Some pioneers explored the wilderness or patented inventions. Others broke new ground and paved the way for the people who followed them.
Mary Eliza Mahoney was the latter. Mahoney is credited as the first professionally trained African-American registered nurse in the United States and was a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Nurses.
Born free in Dorchester, Mass., in 1845, Mahoney became interested in nursing as a teenager. The dream of becoming a nurse, however, was deferred for 15 years while she did domestic work at a Massachusetts hospital.
Her talent for patient care surfaced when she served as an unofficial nurse’s aide and she was admitted into the nursing program at New England Hospital for Women and Children in 1878. She graduated the next year and worked as a private duty nurse for most of the next 30 years.
Mahoney, one of the first members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States, co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in 1908. She was the NACGN’s national chaplain and delivered the welcoming address at its first convention.
She also fought for women’s suffrage and was one of the first women in Boston to register to vote. She died in 1926.
Her legacy of fighting for equality is still felt with the Mary Mahoney Award, which is given biennially by the National Nurses Association. The award goes to an honoree who has made an exceptional contribution to increasing opportunities for minorities in nursing.
She is also the namesake for the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization, a group that was established in 1949 to support African-American nurses. The organization provides financial aid and scholarships for students of African heritage who want to study nursing.
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