Della Rainey Tishonia

Introduction & Background Della Rainey Jackson graduated from Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing. She was the first African-American nurse to answer the call for nurses World War II. She entered service at Fort Bragg in April 1941 and was later transferred to Tuskegee Army Flying School in March 1942. Lieutenant Rainey was the first African-American nurse to be promoted to the rank of chief nurse and the first to be in charge of an army hospital. She received her doctorate from Columbia University. After the war she served in the occupation force in Japan and retired from the Army as a major, the highest rank to be achieved by any African-American nurse in World War II. I chose her as my person because one day I want to go into the medical field and become a nursing assistant.

Achievements Della Rainey became known as “Maw Raney” to the nurses she supervised at Tuskegee Army Air Field during World War II. She was the principal chief nurse to up to 20 nurses at any one time during her almost three-year tenure on the base before being promoted to captain. She had to lead these women into a career where they would be discriminated against because of their gender and their race. Today, there is a Della H. Rainey Nursing Scholarship that was established by the Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Foundation and the National Black Nurses Association for nursing students enrolled in at least their sophomore year at an accredited BSN degree program.

Opinion I think that Della Rainey was very important because back then people didn’t trust black nurses to help them so because of her breaking into this field she showed other black women that it was capable. Della made it easier for black women to get into the medical field and become nurses.

Effect Della Rainey opened the door for other black women to become nurses. Black women became more confident to join the nursing field.

Awards Della Rainey never won any formal awards but she was the head of the military hospital and she received her doctorate degree.

Resources www.tuskegeearmynurses.info/biographies.com www.nursinghistory.appstate.edu www.whitepages.com/name/Della-Rainey