MNHRC Presents ‘The Black Angels’
October 16, 2023
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Download iCal FileAuthor Maria Smilios will discuss her book, "The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Helped Cure Tuberculosis"
New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nurse shortage. So begins the remarkable true story of the Black nurses who helped cure one of the world’s deadliest plagues: tuberculosis.
Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this story follows the intrepid young women, the “Black Angels,” who, for 20 years, risked their lives working under dreadful conditions while caring for the city’s poorest—1,800 souls languishing in wards, waiting to die or become “guinea pigs” for experimental (often deadly) drugs. Yet despite their major role in desegregating the NYC hospital system—and regardless of their vital work in helping to find the cure for tuberculosis at Sea View—these nurses were completely erased from history.
Date posted
Sep 29, 2023
Date updated
Sep 29, 2023
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