Mabel Keaton Staupers | |
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| Born | Mabel Elouise Doyle (1890-02-27)February 27, 1890 |
| Died | September 30, 1989(1989-09-30) (aged 99) Washington, DC, United States |
| Alma mater | Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing |
| Known for | Nursing administration at Booker T. Washington Sanatorium, advancing the status of African American nurses |
| Spouses | |
| Awards | Spingarn Medal 1951 American Nurses Association Hall of Fame 1996 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nursing |
Mabel Keaton Staupers (February 27, 1890 – September 30, 1989) was a pioneer in the American nursing profession. Faced withracial discrimination after graduating from nursing school, Staupers became an advocate for racial equality in the nursing profession.[1]
Staupers was born February 27, 1890, inBarbados,West Indies.[2] In 1903, at the age of thirteen, she emigrated to the United States, Harlem, New York, with her parents, Pauline and Thomas Doyle and received American citizenship in 1917. She attendedFreedmen's Hospital School of Nursing inWashington, DC, where she graduated with honors. After graduation, like most graduate nurses, she worked as a private duty nurse.[2]
DuringWorld War II Staupers fought for the inclusion of black nurses in theArmy andNavy as the executive secretary of theNational Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN). She wrote that "Negro nurses recognize that service to their country is a responsibility of citizenship."[3] Staupers became the executive secretary of NACGN, and the main goal of the association was to advance the status of African American nurses, most of whom were barred from nursing schools and professional associations in a number of states.[4] Staupers, along with the president of NACGN, Estelle Masse Riddle, led the struggle of black nurses to win full integration into the American nursing profession. Staupers was a great organizer and an astute political tactician whose focus was social change.
The major social change led by Staupers and what she is known for today is playing a crucial role in the desegregation of the military's nursing corps during World War II.[4] She continued fighting for the full inclusion of nurses of all races in the US military, which was granted in January 1945 because at the time the military had a strict 56 black nurse quota to enter the service and it enforced segregated practices for those who were already in the service. Outraged by this, Staupers attacked the hypocrisy of Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk's plan to draft white women as nurses instead of qualified black nurses to meet the shortage of nurses in the military. In 1945, the US Army opened its Armed Forces Nurses Corps to all applicants regardless of race. In 1948, theAmerican Nursing Association followed suit and allowed African-American nurses to become members after Staupers dissolved the NAGCN because she believed the organization had completed its mission. In 1951, theNAACP honored Staupers with theSpingarn Medal in recognition of her efforts on behalf of black women workers.[5]
During World War II, Staupers assembled support and fought to end the use of quotas on number of black nurses in the military.[6]
While working as a private nurse in Washington and New York, Staupers helped establish theBooker T. Washington Sanatorium.[6] It was the first and one of the few[vague] in-patient centers founded to care for African Americans withtuberculosis,[6] at a time when other hospitals refused black medical experts privileges or staffing positions.[6] Staupers was superintendent for the Booker T. Washington Sanatorium from 1920 to 1922.[6] She used her influence and management skills and became executive secretary of the Harlem Committee of theNew York Tuberculosis and Health Association,[6] a position she held for twelve years. In December 1935, Staupers attended a gathering of African American women leaders, organized byMary McLeod Bethune to establish theNational Council of Negro Women.[6]
Staupers died on September 30, 1989, aged 99.[7]
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