BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY :: AFRICAN AMERICAN " MARY MAHONEY " SHE BECAME THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO COMPLETE NURSE'S TRAINING IN 1879 AND ONE OF THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                            BLACK                 SOCIAL               HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mary Mahoney was born on May 7, 1845 (some sources say April 16), in Boston, Massachusetts. She was admitted to the nursing school of the New England Hospital for Women and Children, and became the first black woman to complete nurse's training in 1879. She was also one of the first black members of the American Nurses Association,

and has been credited as one of the first women to register to vote in Boston following the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Mahoney was inducted into both the Nursing Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame. She died in Boston in 1926

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Early Life

Mary Eliza Mahoney was born on May 7, 1845 (some sources say April 16, 1845), in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. After working for several years as a private-duty nurse at Boston's New England Hospital for Women and Children, in 1878, Mahoney was admitted to the hospital's nursing program.

Pioneer of Nursing and Voting

The following year, Mary Mahoney made history when she became the first black woman to complete nurse's training. Subsequently, she became one of the first black members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (later renamed the American Nurses Association), as well as a member of the newly founded National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

In addition to her pioneering efforts in nursing, Mahoney has been credited as one of the first women to register to vote in Boston following the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women's suffrage, on August 26, 1920.

                                            Later Life and Career

In the early 1900s, Mahoney relocated to Long Island, New York, to serve a stint as supervisor of the Howard Orphan Asylum for Black Children, returning to Massachusetts thereafter.

Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976 and received induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. She died in Boston on January 4, 1926, at the age of 80.