She Became The First Black Woman In America To Receive A Master’s Degree In Nursing In 1931 And Helped Push The U.S. Navy To Lift Its Ban On Black Nurses In 1945

During World War II, Estelle became a consultant to the Coordinating Committee of Negro Nursing for the National Council for War Service.

When the Bolton Act, which sent millions of dollars in federal funding to nursing schools, was passed in 1943, she worked hard to ensure Black nurses received their fair share of the benefits.

A few years later, along with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt, Estelle helped push the U.S. Navy to lift its ban on Black nurses and start accepting them in 1945.

In the years following the war, Estelle returned to New York and became the first Black faculty member at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing.

She let everyone know that minority women were just as capable of holding important authoritative positions in nursing as anyone else.

For the last two decades of her life, Estelle never stopped advocating for racial equality and proper education and benefits for Black nurses. She served as a leader for several organizations and inspired many.

Three years after she passed away in 1981 at 80, she was inducted into the American Nursing Association Hall of Fame. Estelle led an amazing and inspiring life that changed the field of nursing in America forever.