Due to the Navy Nurse Corps being one of the last units to accept African Americans, it had the smallest representation of black women. Under pressure from several directions, the Navy ended exclusion based on race in January 1945. The SPARS would finally be integrated in October 1944, and the WAVES in December 1944. As a matter of reference, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later fully incorporated and called the Women’s Army Corps) accepted African Americans beginning in January 1941, but capped the number who could serve to around 10% of the corps. Dailey (second from right in the photograph above) was the first African American sworn in as a Navy nurse on 8 March 1945, following changes in Navy recruitment and admittance procedures that had previously excluded black women from joining the Nurse Corps.įirst Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a well known proponent for the change, and had also put pressure on the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and SPARS (the women’s component of the Coast Guard) - all subsets of the Navy - to do the same. On this day in 1945, Phyllis Mae Dailey was inducted into the United States Navy Nurse Corps. For black women in particular, the war was fought for “Double V” - victory over the enemy overseas, and victory over prejudice at home. In celebration of Women’s History Month, The National WWII Museum is focusing on milestones in women’s contributions to the war effort. Phyllis Mae Dailey: First Black Navy Nurse
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