Pink Collar Workers: Mary Eliza Mahoney

Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926) was the first African American to complete a professional training program and work as a nurse in the United States.

This month, we’re bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed! We’ll be talking about Pink Collar Workers: women who revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called "women's work." Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This August, we're bringing back some of our
favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. All month, we'll
be talking about pink collar workers. These women revolutionized jobs
that have traditionally been called women's work. Through their lives,
they created a more just and humane world for us today.

(00:21):
With that, here's one of our favorite episodes. Hello from
Wondermedia Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica. This month,
we're talking about women who've made important contributions to the
world of health and wellness. Today, we're talking about a
nurse celebrated as a pioneer in her field. She was

(00:44):
the first African American to complete a professional training program
as a nurse in the United States, and she spent
her career dedicated to her community. Please welcome Mary Eliza Mahoney.
Mary Eliza Mahoney was born in the spring of eighteen

(01:04):
forty five in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents, Charles and Mary
Jane Stewart Mahoney, were formerly enslaved in North Carolina before
moving to Boston just before the Civil War. Mary was
the eldest of three children. At the age of ten,
Mary attended the Phillips School in Boston. After eighteen fifty five,

(01:25):
the Phillip School became one of the first integrated schools
in the country. At the time, black women were not
permitted to attend university, but Mary knew early on that
she wanted to be a nurse. She started working at
the New England Hospital for Women and Children when she
was a teenager. For the next fifteen years, Mary worked

(01:46):
in many capacities at the hospital. She washed clothes, cleaned rooms,
and worked in the kitchen before she was offered the
opportunity to be a nurse's aide. This new role gave
her the chance to learn the ins and outs of
the nursing profession. The New England Hospital for Women and
Children also operated one of the first nursing schools in

(02:07):
the United States. In eighteen seventy eight, at the age
of thirty three, Mary was admitted to the hospital's professional
graduate school for nursing. For each class, only one Black
woman and one Jewish woman were permitted to attend. The
nursing program was intensive and lasted sixteen months. During that time,

(02:29):
the nursing students were in charge of wards of patients
worked in private homes and attended day long lectures. They
made morning rounds with doctors at the hospital, who demanded
the highest standards of care from the nursing students. By
one description, students worked sixteen hour days, seven days a week.
Of the forty two students who entered the program in

(02:51):
eighteen seventy eight, only four completed it. In eighteen seventy nine,
Mary was one of the four to reach that finish
line and became the first African American to earn a
professional nursing degree. After receiving her degree, Mary didn't end
up getting a job at a hospital. The discrimination toward
black nurses made that nearly impossible. Instead, she became a

(03:15):
private nurse. She focused on the needs of individual clients,
many of whom were from wealthy, white families, and she
became well known for her patient and caring bedside manner
up and down the East Coast. This ninety pound ball
of energy was praised for her work. Mary was also
interested in organizing. She understood the need for nurses to

(03:36):
work together to improve their situation, so in the eighteen nineties,
Mary joined what would eventually become the American Nurses Association,
but as one of the only black members, she faced
discrimination again, and she felt the group wasn't meeting the
needs of the black community. So in nineteen oh eight,
she helped found what was then known as the National

(03:57):
Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. Her goal was to break
down the barriers black nurses faced due to their race.
The organization continued its work until nineteen fifty one, just
a few years after black nurses were finally more openly
permitted to join the American Nurses Association. Mary retired after

(04:17):
forty years in nursing. In nineteen twenty three, she became
ill with breast cancer. After three years of living with
the disease, she died on January fourth, nineteen twenty six.
She was eighty years old. Mary was buried in Woodlawn
Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts. In nineteen thirty six, the National

(04:38):
Association of Colored Graduate Nurses established the Mary Mahony Award.
The award honored Mary's legacy as a nurse dedicated to
others who opened doors for other black women in nursing.
The award is still given out today by the American
Nurses Association. It's reserved for providers who like Mary At,

(04:59):
a vocate for more integration in the field of medicine.
Thanks for listening to this best of episode of Wimnica.
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Wamanica Podcast Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister
and co creator. Join us tomorrow for another one of

(05:21):
our favorite episodes, honoring pink collar workers. Talk to you then,