Nursing Civil Rights: Gender and Race in the Army Nurse Corps

by Charissa J. Threat

In Nursing Civil Rights , Charissa J. Threat investigates the parallel battles against occupational segregation by African American women and white men in the U.S. Army. As Threat reveals, both groups viewed their circumstances with the Army Nurse Corps as a civil rights matter. Each conducted separate integration campaigns to end the discrimination they suffered. Yet their stories defy the narrative that civil rights struggles inevitably arced toward social justice. Threat tells how progressive elements in the campaigns did indeed break down barriers in both military and civilian nursing. At the same time, she follows conservative threads to portray how some of the women who succeeded as agents of change became defenders of exclusionary practices when men sought military nursing careers. The ironic result was a struggle that simultaneously confronted and reaffirmed the social hierarchies that nurtured discrimination.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, Amazon, Health

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2015

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Threat makes many good points in this concise and readable book. First, she argues that the nursing corps underwent a significant civil rights struggle--not only by black (female) nurses but also by male nurses looking for respect and equal treatment. Second, Threat makes very good points at how the goals of white women, black women, and male (overwhelmingly white) nurses were often at odds with each other. While nursing came to be seen as a "feminine" profession, whiteness was also very much a part of this assertion. Black female nurses had to carve out a role for themselves in WW2 that overcame the official/unofficial policies to limit their service or to pigeonhole it as service only for black soldiers. And female nurses often saw male nurses as a threat--either due to less competence (who knew that for the longest time male nurses were not taught pediatrics or OB/GYN?), or fear that male nurses would undermine the role of women in the profession. Male nurses had to fight for respoect and to be recognized as full-fledged nurses. Third, Threat also points out how gender expectations and the gendering of nursing was used to inhibit change and to preserve the status of white and female nurses--something that would change over the second half of the 20th century.
Well-written, sharp narrative. Plenty of interesting information about WW2 wartime policies that perpetuated a shortaged of nurses to maintain gender and racial lines.

[Christina 🫶 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nursing Civil Rights fills a gap in the historical narrative that has needed filling for a long time, and Charissa Threat does it with real scholarly ambition. This is the history of Black nurses fighting for the right to simply do their jobs…to serve their country, care for patients, and be recognized as the professionals they were, in the face of an institution that kept finding new ways to say no. As a historian with a focus on nursing, particularly in the WWII era, I found this book both deeply satisfying and, at times, genuinely infuriating; this means Threat is doing her job well. The WWII sections were where I was most engaged. The exclusion and quota system that kept Black nurses out of the Army and Navy Nurse Corps while the military was simultaneously desperate for nurses is one of those historical contradictions that never gets less maddening no matter how many times you encounter it. Threat contextualizes it clearly and connects it to the longer civil rights struggle in a way that feels cohesive rather than fragmented. My one honest critique, and the reason for four stars rather than five, is that some sections felt like they moved too quickly through moments I personally wanted to sit with longer. There are stories here that deserved even more space. But that’s a small complaint about a genuinely valuable work. Threat centers voices that mainstream nursing history has largely ignored, and she makes a compelling case that you cannot tell the story of American nursing without telling THIS story. Highly recommended, especially if WWII-era medical history is your thing.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Mick Gaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strong accounts of the development of the Army Nurse Corps and its role in promoting rights. Whether looking at women's rights in general, and African-American women's rights in particular, Threat offers a strong study. The sections where male nurses pushed for their rights only reinforces the truth that feminism empowers both women and men.

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charissa Threat chronicles the experiences of African American female and white male nurses revealing a different type of civil rights story. Their respective campaigns suggest that the civil rights struggles of the 20th century did not always follow a smooth arc towards social justice. By looking at both groups, Threat is highlighting them in a profession that regulated them to the margins. Gender is used to refer to the social construction ideals that define roles/behaviours and obligations of individuals based on biological sex differences. This includes the normative understanding of womanhood and manhood in the United States at that time.

This book arises from the premise that nursing, an occupation traditionally sex- and race-typed white and female, provides a place to examine how gender identities and racial ideologies are contested in mid-twentieth century American society. It links the story of the Army Nurse Corps to critical events in the United States between WW2 and the Vietnam War. Threat reveals how agents of change became defenders of exclusionary practices when the opportunities were extended to men.

I truly enjoyed this book. It was so interesting (and a bit weird) to see White men framed as a struggling minority. Seeing how gender norms really really played a role in nursing does make me wonder about Black male nurses. Threat says that the history of Black male nursing is difficult to trace and there are little to no references of Black male nurses. By looking at nursing in a military role, Threat shifts the focal point to allow readers to see male nurse suffrage. It is fascinating to be in the modern day now looking back. In my mind, we still portray nursing as a more feminine job.

Threat offers insight into how integration campaigns and the history of the ANC over a 30 period help scholars understand a more inclusive civil rights story and the evolution of nursing into a modern profession. "The Civilian nursing profession mirrored attempts to redefine race and gender roles during and after wartime."