
By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
For 74 years, the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization (MMPNO), a local Black nurses association named after the first African American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States, has been providing a bridge for young Black women and men the opportunity to succeed in the field of nursing.
The legacy of the MMPNO is now spotlighted in a book written by Lois Price Spratlen, “African American Registered Nurses in Seattle: The Struggle for Opportunity and Success.” The manuscript chronicles the lives of 25 of the early African American Registered Nurses hired in Seattle and goes into great depth to inform the reader of the tribulations and trials endured by these early nurses in order to obtain training and employment in the greater King County area. It also provides information on how they have given back to the community over the years.
A number of the storied women described in this book are presently in the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) Hall of Fame based on their lifetime of distinctive achievements, including Ann Foy Baker, Mary Lee Bell, Shirley Gilford, Maxine Haynes, Verna Hill, Vivian Lee, Thelma Pagues, Muriel Softli, Dr. Lois Price Spratlen, and Elizabeth Thomas.
Spratlen, who is now deceased, and her husband have given the rights to the book to MMPNO, which will use proceeds from its sales to benefit their scholarship fund for nursing students of African descent.
MMPNO began in 1949 as a small contingent of 13 African American Registered Nurses, 11 of whom are featured in Spratlen’s book, who came together to support each other in gaining employment and combating the racial biases they faced as Black nurses in Seattle.
“When we started, it was just about supporting each other and to help in job searching in the Seattle area because at that time Harborview Medical Center was the only hospital to give Black nurses opportunities and hire them,” says Vivien Lee, a long-time member of MMPNO.
Today, MMPNO continues its legacy in advancing the careers of Black nurses by advocating for the promotion of qualified Black nurses to higher levels of management and leadership positions where they could have influence in improving health services to communities of color. In addition, the organization annually provides scholarships to students interested in the field of nursing.
“I have always been amazed at how the organization was able to branch out to begin to support students in their journey towards admission and then enlarge their mission to collecting financial means to support students, that’s how the endowment began,” said Lee.
Gayle Robinson, a longtime member of MMPNO, says while their focus remains on nurturing and growing the community of Black nurses, it is important to note that their membership and the students they support are very diverse.
“Some of us come from different backgrounds in our African heritage, whether we are born here in the U.S. or coming from outside of the U.S., like the Caribbean Island, even from the African continent and still practicing or going to school here in the U.S., so our range is big in African heritage,” says Robinson.
“So, our legacy, I would still say, is not only supporting nurses and bringing in more Black women and Black men into the field, but also, to have such a wide range of nurses in practice. That to me has been huge, and to see Mary Mahoney doing this for the last 74 years now staying true to their mission of doing both education service and community service,” Robinson continued.
The University of Washington School of Nursing recently honored 16 members of MMPNO as part of the 100 most influential Nurses in the 100-year history of the school. In addition, the University of Washington School of Nursing named their Center for Anti-Racism and Equity Department after two of MMPNO’s founding members — Frankie Manning and the author of the book, Lois Price Spratlen. The department is now known as the Manning Spratlen Center for Anti-Racism and Equity In Nursing Department.
According to Robinson, she sees MMPNO’s legacy as a bridge in how the ladies came together and utilized their struggles and experiences to help create a pathway into the industry for future generations.
“Dr. Spratlen who wrote the book about the nurses in Seattle had this vision of a bridge, where nurses started out at the very entry levels in nursing till their terminal degrees,” Robinson describes. “Just picture this vision of a bridge and actually in that part of the time, she may have been the only one with a doctorate degree. [Today], you now have at least 6 or 7 of us who now have made that bridge from our entry level to our terminal degrees, all within Mary Mahoney.”
“A lot of our success has come from the women who really encouraged us to keep pursuing our dreams of working in healthcare, and taking care of the people who look like us and pursuing what you wanted to be able to do in healthcare,” added Robinson.
MMPNO understands the difficulties the underserved have in accessing existing health services or being served with cultural awareness by the existing sources of health care, and its members find their work to be rewarding and empowering.
“The most rewarding thing about being in nursing and working with Mary Mahoney and working with the men and women you work with is that you’re empowered to do so much more,” says Robinson. “And how you expand your vision, how you expand your career, that’s the legacy that Mary Mahoney is a part of.”
Spratlen’s book is available on the MMPNO website at MaryMahoney.org.