African American History Month

New York

nurse special edition | February 2019

the official publication of the new york state nurses association

African American History Month Philadelphia’s Mercy Hospital Nursing Staff, circa 1940s

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New York Nurse february 2019

African American

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here is no American History without African American History. The month of February is celebrated as African American Month, or sometimes as Black History Month, to recognize the important contributions that African American people have made to our nation. It is also a time to reflect on the progress we have made as a people towards the American promise of equal rights.

Because NYSNA is a union, we are especially proud of the role that the labor movement played in the struggle for equal rights. Because NYSNA is a union of nurses, we are also proud of the historic and heroic contributions of African American nurses in the history of nursing, healthcare, and our nation.

Civil Rights and Labor Rights

A Sojourner Truth

Healthcare justice The health of African Americans still lags behind the health of whites in America: from access to healthcare, to the quality of medical care, to health outcomes such as the number and seriousness of diseases and deaths. In 2017, Serena Williams, a worldrenowned tennis champion, endured life-threatening complications after giving birth. She developed serious complications, but her pain and concerns were at first dismissed by her healthcare team, which led to further complications.

Tens of thousands of women face dangerous or life-threatening, pregnancyrelated complications each year, but black women are three to four times as likely as white women to die from such complications.

This inequality in health outcomes is called a health disparity.

One of the founding documents of our country is the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal rights for all under the law—also known as civil rights. However, when the Constitution was first written, we know that the law did not treat everyone equally—there was still slavery. When the mass movement of slaves, freed African Americans, and other abolitionists won an end to slavery, it did not end the unequal treatment of African Americans. There were still institutions, laws, and practices that discriminated against African Americans. As a result, by the 1960s, even with some social progress, African Americans still had lower incomes, less wealth, and poorer housing, education and health than white Americans. That’s when a period of intense organizing and mobilizing took place to change things—the Civil Rights Movement.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The Civil Rights Movement had many great organizers and leaders, including the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization dedicated to advancing civil rights for African Americans in Georgia, the south, and all over America.

Dr. King was a main organizer for the historic March on Washington, along with leaders from the Labor Movement like Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers, A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly AfricanAmerican labor union, and Bayard Rustin of the AFL– CIO’s A. Philip Randolph Institute. It was at this march where approximately 250,000 people called for racial and economic justice that Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

African American nurses make history The Civil War was a training ground for African American nurses. In struggling for their freedom from slavery, black women took up the fight, and were instrumental in nursing soldiers to health. Black women born into slavery who became nurses during this time included Sojourner Truth (1791-1883) A and Harriet Tubman (18221913), B both abolitionists.

Tubman played an important role in the Underground Railroad.

Susie Baker King Taylor (18481912), liberated by Union troops in 1862, turned to nursing sick and wounded soldiers, as well.

She went on to become president of the Woman’s Relief Corps, a veteran’s association.

Martin Luther King Jr. (second fro

n History Month Ending health disparities Research shows that chronic stress from encountering discrimination affects the health of black women of all economic groups—even athletic stars like Ms. Williams. This can be compounded by poor access to pre- and postnatal care, inadequate medical treatment in the years preceding childbirth, and the challenge of getting healthcare professionals to listen carefully to what they say.

“We have seen some remarkable improvements in death rates for the black population in the past 17 years,” wrote Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA, associate director of CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity. “Important gaps are narrowing…. However, we still have a long way to go. Early interventions can lead to longer, healthier lives. In particular, diagnosing and treating the leading diseases that cause death at earlier stages is an important step for saving lives.”

NYSNA nurses have made historic contributions to community health and are committed to ending healthcare disparities and guaranteeing quality healthcare for all.

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om right) at the Memphis strike

NEW YORK NURSE

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February 2019

Trailblazing African American nurses

B Harriet Tubman

African American nurses advance Born in Barbados, Mabel Keaton Staupers (18901989) was a major force in battling tuberculosis, a scourge on the black community. She became executive secretary of the Harlem Tuberculosis Committee. During World War II, Staupers campaigned to improve the status of African American nurses, meeting with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended racial enlistment restrictions for Army nurses.

Brig. Gen. Hazel Johnson-Brown, RN, PhD (19282011), E joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1955 and went on to oversee nursing operations at hundreds of Army medical centers, community hospitals and clinics.

The daughter of a tomato grower, Brown was originally rejected for nursing school because of her race. It is said that school authorities informed her, “We’ve never had a black person in our program and we never will.”

Brown didn’t let that stop her. She went on to become the first black woman to become a general in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Booker T. Washington established a two-year nursing program at Tuskegee University in Alabama in 1892.

In 1948, the School of Nursing’s new dean, Lillian Holland Harvey, RN, EdD (1912-1950), started Tuskegee University’s baccalaureate nursing program. Its first graduating class took their degrees in 1953.

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During a period of intense inequality and segregation, African American women were breaking barriers. Mary Elizabeth Mahoney (18451926) D was the first black woman to work as a professionally trained nurse in the U.S. She graduated from the nursing program of the New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1905. Mahoney was joined by Adah B. Thoms (1870-1943) and Martha Franklin, RN (18701968) in founding the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in 1908. Franklin was renowned as a crusader for the integration of black nurses. Thoms spent 18 years as assistant superintendent of nurses and acting director of Lincoln Hospital, but was denied the directorship due to her race. Still, the number of African American nurses doubled between 1910-1930.

In 1900, Jesse Sleet Scales became the nation’s first black public health nurse.

From tuberculosis in New York City’s African American community to childbirth, chicken pox, heart disease and cancer, her crusading efforts expanded the breadth of public health for the black population.

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African American history The Memphis Sanitation Strike

D Mary Elizabeth Mahoney

Many people do not realize that when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, he was in Memphis, Tennessee supporting striking sanitation workers. The Memphis sanitation strike of February 1968 served as a rallying cry against inequality in the workplace. On February 1, two Memphis garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. Their deaths were the result of a long pattern of employer neglect and abuse of black employees. On February 11, over 700 attended a union meeting and voted—unanimously—to strike.

On the 13th, 1,300 African American men went on strike outside the Memphis Department of Public Works. They wore signs that read “I am a man.” C The struggle for a union

The sanitation workers, led by a dynamic organizer from their ranks, T.O. Jones, drew support from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 1733, demanding union recognition, better safety standards and decent wages.

The workers were up against Mayor Henry Loeb, who was determined to fight the union and keep black workers on the job in terrible, unsafe working conditions and low wages. In fact, these sanitation workers earned wages so low that many were on welfare and hundreds relied on food stamps to feed their families.

Support for the Memphis sanitation workers grew. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),

E Hazel Johnson-Brown

the largest civil rights organization at that time, passed a resolution in support.

Dr. King's Heroism

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived on the scene on March 18, to address a crowd of 25,000—the largest indoor gathering the civil rights movement had ever seen. Addressing the crowd of labor and civil rights activists and members of the powerful black church, King praised the group’s unity. “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down.”

His words moved the sanitation workers and their supporters, but they did not move the Mayor. The Mayor ordered the mostly white police force to brutalize striking workers and other protestors.

On April 3, Dr. King returned to Memphis to lend his voice to the cause. The next day, we was shot and killed.

On April 8, more than 40,000 people led by his widow and including movement and union leaders marched silently through the city. AFSCME pledged support until “we have justice.”

The union was recognized and a deal was reached on April 16.

Dr. King’s legacy lives on in the continued struggle for greater fairness and justice for all. His life and work is celebrated every year in January.

The fight for the reopening of Labor & Delivery care at North Central Bronx Hospital, which largely serves African American and immigrant patients, was spearheaded by NYSNA. It was a major win for the community in 2014 when the reopening was announced. NYC Public Advocate Letitia James (holding the stroller) was a strong voice in the campaign.

In 2018, Letitia James was elected Attorney General of New York, making history as the first African American and the first woman to hold the position.