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The Army Nurse Corps was founded in 1901, but African American nurses were not allowed to join until 1918. In World War II, women served closer to the front lines than ever, and the demand for people opened new social and economic doors: for the first time, women in the U.S. military got officer rank and status, equal pay and full retirement benefits. More than 59,000 nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps. Only 479 of them were Black.
The surgical ward of the 268th Station Hospital, 1944. National Archives
A quota
| Year | Black nurses allowed |
|---|---|
| 1941 | 56 |
| 1943 | 160 |
| 1944 | quota dropped, under political pressure and public criticism |
By the end of the war, Black nurses were still only 0.8% of the Army Nurse Corps.
Where they served
Black nurses supported five overseas units — the 25th, 168th, 268th, 335th and 383rd Station Hospitals.
| Unit | Where | Story |
|---|---|---|
| 25th Station Hospital | Monrovia, Liberia | 30 Black nurses. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, "The unit went to Liberia in 1943 to care for U.S. troops protecting strategic airfields and rubber plantations. Malaria was the most serious health problem the troops encountered." After eight months, the whole unit came home — every medical worker was sick with malaria or its after-effects |
| 335th and 383rd Station Hospitals | near Tagap, Burma | nurses who recovered from malaria cared for Black soldiers building the Ledo Road, a major supply route between India and China later renamed the Stilwell Road |
| 168th Station Hospital | England | 63 Black nurses, caring for German prisoners of war |
| 268th Station Hospital | the South Pacific | a group of 15 nurses |
Worse at home
Black nurses stationed in the United States faced even more discrimination than those overseas. They were allowed to treat only Black soldiers and German POWs — and many weren't needed at POW hospitals, because German prisoners generally arrived in good health after crossing the Atlantic. Meanwhile, as the war entered its final year, the number of wounded servicemen soared.
Despite it all, the nurses of the all-Black units persevered and made a difference; the Army Nurse Corps as a whole helped save countless lives.
Further reading
- Darlene Clark Hine, Black Women in White: Racial Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession, 1890–1950 (Indiana University Press, 1989)
- Maureen Honey, Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II (University of Missouri Press, 1999)
- Charissa J. Threat, Nursing Civil Rights: Gender and Race in the Army Nurse Corps (University of Illinois Press, 2015)
- Barbara Brooks Tomblin, G.I. Nightingales: The Army Nurse Corps in World War II (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
Sources
Based on "African American Army Nurses in World War II," National Park Service, Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The U.S. Army Center of Military History is quoted as the article gives it. Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
В изданияхCharles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
Лицензия: CC0 1.0 (общественное достояние) · По материалам www.nps.gov
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