Background Information

Mary Eliza Mahoney was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on May 7, 1845.  She was the first African American to study in and work professionally as a nurse in the United States. Her accomplishments have opened doors for other nurses of color who came after her.

Her Impact

Harriet Brathwaite, a 2004 Recipient of the Mary Mahoney Award says that "Every nurse knows [about] Mary Mahoney". Mary Mahoney now has her own award, given by the American Nurses Association, which was created  after Mary Mahoney helped to create, after joining together the organization she co- founded, the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN), and the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada. Brathwaite says that "she was a pioneer" and that is why the NACGN created the Mary Mahoney Award in 1936, to "recognize her outstanding example to nurses of all races".  Mary Mahoney has impacted America as a whole because her drive and determination for becoming a nurse, despite being black in a time when nursing institutions were not accepting of blacks, is inspiring. She showed true passion for nursing and minority rights, and turned towards fighting for womens' rights after retiring from her 40 year nursing career.  In 1920 she was one of the first women to register to vote in Boston, Massachusetts. She leads by example, and proves that even in the face of adversity, you can succeed if you are willing to work hard.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Obstacles that She Faced



After spending fifteen years at the New England Hospital for Women and Children as a janitor, cook, and washwoman, Mary Mahoney finally began her journey as a nurse. However, it wasn't easy from then on. The nursing program was very difficult. It was sixteen months long, with twelve months of surgical, medical, and maternal nursing, along with four months working in private nursing homes six days a week for sixteen hours a day.  The program was too difficult for the majority of the 40 students who entered it. Mary was the only African American woman of the four students who actually completed the program. She proved that African Americans can become nurses too by both completing the program, and working hard to bring together the other colored women into the field.  

How She Was Successful

 

Mary Eliza Mahoney's journey in field of healthcare  began when she started to work at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Although she was not a nurse initially at the Hospital, she worked at the hospital as a janitor, cook, washerwoman, and as a nurse's aide. After fifteen years of working at the hospital, at the age of 33, she was accepted into and successfully graduated from the Hospital's nursing school, which was also America's first.  Later in her life, she became the director of the Howard Orphan Asylum in Long Island, New York. She was also inducted into both the Nursing Hall of Fame in the first group of honorees in 1976, and the National Women's Hall of Fame.