One major events that had a historical key effect on the development is nursing was nursing care provided during the Civil War. Harriett Tubman (underground railroad) and Sojourner Truth (provided care for the wounded soldiers of the union army were African American women who were active in the early of the women’s movement. (Blais & Hayes, , 2011).
Blais, K., & Hayes, J. (2011). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspective (6th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
During the Civil War, black women's services included nursing or domestic chores in medical settings, laundering and cooking for the soldiers. Indeed, as the Union Army marched through the South and large numbers of freed black men enlisted, their female family members often obtained employment with the unit. The Union Army paid black women to raise cotton on plantations for the northern government to sell. (Sheldon, ).
While women in the United States Armed Forces share a history of discrimination based on gender, black women have faced both race and gender discrimination. Initially barred from official military status, black women persistently pursued their right to serve. . (Sheldon, ).
World War I
At the outset of World War I, many trained black nurses enrolled in the American Red Cross hoping to gain entry into the Army or Navy Nurse Corps. As the war escalated, public pressure increased to enlist black women. Finally, shortly after the Armistice, 18 black Red Cross nurses were offered Army Nurse Corps assignments. Assigned to Camp Grant, Illinois, and Camp Sherman, Ohio, they lived in segregated quarters and cared for German prisoners of war and black soldiers. Cessation of hostilities halted plans to assign black nurses to Camp Dodge, Camp Meade, Fort Riley, and Camp Taylor. By August 1919, all black nurses had been released from