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.