2025/01/01 by Susan A. LaRocco · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #History of Science and Medicine
paper · doi:10.5325/nursinghistory.33.0076
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/05
Although The Black Angels is written for the general reader, it was rigorously researched and thoroughly documented to appeal to the academic reader as well. Smilios’s research includes an interview of a Black nurse who worked in the Sea View Sanitorium on Staten Island, New York, several interviews of nurses’ family members, and a study of primary sources including letters, medical records, autopsy books, nurses’ logs, and hospital publications.The purpose of this book is to tell the story of the Black nurses who were recruited from the Jim Crow South to replace the White nurses who were resigning from Sea View, a tuberculosis hospital in New York, leaving the facility acutely understaffed at a time when the population of TB patients was growing exponentially. Smilios enhances the narrative with commentary on the discrimination that Black nurses faced both professionally and personally as they fought to desegregate the New York City public hospitals and gain entrance into the American Nurses Association. Descriptions of the treatment and nursing care of the TB patients from the late 1920s until the successful drug trials that resulted in a cure for TB in 1952 serve as a backdrop for the work of the Black nurses.Smilios writes using the lens of systemic and institutional racism. She describes how Black nurses were paid less than their White colleagues (720 per month for Black nurses and 1,100 for White nurses in 1932) and denied deserved promotions. The Black nurses’ desire to live on Staten Island to avoid the lengthy ferry commute also met with discrimination.In addition to telling the nurses’ story, Smilios describes well the horror of TB. In the first half of the twentieth century, more than 5.6 million people died of TB in the United States. At its peak, the Sea View Sanitorium housed more than 1,800 patients and had more than two thousand deaths a year. The limited treatment options and the contagious nature of the disease made caring for TB patients undesirable. The lack of protective equipment such as masks, gowns, and gloves provided to the Black nurses made their job even more hazardous.The Black Angels brings an important story to the general public about the role Black nurses played in providing patient care and keeping meticulous records during the clinical trials that resulted in a cure for TB. While drugs were being tested, the nurses frequently recorded their observations of the patients, thus allowing the research physicians to adjust the dosage, determine the effectiveness of the various drugs, and learn about the side effects. This previously untold story deserves wide recognition, especially in academic settings so students can learn about the role of Black nurses who advanced the profession. It also helps to inform today’s discussion on systemic racism and the long-term effects of such blatant discrimination.