Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More
Two women dressed in all white dresses, the woman on the left wearing a hat and accepting an award.
Mabel Staupers (left) is awarded Springarn Medal for helping integrate Black nurses professionally. (Photo: Library of Congress)

The United States Army Nurses Corps hires 56 Black nurses after previously denying them entry.

1941

NRS
MIL
EPD
BH
RAC
MED
Mabel Staupers (left) is awarded Springarn Medal for helping integrate Black nurses professionally. (Photo: Library of Congress)

After the War Department states that no Black nurses will be hired by the United States Army Nurses Corps, Black nurses organize in response, citing the profound role that Black nurses played during the 1918 flu epidemic. In response to this pushback from Black nurses and others, the Army hires 56 Black nurses in 1941.