Racial discrimination in nursing affected the care of all people and disrupted the lives of American citizens. The idea of racial mixing was slowly advancing, so the surgeon general and other military personnel along with the Georgia State Nurses Association used race to hinder the advancement of African American nurses. However, these African American nurses, backed with the support of Civil Rights organizations and activists, fought to shift the focus to “Caregiving as a common ground for all Americans” to provide better health care and more care providers, regardless of race.
African American nurses were willing and eager to provide care in their country and military, and yet they could not have been more unwelcome. Their education and credentials were attacked and their ability as nurses were undermined because the training they received was deemed inferior to their white counterparts. The problem in Georgia was,
“white fear of African-American achievement”. Because of deeply ingrained racism, based on a completely social concept, , black nurses could not possibly know more about health than a white nurse. The black nurses could not possibly be better because the only schools they were allowed to study at were not as equipped as the training schools open to white nurses. The black nurses challenged this inferior stigma placed on them because the racist justification used to keep them out of the military and out of The Georgia State Nurse Association (GSNA) was inconsistent.
The irony of the issue was that, “the nursing shortage during World War II was linked to race discrimination.” American female citizens at home were threatened with a female draft because the military convinced everyone that there were no women who wanted to help out and serve. Even when a few Black nurses entered the war, they were still separated by black and white, although all