Adah Belle Thoms facts for kids
Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (born January 12, 1870 – died February 21, 1943) was an amazing African American nurse. She helped start the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and was its president for many years. She also worked as the acting director of the Lincoln School for Nurses in New York. Adah Thoms fought hard to allow African American nurses to join the American Red Cross and later the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, especially during the flu outbreak in 1918. She was one of the first nurses honored in the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame when it began in 1976.
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Early Life and Becoming a Nurse
Adah Belle Samuels was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her parents were Harry and Melvina Samuels. When she was young, she got married for a short time and kept the last name Thoms.
Before becoming a nurse, Adah was a school teacher in Richmond. In the 1890s, she moved to New York to study speech at Cooper Union. She then decided to become a nurse. In 1900, she graduated from the Women's Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage. She was the only Black woman in her class of thirty students.
Adah continued her nursing studies at the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing. This school was for Black women, and she graduated in 1905. From 1906 to 1923, she worked as the acting director there. Sadly, because of unfair rules about race, she was never given the official title of director.
Fighting for Nurses' Rights
Adah Thoms worked with other important nurses like Martha Minerva Franklin and Mary Mahoney. They wanted to create an organization for Black nurses. In 1907, they held a meeting at Lincoln Home and Hospital, hosted by Adah.
In 1908, they officially started the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN). About 52 Black nurses joined. The main goal of this group was to make sure Black women nurses could be fully included in the nursing profession. They wanted equal chances for education, jobs, and pay. The NACGN worked hard to make changes, and it eventually helped integrate the U.S. Armed Forces and the American Nurses Association. The organization closed in 1950 after reaching many of its goals.
Adah Thoms was the president of the NACGN from 1916 to 1923. During World War I, she played a very important role. She pushed the American Red Cross to allow Black nurses to join. Because of her efforts, the Surgeon General agreed in July 1918 to let African American nurses join the Army Nurse Corps. They started serving during the flu epidemic in December 1918.
In 1921, Adah Thoms was even invited to the White House to meet President Warren G. Harding and his wife. This happened during a convention for the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in Washington, D.C.
Recognitions and Legacy
Adah Belle Samuels Thoms passed away in New York City on February 21, 1943. Her work helped open doors for many Black nurses.
- American Nurses Association, Hall of Fame - She was one of the first people honored in 1976.
- Mary Mahoney Medal, 1936 - She was the very first person to receive this award from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.
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