Maria Anderson Roberto
{{short description|CHamoru Naval Nurse Chaperone from 1914-1924}}
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Maria Anderson Roberto (born 1880) was a chaperone for the Native Nurses program in Guam from 1914 to 1924 during the US Naval occupation of the island.
Early life
Career
File:Naval Hospital Agana, page 81, Island of Guam (1917) (cropped).jpg
In 1914, Roberto was hired by the US navy as a chaperone for the Native Nurses program. Roberto's employment as a nurse chaperone was a concession by the US Navy, who realized they needed a culturally-appropriate woman to care for the CHamoru nursing students.{{Cite book |last=Hattori |first=Anne Perez |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvvn1xk |title=Colonial Dis-Ease: U.S. Navy Health Policies and the Chamorros of Guam, 1898–1941 |date=2004 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2808-0 |pages=83|doi=10.2307/j.ctvvn1xk |jstor=j.ctvvn1xk }} In CHamoru culture, unmarried women were always accompanied by a chaperone, who was typically an older woman or close male relative. Her presence allowed these women to participate in the program without breaking cultural traditions. She protected and nurtured the students as they trained at the naval hospital, helping them pass exams and serving as a "surrogate mother." Additionally, as a respected CHamoru woman, Roberto bridged the general distrust for the naval administration and Western healthcare practices. She was an important intermediary figure, translating between Chamorro and English.{{Cite journal |date=1922 |title=Foreign Department |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3406400 |journal=The American Journal of Nursing |volume=22 |issue=9 |pages=736–738 |doi=10.2307/3406400 |jstor=3406400 |issn=0002-936X|url-access=subscription }} In Della Knight's 1922 tribute, which was published in the American Journal of Nursing, she stated that Roberto held "together the fabric of the work built up by the Navy nurses." She was well-respected by parents, students, and navy hospital staff.
Hansen's disease diagnosis and death
In 1924, Roberto contracted Hansen's Disease. She was deported to Culion, where the US Navy had established a leper colony.{{Cite book |last1=Hattori |first1=Anne Perez |title=Colonial dis-ease: US Navy health policies and the Chamorros of Guam, 1898 - 1941 |last2=University of Hawaii at Manoa |date=2004 |publisher=Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2808-0 |series=Pacific islands monograph series |location=Honolulu |pages=112–113}} Roberto's deportation caused mass community outrage and grief throughout the island.
Her fate after deportation is unknown. It is assumed she died on the island.