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Nurses: On the Job

What do we see when we look closely?

Examine this photograph of a nurse taken to commemorate her graduation in the early 20th century.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.

    • Q1Where did this nurse receive her training?
    • A1Although the name on the diploma is hard to read, this nurse probably trained at one of 36 nursing schools for African Americans. By the 1920s, there were 2,150 schools of nursing for whites, which rarely admitted black students.
    • Q2What career opportunities were available to this nurse?
    • A2African American nurses worked for black hospitals and communities, and in private homes. Segregation and racial prejudice denied opportunities for trained African American nurses to work in white hospitals.
    • Q3What do you notice about the backdrop of this portrait?
    • A3Studio photography portraiture includes a painted backdrop and flowers to offset the female figure. These conventions remain constant in nursing portraits from 1890s to 1930s.
An African American female nurse in white holds diploma and looks at the viewer.
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A nurse stands for portrait after earning her Diploma in Nursing (DIN) degree, United States, 1920s

    • Q1Where did this nurse receive her training?
    • A1Although the name on the diploma is hard to read, this nurse probably trained at one of 36 nursing schools for African Americans. By the 1920s, there were 2,150 schools of nursing for whites, which rarely admitted black students.
    • Q2What career opportunities were available to this nurse?
    • A2African American nurses worked for black hospitals and communities, and in private homes. Segregation and racial prejudice denied opportunities for trained African American nurses to work in white hospitals.
    • Q3What do you notice about the backdrop of this portrait?
    • A3Studio photography portraiture includes a painted backdrop and flowers to offset the female figure. These conventions remain constant in nursing portraits from 1890s to 1930s.
  • 1Where did this nurse receive her training?
  • 2What career opportunities were available to this nurse?
  • 3What do you notice about the backdrop of this portrait?

Choose another postcard from Nurses: On the Job

  • White female army nurse in uniform and cap, visible from chest up.
  • Five Japanese women nurses and one male doctor, tending to two Russian wounded men.
  • A White female nurse, stands with young White woman and points into distance.
  • Large room filled with several dozen White women looking forward.
  • Three White female nurses in white aprons and a White male doctor hold babies.
  • A White female nurse in white squats down while talking with a White mother and child.
  • Five Japanese Red Cross female nurses in white carrying a stretcher in a field with building behind.
  • Female nurse in white shaking hands with another female nurse, in front of group of women nurses.
  • A White female nurses in white visible from shoulder up on left, on right is stamp.