Black Women in White: Racial Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession, 1890-1950

Hine tells an uncomfortable story of an era of pervasive racism and sexism. It deals with the intersection of race and gender expectations in the nursing profession of the US, up till 1950. In many countries, nursing was a predominently female occupation, and it had to struggle for level of responsibility and recognition, against a male medical profession. But in the US, there was an overlay of race. Negro women also entered the profession. Or at least tried to. Hine describes how the white female nursing associations responded, by imposing racist exclusionary requirements. In part to try and garner some "respectability" from the white male doctoral hierarchy. A pernicious choice that led to the formation of parallel Negro nursing groups. For those of you who may have heard of the Negro baseball leagues, there are clear parallels.