Mary Eliza Mahoney: First African-American to earn a professional nursing license
Mary Eliza Mahoney: First African-American to earn a professional nursing license
Born in Dorchester, Mass., in 1845, Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first child of Charles and Mary Jane Steward Mahoney. When Mary Eliza turned 18 years old, she made a major decision that seemed, at the time, more fantasy than reality. She decided to become a professional nurse.
With a name like Mary Mahoney one might conjure up a mental image of a red-haired, green-eyed woman with freckles across her nose, but Mary Mahoney wasn’t Irish, she was African-American and becoming a professional nurse was not something an African-American could accomplish in 1863.
The pursuit of a dream
Doggedly, Mary pursued her dream of a career in nursing and went to work at the progressive “New England Hospital for Women and Children.” Mary’s jobs were mostly menial: She worked as a “cook, janitor, washerwoman and an unofficial nurse's assistant,” according to distinguishedwomen.com.
After working diligently at the Roxbury, Mass., hospital for 15 years, her dedication, intelligence and natural nursing abilities were noticed and acknowledged and she was eventually accepted into the hospital's nursing school, the first professional nursing program in the United States.
Excellence in nursing
“Of the 42 students who started that year, Mahoney was one of just four who graduated the next year. The training required 12 months in the hospital's medical, surgical and maternity wards; lectures and instruction by doctors on the ward, as well as four months of work as a private-duty nurse,” according to a PBS biography.
Mahoney’s career
Her skills as a private-duty nurse were appreciated by the many patients she cared for; her calm demeanor, intelligence and work ethic combined with her compassionate heart made her a sought-after nurse for the rest of her life.
“Her professionalism helped raise the status of all nurses. At a time when nurses were often assigned domestic chores as well as nursing duties, she refused to take her meals with household staff. As her reputation spread, Mahoney received requests from patients as far away as New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina,” according to PBS.
Promoting equal opportunity for all nurses
Mahoney was one of the original black members of an organization that years later became the American Nurses Association (ANA). When the organization showed prejudice by being slow to welcome black nurses, Mahoney turned her support to the “establishment of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN)” and was honored by giving the welcome address at the NACGN’s inaugural convention in 1909.
“In that speech, Mahoney recognized the inequalities in nursing education and called for a demonstration at the New England Hospital to have more African-American students admitted. The conference members responded by electing her to be association chaplain and giving her a lifetime membership,” PBS reported.
Recognition and awards
Considered an African-American “medical” pioneer for her many accomplishments as a professional registered nurse, Mary Eliza Mahoney died of breast cancer January 4, 1926, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Mass.
After her death, she was honored by the NACGN by the establishment of the Mary Mahoney Medal. In the 1950s, when the NACGN combined with the ANA, the newly blended organization continued to award the medal to people who have worked to make nursing opportunities available to minorities.
Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976 and was given national recognition when in 1993 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
