Within 20 years that number would more than double. In 1910, the number of African-American nurses within the United States was about 2,400. She began a great wave of change for equality among nurses that continued to grow even after her death. After this speech Mary was elected to be association chaplain of NACGN and was given a lifetime membership.įor the next decade, Mahoney helped recruit nurses to join the NACGN and continued to advocate for quality nursing educations for African-Americans. In that speech, Mahoney passionately called out the inequalities in nursing education and called for demonstrations to have more African American students admitted to nursing school. She delivered the welcome address at that organization's first annual convention, in 1909. Mary received requests from patients as far away as New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina.īecause of the disparity between black nurses and their white counterparts, Mary Mahoney became involved in creating the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) in 1908. For the next thirty years she worked all over the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Her professionalism helped raise the status of all nurses. Families that employed Mahoney praised her calm and quiet efficiency. Never married, she often treated her patients like family. Mary Mahoney’s reputation for proficiency steadily grew as she began to receive many positive referrals from clients and patients. By 1899, they had graduated five other African-American nurses.Īfter graduation, Mary registered with the Nurses Directory at the Massachusetts Medical Library and began working as a private duty nurse. The course had begun with 42 entrants.īecause of her skill and dedication she opened the pathway for more African-American women to be admitted to the New England Hospital for Women and Children’s student nurse program despite the heated racism arguments that were present in many American nursing schools at this time. In the end, Mary would be one of only four student nurses who were able to graduate from the program in 1879.

It was a very strict and intense program lasting 16 months. At the age of 33, Mary was accepted as a student nurse in that same hospital.

At eighteen, she began working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children as a cook and cleaning -woman. Mary Mahoney was born on in the Dorchester section of Boston.

On AugMary Eliza Mahoney made nursing history by becoming the first African-American graduate nurse in the United States.

Facts about mary eliza mahoney