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By: Monique Jenkins, PhD, MA, FNP-BC, FNYAM
Published: 2/23/2024
Many nurses are quite familiar with Florence Nightingale, but how many are familiar with the Black nurses who helped cure tuberculosis in New York City? The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis, by Maria Smilios,1 is about the Black nurses who migrated to NYC in the 1930s to care for those who were sick and dying from tuberculosis. At the time, white nurses were quitting their jobs and NYC officials needed to solve the problem. Black nurses were recruited to come to NYC with promises of housing, education at a nursing school, better wages than in the South, and being able to escape the Jim Crow laws of the South.
These nurses, who were deemed the Black Angels by patients, cared for the poorest and sickest tuberculosis patients at Sea View Hospital in Staten Island, NY. But they did so much more than providing medications to the ill. They also participated in clinical trials to help find a cure for tuberculosis, worked in the OR, and sterilized gloves and instruments.
The Black nurses sacrificed all to move to NYC for these promised better opportunities, but was it truly better? They found themselves in NYC underpaid and less respected than their white counterparts. Although they were no longer in the Jim Crow South, they faced a great deal of racism from patients and management; for example, they could not eat in the whites-only dining area or join nursing associations that their white counterparts were freely able to join (Jim Crow laws made it impossible for Black nurses to join professional nursing organizations; however they could join the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses2).
While reading the book, I found that there was one important theme that so many nurses could relate to: sacrifice. Many of us make sacrifices when we choose to initially attend nursing school and then pursue higher degrees. Perhaps we sacrificed an income because were unable to hold a full-time job while in school. Perhaps the sacrifice was not being able to spend quality family time when we wished. For some Black nurses, the sacrifice may have been greater: sacrificing their identity in order to “fit into the mold.” Throughout my life, there were times when I experienced racism both personally and professionally. Being the only Black person in a classroom (or one of two or three) was the norm for me. Working in facilities where I was one of the few Black nurses was also the norm. However, I never let that stop me from pursuing my dreams and advancing my career in nursing.
In October 2023, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting author Maria Smilios and our last living Black Angel: Ms. Virginia Allen (Edna Sutton’s niece). They were speaking at a conference in Washington, DC. The experience was surreal and truly difficult to describe. To be in the presence of a living legend is unthinkable! Interestingly, I do not think Ms. Allen sees herself as a legend, but she most certainly is. All in the audience were mesmerized by Ms. Allen’s eloquence, grace and style. She softly spoke and shared stories about her experiences and work with patients at Sea View Hospital. She spoke about identifying with the children on the pediatric ward since she was a young teenager herself when she began her work at Sea View Hospital. Ms. Allen reminisced with a smile on her face and told the stories as if the experiences just occurred yesterday. Her experiences filled us with both smiles and tears. It was clear that the strength of these women, called Black Angels, was extraordinary, and we should all learn from them and their lived experiences.
The next morning, I had the opportunity to join Ms. Smilios and Ms. Allen at their breakfast table and we spoke about personal experiences. Ms. Allen shared with me her love of pediatrics and the OR. I shared with her my love of pediatric patients and the pediatric surgical patient, and that I was the immediate past president of the American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association (APSNA), the only national nursing organization for pediatric surgical nurses. I shared with her that although I was the first Black president of the organization, I would certainly not be the last as the profession has come so far. She squeezed my hand and nodded in agreement. Ms. Allen went on to share that after Sea View Hospital closed, she worked in surgical nursing and civil and labor rights in nursing.
As the Immediate Past President of APSNA, I had the honor and pleasure of having an in-depth conversation with Maria Smilios in December of 2023. We talked about the book, of course, but we also discussed the importance of educating others about this part of Black history and nursing history that has simply been erased. We are in agreement that history should not be erased but embraced!
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