Mary Mahoney was born on May 7, 1845 (some sources say April 16), in Boston, Massachusetts. She was admitted to the nursing school of the New England Hospital for Women and Children, and became the first black woman to complete nurse’s training in 1879. She also became one of the first black members of the American Nurses Association. Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She died in Boston in 1926.

Mary Eliza Mahoney was born on May 7, 1845 (some sources say April 16, 1845), in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. After working for several years as a private-duty nurse at Boston’s New England Hospital for Women and Children, in 1878, Mahoney was admitted to the hospital’s nursing program.

The following year, Mary Mahoney became the first black woman to complete nurse’s training. She also subsequently became one of the first black members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (later renamed the American Nurses Association), and a member of the newly founded National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

In addition to her pioneering efforts in nursing, Mahoney has been credited as one of the first women to register to vote in Boston folliowing the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which took place on August 26, 1920, granting women’s suffrage.

In the early 1900s, Mahoney relocated to Long Island, New York, to serve a stint as supervisor of the Howard Orphan Asylum for Black Children, returning to Massachusetts thereafter.

Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976, and received induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993. She died in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 4, 1996, at the age of 80.

From Mary Mahoney. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/mary-mahoney-41021. Accessed Jun 11, 2013.