Born in 1901, Estelle Massey Osborne became the first Black woman to earn a master’s degree in nursing. But this isn’t the only fact that distinguishes her. Throughout her career, Osborne dedicated herself to improving the options available to Black nurses across the country. Her goal was to ensure that Black nurses received just as high-caliber an education as their white counterparts.In 1943, Osborne became a consultant for the National Nursing Council for War Services and helped get the color ban lifted from nursing in the US Army and Navy. She also assisted in almost doubling, within two years, the number of training schools that would accept Black students.Then in 1945 she became the first Black member of New York University’s teaching faculty and used her position to continue to fight for Black nurses’ rights. Osborne’s legacy lives on in the form of the Estelle Massey Osborne Scholarship for registered Black nurses interested in studying a nursing master’s degree full-time.
