White Nursing Discrimination

In the 18th century, the nursing profession was seen as a profession for low class, poorly-bred woman. Hospital nurses, in Florence Nightingale words were “too old, too weak, too drunken, too dirty, too stolid, or too bad to do anything else.” Thank to Florence Nightingale, the nursing profession gain respect and gave woman a profession where they could strive. However, the nursing profession was pretty much set up for white woman specifically. African American women were discriminated in every single way possible.
The main obstacle African American women encountered when trying to gain training and education in the nursing profession was racism and segregation. “Most white nursing schools in the North adopted racial quotas, while all nursing schools in the South denied admission to black women”.(Hine, 6). White graduate nurses where able to hold a higher position, such as an administration position while African American nurses were denied any higher position because those positions were considered territory of black male physicians or white female administration. The racism of elite white leaders also dictated that black graduate nurses be prohibited from membership in any of the organizations that had been created to promote the status of
It provided a open door to young African American women who wanted to escape from poverty. Another reason was the desire to help out others and make a difference. Sex-role stereotyping also pursue African American women to nursing. If an African American woman wanted to be a doctor but didn’t have the money to pay for medical school, she would go into nursing. Elizabeth Sherpe stated “The fact is, I came from a family which could not afford to send me anywhere else.” She added, “When I went into nurse training, that was the cheapest thing I could