Glossary: Mabel Keaton Staupers
Mabel Keaton Staupers was one of the most influential women, working to gain equality and recognition for black nurses. As a black nurse herself, Staupers gained exposure to the effects of discrimination in the workplace, which reinforced her passion and dedication to improving the status of blacks working in the nursing field. Mabel Staupers was born in 1890 in Barbados, West Indies. In 1903, at the age of thirteen, she emigrated to the United States with her parents, where she attended Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC. Staupers graduated with honors and made her career as a private duty nurse, however she was not satisfied with the discrimination she experienced in her field and was determined to make a significant change (Gamble, 1990, p.526).
During a time when racial segregation was entrenched in the country, the majority of hospitals refused black medical experts privileges or staffing positions. While working as a private nurse in Washington and New York, Staupers helped establish the Booker T. Washington Sanatorium; it was one of the few clinics founded to care for African Americans who had tuberculosis. The clinic was significant in that it offered healthcare that was not normally provided …show more content…
During her twelve-year’s in the position, Staupers increased membership, created a citizens advisory committee, and built coalitions with other nursing and non-nursing groups. In 1946, Staupers stepped down from her position, but continued her fight for equal rights. The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was dissolved in 1949 after black nursed were officially admitted into the American Nurses Association with full membership in 1948; this integration is largely accredited to Mabel Staupers, as well as other influential advocates of black nurses (Nurses as Leaders,