha Minerva Franklin (1870–1968)
Martha Minerva Franklin turned frustration with discrimination into organized professional action. Born in New Milford, Connecticut, in 1870, she graduated in 1897 from the Women’s Hospital Training School for Nurses in Philadelphia as the only Black graduate in her class. After returning to Connecticut, she found that many hospitals still would not hire Black nurses, even when they met the same training standards as white nurses.
Franklin responded by studying the problem systematically. According to Connecticut History and the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, she spent two years investigating discrimination in nursing, then mailed about 1,500 handwritten letters in 1908 to Black nurses across the country. That effort led to a meeting of 52 Black nurses on August 25, 1908, where the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was formed and Franklin was unanimously elected its first president. Her legacy matters because she turned isolated frustration into national organization. Nursing students can learn from her that professional change often starts with research, coalition-building, and persistence.
3. Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (1870–1943)
Adah Belle Samuels Thoms was one of the most important bridge figures between bedside nursing, nursing leadership, and civil rights advocacy. ANA describes her as a crusader for equal opportunity for Black nurses, while the National Park Service places her in the larger push that fought to open wartime service to African American nurses. Thoms helped lead efforts to challenge the barriers that kept Black nurses out of organizations like the American Red Cross and the Army Nurse Corps during World War I.
Her legacy matters because she made professional visibility part of the fight for equal treatment. The gains Black nurses made during and after World War I did not happen automatically. They came from pressure, leadership, and public advocacy. For nursing students today, Thoms is a reminder that leadership in nursing is not limited to hospitals or classrooms. It also includes fighting for fair access to the profession itself.
4. Estelle Massey Osborne (1901–1981)
Estelle Massey Osborne helped change who could teach, lead, and advance in nursing education. ANA identifies her as the first Black nurse in the United States to earn a master’s degree, and notes that in 1945 she became the first Black instructor at New York University. NYU also describes her as a trailblazing nurse administrator and educator who rose at a time when racial lines prevented most African American women from holding top positions in the profession.
Osborne’s legacy still matters because nursing education shapes the future workforce. It is one thing to enter the profession. It is another to influence how future nurses are trained. Her career showed that representation in faculty and leadership roles matters, not just representation in entry-level positions. For students today, Osborne stands for academic excellence, professional advancement, and the long fight to desegregate opportunity in nursing education.
5. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown (1927–2011)
Hazel W. Johnson-Brown represents a later chapter in this history: not just entry into nursing, but national leadership. The National Museum of the United States Army says she was rejected by the West Chester School of Nursing because of her race, then trained at Harlem Hospital School of Nursing and went on to become the first Black female general in the U.S. Army and the first Black chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in 1979.
That distinction matters. Johnson-Brown was not the first Black nurse admitted to the Army Nurse Corps; Della H. Raney holds that distinction in 1941. Johnson-Brown’s milestone was different and just as significant: she became the first Black leader of the Army Nurse Corps and used that position to improve recruitment, standards, and opportunity. The museum notes that she developed scholarships and ROTC-related initiatives to increase diversified enrollment. Her legacy matters because it shows what happens when Black nurses move from being excluded by institutions to leading them.
Why this history still matters to nursing students now
These pioneers faced different barriers, but the pattern is clear. Mahoney broke through formal exclusion from training. Franklin organized nationally against discrimination. Thoms fought for wartime access and professional recognition. Osborne changed who could lead in nursing education. Johnson-Brown reached the highest levels of military nursing leadership. Together, they show that Black nursing history is not a side story in American nursing. It is part of the profession’s core history.
That also connects directly to the present. The National Black Nurses Association says its founding in 1971 marked a major milestone in Black nursing history, and its official history traces that founding to a meeting in Cleveland led by nurses including Dr. Lauranne Sams, Betty Smith Williams, and Dr. Mary Harper. More than fifty years later, the need for representation and advocacy has not disappeared. The latest workforce data show progress, but they also show that underrepresentation remains.
Short chronology of Black nursing milestones
- 1879: Mary Eliza Mahoney graduates and becomes widely recognized as the first licensed African American nurse in the United States.
- 1908: Martha Minerva Franklin and other Black nurses form the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, with Franklin elected as the first president.
- 1918: After persistent advocacy and wartime need during the influenza pandemic, a small number of Black nurses are finally allowed to serve through the Army Nurse Corps and the American Red Cross.
- 1941: Della H. Raney becomes the first African American nurse accepted into the Army Nurse Corps.
- 1945: Estelle Massey Osborne becomes the first Black instructor at New York University.
- 1971: The National Black Nurses Association is founded in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1979: Hazel W. Johnson-Brown becomes the first Black chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and the first Black female general in the Army.
FAQ
Who was the first Black nurse in the United States?
Mary Eliza Mahoney is widely recognized as the first licensed African American nurse in the United States. That wording matters because Black women worked in caregiving roles before formal licensure systems opened to them, but Mahoney is the landmark figure in professional nursing history.
Who founded the National Black Nurses Association?
According to NBNA’s official history, the National Black Nurses Association was founded in 1971 at a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. The organization’s history names participants including Dr. Lauranne Sams, Betty Smith Williams, Gertrude Baker, and Dr. Mary Harper.
Was the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses the same as NBNA?
No. The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was founded in 1908 to fight discrimination against Black nurses and later merged with the American Nurses Association in 1951. NBNA was founded much later, in 1971, as a separate national organization for Black nurses.
Who was the first Black nurse admitted to the Army Nurse Corps?
Della H. Raney was the first African American nurse accepted into the Army Nurse Corps in 1941. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown’s later milestone was different: she became the first Black chief of the Army Nurse Corps and the first Black female general in the U.S. Army.
Why should nursing students learn this history?
Because nursing history is also the history of who was allowed to study, serve, lead, and be recognized. These pioneers changed access to education, military service, and professional leadership, and current workforce data show that representation and equity are still active issues in nursing today.
