Mary Eliza Mahoney was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts back in 1845. At a young age she was a devout Baptist and churchgoer. When she was 10 she was admitted to the Philips School in Boston. She never completed school and left in the fourth grade. When she was 18 she started a 16-month training program at the newly opened New England Hospital for Women and Children.
Out of all the students there was only three women to pass and Mary was one of them. After graduation, she worked for many years as a private care nurse, earning her a distinguished reputation. From 1911-12 she served as director of the Howard Orphan Asylum in Kings Park, New York. In 1896, she became one of the original members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada. She was also a strong supporter of the women’s suffrage movement. In 1920, she was one of the first women in Boston to register to vote. She died in 1926, she was 80.
What you may not know about Mary is that she was the first African American trained as a professional nurse in the United States and the first African American to graduate from an American school of nursing.
NW Arkansas, come for a visit, stay for a lifetime.
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