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Why were many African American student nurses excluded from early nursing schools?

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A young doctor or nurse uses a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope to measure the blood pressure of an elderly man seated at a clinic office desk. — Nursing A nurse uses a sphygmomanometer to check a patient's blood pressure.

The exclusion of African American student nurses from early nursing schools was a direct result of the hospital-based educational model that dominated the profession in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because nursing education was tied to hospitals rather than colleges, these institutions reinforced the segregation prevalent in society and the broader health care system at the time.1

As a result of these discriminatory practices, African American student nurses were barred from almost all American hospitals and their associated training schools. Consequently, they were forced to seek training exclusively in schools established by African American hospitals. This systemic exclusion persisted until the mid-20th century, when organizations like the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) successfully campaigned for the desegregation of nursing associations and the military nursing corps, leveraging the acute need for nurses during World War II to push for professional integration.12