How nurses known as ‘Black Angels’ helped save TB patients

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Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll be looking at an exhibit about black nurses who were recruited to care for tuberculosis patients in the mid-20th century.

In the early 20th century, New York City was plagued by tuberculosis, killing thousands each year. The city’s health department chose Staten Island for Sea View Hospital in 1905, which became one of the largest tuberculosis hospitals in the country.

But tuberculosis was highly contagious, and by the 1930s the number of white nurses willing to risk their lives to care for Sea View’s patients was dwindling. Administrators began calling on a staff often overlooked because of racism: black nurses.

The Staten Island Museum now has an exhibit running, “Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital,” that tells the story of the 300 black nurses who were recruited. Curator Gabriella Leon explained that the name Black Angels came from the patients and was adopted by the nurses.

But words on the wall at the exhibit remind visitors that nurses were “real people with personal lives, families, flaws and stories.”

The museum is located in the heart of Staten Island’s Greenbelt park area, about five miles from the Sea View campus.

“This was an attractive place to build a hospital because it was the least populated borough, and it had a reputation for fresh air and sunshine,” Lyon said during a recent exhibit tour. He added that at the time, air and sun were believed to be the most effective treatments for tuberculosis.

The hospital first recruited black nurses locally, from Lincoln School for Nurses in the Bronx and the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing. But by the 1950s Sea View still had a shortage, so black nurses were sought nationally.

One of the women who stepped up to fill the gap is Virginia Allen, now 92 and living in the nurses’ residence at Sea View. In 2009, it became a private retirement home.

Unlike Allen, many nurses were brought in from the Jim Crow South with the promise of a living wage, while even in New York most hospitals refused to hire black nurses or limited their numbers, as one of the exhibit’s oral histories explains. But Allen came from Detroit in 1947 at age 16. Her aunt, Edna Sutton-Ballard, who was then a surgical nurse at Sea View, inspired her.

“I looked up to my aunt,” said Allen, one of the exhibit’s consultants, adding: “The other nurses, the adults, embraced me. It was a real community.”

Allen began working as a nurse’s aide at Sea View Children’s Hospital. According to the exhibit, 3 to 7 percent of the nurses at Sea View suffered from tuberculosis. Allen, however, was never afraid.

“I loved being around kids. And I thought I knew how to protect myself,” she said.

By the time she left the hospital in 1957, she and her fellow Black Angels had played a major role in protecting the public. Sea View conducted the first clinical trial of isoniazid in 1951, a drug that would become crucial in treating the disease. On the front lines of that trial were nurses who administered the drug, monitored patients and made detailed notes to report to doctors.

A panel of text in the museum summarized what happened next: “Drs. Edward Robitzek and Irving Selikoff, who oversaw the testing, received the prestigious Lasker Award for their work. But the nursing and support staff who risked their lives to keep Sea View Hospital running did not receive similar recognition.”

Dr. Oni Blackstock, founder and executive director of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consultancy in New York City, said the Black Angels were “courageous trailblazers.” She sees “definite parallels” between the Black Angels and the nurses who cared for dying patients early in the coronavirus pandemic.

“We know that the hospitals that have been hit hardest during the pandemic have been in poor Black and brown neighborhoods, where there were already a lack of resources and staff,” he said.

The exhibit includes an original Sea View nursing cart as well as a wool cape that was part of the nurses’ outdoor uniform. A book by Maria Smilios, “The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis,” came out in the fall.

“I’m so glad this legacy will live on,” Allen said.

Season

The day will be mostly sunny, with temperatures around 70. At night, temperatures will drop into the 60s.

Optional side parking

Effective as of June 12 (Shavuot).

Around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, two New York City police officers tried to stop a 19-year-old man who, according to authorities, was riding a motorcycle in the wrong direction on a one-way street in a deserted part of Queens near La Guardia Airport.

Commissioner Edward A. Caban said at a news conference that officers were patrolling the East Elmhurst area in an effort to investigate a recent spate of robberies involving people on mopeds and scooters.

The commissioner said that when the policemen tried to stop the man, he got off the bike and ran away. When the policemen chased him on foot for several blocks and caught him, he fired several bullets at them and the policemen also fired back.

Officials said one officer was shot in the leg; another was shot in the front of his bulletproof vest. The officers were taken to New York City Health and Hospitals, Elmhurst for treatment and were later released.

“This is a bullet hole,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference, showing off a bulletproof vest. “A young police officer is going home because of this jacket.”

The man involved in the shooting, identified by police as Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, was shot in the right ankle. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, where he remained in custody Monday, authorities said.

Police Department Detective Chief Joseph Kenny said at the news conference that the motorcycle Mata was riding was not registered. Kenny said Mata had not been arrested before in New York City but he is a suspect in several similar robberies in Queens.

Until recently, Mata had been living at a shelter on Ditmars Boulevard in Queens, officials said.

According to police data, the number of shootings in the city so far this year has declined significantly compared to 2023. As of May 26, 375 people had been shot in the city this year, a 12 per cent drop compared to the same period last year.

Shootings are rare in East Elmhurst, which falls under the 115th Precinct. There had been no shootings in the area as of May 26, according to police data, and only two people were shot in the precinct during the same period last year.

On the other hand, the number of robberies in the region has increased by about 34 percent as of May 26 compared to the same period last year, rising from 107 to 143. Kenny said the use of scooters and motorbikes to commit crimes is on the rise across the city.

Metropolitan Diary

Dear Diary:

I was riding the C train for an evening class at City College. It was rush hour, and I stood shoulder to shoulder with others in the packed car as the train slowed between stations.

It was summer and it was very hot in the car. The air-conditioning was poor and only a few windows could be fully opened.

I wasn’t feeling well after a difficult week and had trouble staying upright while waiting. After about half an hour, I managed to sit on the floor and put my head down.

I soon felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and then I was led a few feet away to a seat that seemed to have been vacated just for me. I expressed my appreciation, although I could not see who was guiding me nor who had given up his seat. The car was very crowded.

After sitting for several minutes I noticed that a traveler standing next to me was at his limit. Feeling my energy somewhat restored, I switched places with that person.

And so it went on for an hour or more: those seated in the crowded car were exchanging places with those standing, and moving around one another slowly and almost silently to do so.

— Tracy Reczek