Mary Elizabeth Carnegie (April 19, 1916, to February 20, 2008) was a nursing educator and author who worked tirelessly for the cause of African American nurses. She was the first black nurse to serve on the board of a state nursing association (Florida State Nurses Association).
Carnegie was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She pursued higher education with passion and dedication, earning a diploma from the Lincoln School of Nurses, a bachelor's degree from West Virginia State College, a master's degree from Syracuse University, and, finally, a doctor of public administration degree from New York University.
During her long career, according to her obituary from 2008, Dr. Carnegie, "started one nursing school and led another, wrote books and professional journal articles, and challenged racism in its many forms." In 1943, she founded the four-year nursing program at Hampton University, and then from 1945 to 1953, she was dean of Florida A&M University's School of Nursing.
At a time when black nurses were addressed only as "Nurse" (not as "Miss" or any other title), Dr. Carnegie insisted on her honorific title being used. When traveling to Florida for state nursing meetings as dean, she refused to ride in freight elevators. Although welcomed to the board of the Florida Nurses Association -- the first black nurse to be so invited -- when she was told she couldn't vote, she refused the appointment until, in 1949, she was elected as a full voting member of the board.
"Up until then," she said, "we were limited to [attending] maybe one business meeting. That [voting] was the main thing I fought for."
In 1994, Dr. Carnegie received the Living Legend designation from the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), "in recognition of the multiple contributions" she made to the nursing profession. Among her outstanding achievements, Dr. Carnegie was:
- Editorial staff member of American Journal of Nursing
- Senior editor of Nursing Outlook
- First editor of Nursing Research
- Author of The Path We Tread: Blacks in Nursing Worldwide, 1954-1994
In 2000, Dr. Carnegie was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame. According to the ANA site, "Mary Elizabeth Carnegie exhibited courage, integrity, and commitment to the advancement of black and other minority nurses."
Obituary for Mary Elizabeth Carnegie, Washington Post
"In nursing, you can be anything you want to be -- practitioner, educator, administrator, executive, researcher, journalist, consultant, congressional leader, policymaker, health advocate."
