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A low-resolution image of two rows of Black nurses. Three women stand and three women kneel, all wearing long black coats and hair pieces.
Nurses on staff at Seaview. (Photo: Collection of Seaview Hospital via Statenislandmuseum.org)

Black nurses become a critical resource for treating Black patients with tuberculosis, after white nurses refuse to treat them.

1940s

The Story of Tuberculosis
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Nurses on staff at Seaview. (Photo: Collection of Seaview Hospital via Statenislandmuseum.org)

When white nurses refuse service to Black patients with tuberculosis at Seaview Hospital in Staten Island, 300 Black nurses volunteer to treat the patients. They travel from near and far–predominantly from the South–and become known as the "Black Angels" by many patients and hospital staff. These nurses endure hospital segregation and intense discrimination from the white staff.