Mary Eliza Mahoney

1
Mary Eliza Mahoney

• 1st African American Nurse
• 1845- 1926

2
Beginnings

• Born in Boston on May 7, 1845
• Child of Charles Mary Jane Steward
• Began school at age 10 (1855)
• Showed an interest in nursing at the age of 18
  (1863)
• Mahoney may have attended Phillips Street School
  Boston. (isnt verified)

3
Beginnings Continued

• No documents say where she lived between birth
  and 1875 when she showed up at her sisters in
  Boston.
• First two decades of her life were times of
  turmoil and great change.

4
Mid-life

• Mahoney worked at the New England Hospital for
  Women and Children for 15 years as cook, wash
  woman, janitor, and unofficial nurses assistant.
  (Roxbury, Mass.)
• While working there she impressed a woman
  physician who encouraged her to apply to nursing
  school.

5
New England Hospital

• Small in size
• Created as a direct response to the prejudice
  against woman as full participants in medicine.
• Founded in 1862.
• Cared mostly for woman during pregnancy and
  delivery.
• Boston Fire
• Nurses gave 25 of their wages toward solving the
  hospitals money crisis.

6
Extended Education

• 1878 admitted for Nursing Training at the age of
  33 though the age limit was 31.
• 42 students started the program with only 4
  graduates.
• The course was 16 hours a day, 7 days a week with
  training in hospital medical and at home care.
• Graduated Nursing School in August of 1879
• Each student while in school was in charge of one
  ward. (6 beds)

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Tuition

• Mahoney and others didnt pay tuition, they got
  paid.
• They got 1 per week (1st six months of
  probation), 2 per week (2nd six months of
  probation), and 3 per week (last four months of
  probation)
• This money was to be used for their uniforms.

8
After school

• Mahoney traveled to Washington D.C to care for an
  army surgeon, the husband of a friend, who had
  tuberculosis.
• She also traveled to New Jersey to care for a
  patient who she had cared for when the patient
  was a baby.
• Private Duty Nursing
• Charged 15 by week
• And 2.50 by day

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Possible Mentors

• Mrs. Ednah Dow Cheney
• May have played role in her nursing career
• Cheney was manager, secretary, and president at
  the New England Hospital

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Recognition

• Mahoney was listed in the registry of the Boston
  Medical Librarys directory.
• Mahoney was chosen by black nurses as an
  inspiration for their quest for inclusion into
  the nursing main stream.

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National Association of Colored Graduates

• In 1908 the organization was founded to raise
  standards and combat racial bias in the
  profession.
• At the 1st annual meeting in Boston Mahoney gave
  the welcoming address.
• Then, she was elected chaplain.

12
Rough Times

• When Miss Mahoney signed on with the Boston
  Directory she had to eat in the kitchen alone.
• As nursing became more popular among society
  racial injustice flared excluding African
  Americans from main stream.

13
Family

• Mahoney had one brother (Charles) two sisters
  (Ellen, Louise)
• Ellen attended a nursing school but was
  unsuccessful. And Louise died at an early age.
• Mahoney was engaged to a physician but it didnt
  work out.
• Even though she never had a family of her own she
  developed relationships with families she worked
  for and physicians.

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Later Life

• Retired from nursing in 1912.
• Ended her nursing career at an orphanage in New
  York.
• Mahoney was one of the first women to register to
  vote in 1920.
• Died on January 4, 1926 of breast cancer. (81
  years old)
• Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Mass.

15
After Death

• In 1936, affiliates of NACGN (National Asso. Of
  Colored Graduate Nurses) established an award in
  her name to honor sister nurses.
• In 1951 NACGN and ANA (American Nurses
  Association) merged and continued the award.

16
After Death Continued

• In 1976 Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing
  Hall of fame.
• 1984 Chi Eta Phi ANA organized a national
  pilgrimage to her grave in her honor.

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Timeline
1863 Mahoney showed interest in Nursing
1878 Mahoney was admitted for Nurse Training
1920 one of 1st woman to vote
1912 Retirement
1866 Mass. 1st state to elect African Americans
to Legislature Positions
1926 Death
1845 Born
1855 African Americans were able to attend school
1908 NACG established
1840 African Americans gained equal voting rights.
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References

• American First Black Professional Nurse
• Journal of Nursing History (1986)
• Encore American Worldwide News (1978)
• http//www.bridgew.edu/hoba/mahoney.cfm