Phyllis Mae Dailey
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Short description|American nurse and Navy officer (1919–1976)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Phyllis Mae Dailey
| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|03|12}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|10|31|1919|03|12}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}}
| branch = United States Navy Nurse Corps
| serviceyears = 1945–1951
| rank = Lieutenant (junior grade)
| known_for = First African American woman to serve or become a commissioned officer in the United States Navy
| alma_mater = Lincoln School for Nurses
Teachers College, Columbia University
| laterwork = Nursing educator
}}
Phyllis Mae Dailey (March 12, 1919 – October 31, 1976) was an American nurse and officer who became the first African American woman either to serve in the United States Navy or to become a commissioned Navy officer. An alumna of the Lincoln School for Nurses and Teachers College, Columbia University, she was sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps as an ensign on March 8, 1945. She left the service on May 9, 1951, having earned the rank of lieutenant (junior grade).
File:First African American Navy Nurse Corps Officer ENS Phyllis Mae Dailey in 1945.jpg)]]
Early life and education
Dailey was born in New York City to Septimus and Mary Herron Dailey. Her parents had immigrated to America from the British West Indies in 1915. Her father was a carpenter.{{Cite web |title=U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1983814?mark=8d8badd1b92730fa5a5d65c1b09f0bd9995529111804591105031dc2ba3e25f4 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}} She graduated from the Lincoln School for Nurses, studied public health at the Teachers College, Columbia University, and worked at a city hospital. After the United States entered World War II, she repeatedly applied to the Army Nurse Corps and Navy Nurse Corps, the latter of which desegregated on January 25, 1945.
Military service
Dailey was sworn into service in the Navy Nurse Corps on March 8, 1945, becoming the first African American woman to serve in the Navy, as well as the first African American woman to become a commissioned Navy officer.{{Cite web |last=Brookstein |first=Adrienne |date=March 8, 2022 |title=#VeteranOfTheDay Navy Veteran Phyllis Mae Dailey |url=https://news.va.gov/84808/veteranoftheday-navy-veteran-phyllis-mae-dailey/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=VA News |publisher=U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Lane |first=Derrick |date=March 10, 2016 |title=Phyllis Mae Dailey, The First Black Navy Nurse – BlackDoctor.org – Where Wellness & Culture Connect |url=https://blackdoctor.org/phyllis-mae-dailey/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=BlackDoctor.org |language=en-US}} Three other African American women—Edith Mazie DeVoe, Helen Fredericka Turner, and Eula Lucille Stimley—
While Turner and Stimley left the service by mid-1946, Dailey stayed in the Navy after the war, rising to Lieutenant Junior Grade on April 11, 1948.{{Cite book |last=Schmermund |first=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHhmDwAAQBAJ |title=Minority Soldiers Fighting in the Vietnam War |date=July 15, 2017 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC |isbn=978-1-5026-2666-0 |pages=24–25 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Dennis Denmark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtB2AAAAMAAJ |title=The Integration of the Negro Into the United States Navy, 1776-1947 |publisher=Department of Sociology, Howard University |year=1948 |pages=58 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862–1985 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1983748?mark=3e97f324ed15b056e014bc8e172da5704160d6e8445101cf916fd27ff5baddcb |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}} She was discharged on May 9, 1951, and returned to civilian life.{{Cite web |title=U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2010 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1976981?mark=4013578bf05c4060dd38dc2a40a8be7bb913811bb8ebca0d7cda0950875f895f |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}}
Dailey was a member of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. She attributed the Nurse Corps' desegregation to the activism of Mabel Keaton Staupers, who fought for the inclusion of Black nurses in the armed forces. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also lobbied for integration. Dailey said she "knew the barriers were going to be broken down eventually and felt the more applicants, the better the chances would be for each person."
Later life
Dailey married Headley E. Hanson (January 24, 1916 – August 18, 1995) in January 1947 in New York City. After departing military service, she worked as a clinical nursing instructor for the New York City Board of Education for twenty-four years and lived in Mount Vernon, New York, for twenty-one years. She died at Harlem Hospital after a brief illness at the age of 57, survived by her husband, a son named Robert, and daughters Barbara and Magdalene.{{Cite news |date=November 2, 1976 |title=Obituary of Phyllis Hanson |pages=10 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119447746/obituary-of-phyllis-hanson/ |access-date=2023-02-22}} Her husband was a motorman who worked for the New York City Transit Authority for thirty-three years before retiring in 1976.{{Cite news |date=August 22, 1995 |title=Obituary for Headley E. Hanson: retired motorman |pages=6 |work=The Herald Statesman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119447956/obituary-for-headley-e-hanson-retired/ |access-date=2023-02-22}}
References
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Category:20th-century American women educators
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:African-American nurses
Category:Educators from New York City
Category:Female United States Navy nurses in World War II
Category:American nursing educators
Category:Military personnel from New York City
Category:Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
Category:United States Navy Nurse Corps officers