The 10 Most Influential Nurses in History
For Women’s History Month and beyond, we’re highlighting 10 influential nurses who influenced the history of nursing by breaking down racial boundaries, redefining the healthcare environment, and starting organizations that impacted the world. Some of these nurses are well-known around the world, while others worked on a more local scale.
More than 85% of nurses in the United States are now women. We congratulate all of the hardworking, compassionate, and visionary nurses who are creating the future of healthcare. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are ten of the most significant nurses in history, listed alphabetically.
Clara Barton
Clara Barton (1821-1912) had no professional nursing training, but she became one of the most famous nurses in American history. She was an abolitionist and supporter of women’s rights. When wounded Civil War troops swamped improvised hospitals, Barton began to care for them. She then joined the Army to care for wounded soldiers on the front lines.
After the war, Barton traveled to Europe to recover, where she learned about the International Red Cross. When she returned home, she formed the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross has been accused of racism in the past, including refusing to accept blood from Black people during donor drives until 1942.
Goldie D. Brangman
Goldie D. Brangman (1920-2020) was a nurse anesthetist who cofounded the School of Nurse Anesthesia at Harlem Hospital in 1951 and was the first African American president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. She was part of the surgical team that worked on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. following an assassination attempt in 1958, manually pumping his breathing bag.
Mary Breckinridge
Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965) was born into privilege but dedicated her life to helping the destitute after a family tragedy. Breckinridge, on the other hand, had racist attitudes, such as believing in racial superiority and supporting the benefits of segregation and eugenics.
Despite being regarded as a pioneer in nurse midwifery, having founded the Frontier Nursing Service and then the Frontier School of Midwifery and Nursing Services, she refused to hire Black midwives. During the 1918 flu epidemic, she began nursing in Washington, D.C. tenements. Following World War I, she started a nursing program in war-torn France.
Virginia Henderson
Virginia Henderson (1897–1996) impacted nursing education through the implementation of her Need Theory, which maintained that the goal of nursing is to help the patient to achieve independence as soon as practicable. She promoted this approach through her lectures and publications, particularly her revisions of the “Textbook of Nursing Principles and Practices” (1939) and “Basic Principles of Nursing Care” (1940). (1972).
She also revolutionized nursing education and research by spearheading the first nursing literature indexing initiative.
Hazel W. Johnson-Brown
Hazel W. Johnson-Brown (1927-2011) was denied admission to the local nursing school in West Chester, Pennsylvania, because she was Black. Instead, she went to nursing school in New York and joined the Army, where she rose through the ranks. She became the director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing, served as chief nurse of the Army hospital in Seoul, was promoted to brigadier general, and commanded the Army Nurse Corps.
Johnson-Brown is among history’s most famous nurses since she was the first Black woman to accomplish these feats.
Mary Eliza Mahoney
Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926) was the first African American nurse in history to finish official nurse training. She revolutionized nursing history in 1879 when she graduated from the grueling New England Hospital for Women and Children’s Nursing School, where she had previously worked as a janitor and cook.
She was one of the first Black members of the American Nurses Association and cofounded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was born into affluent social circles and was crucial in promoting the nursing profession. She established the world’s first science-based nursing school, was among the first to implement rigorous handwashing, and created the Royal Commission for the Army’s Health.
Nightingale, on the other hand, inflicted harm. Her racism affected many people since she supported colonization actions and policies. For example, she supported the separation of Indigenous children from their families in order to transfer them to racist “boarding schools.” She also held discriminatory attitudes toward New Zealand’s indigenous peoples. Her political actions following her nursing efforts in the Crimean War contributed to the genocide of Indigenous people.
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) worked as a visiting nurse in New York City’s tenements at a time when it was illegal to prescribe or transmit birth control advice. Sanger fought for access to birth control knowledge and legal contraception.
Unfortunately, she also believed in eugenics. She supported ableist and white supremacist views, which harmed minority reproductive rights.
In 1921, she also formed the American Birth Control League, which subsequently became Planned Parenthood.
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), a well-known activist, was also an informally trained nurse who fought for formal nurse education for African American women in addition to battling for abolition and equality.
Her 1844 “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech advocating equality for women and African Americans made her one of history’s most famous nurses.
Betty Smith Williams
Betty Smith Williams (1929–present) was the first African American to graduate from Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and the first to teach in a California college or university.
She cofounded the Council of Black Nurses in Los Angeles in 1971, became a founding member of the National Black Nurses Association, and later cofounded and served as president of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations.