About Mabel K. Staupers
Mabel Keaton Staupers (February 27, 1890 – September 30, 1989) was a Barbadian born American pioneer of the nursing profession. Being faced with racial discrimination after graduating nursing school, Staupers became an advocate for racial equality in nursing in the United States. She is best known for her leadership in the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) and for helping end the racial restrictions against black nurses in the United States military during World War II. Staupers also did work in public health, caring for African American tuberculosis patients in Harlem. In 1961, she published a book on the integration of African American nurses in the United States. The major social change led by Staupers and what she is known for today is playing a crucial role in the desegregation of the military's nursing corps during World War II. It was the first and one of the few in-patient centers founded to care for African Americans with tuberculosis, at a time when other hospitals refused black medical experts privileges or staffing positions. Faced with racial discrimination after graduating from nursing school, Staupers became an advocate for racial equality in the nursing profession.
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