"Mabel Keaton Staupers" (February 27, 1890-November 29 1989)

She was in Barbados,West Indies,at the age of 13 she emigrated to the United States with her parents,Pauline and Thomas Doyle in  Harlem New York in 1903.Mabel completed her primary and secondary education in New York City and in 1914 she was admitted to Freedman's Hospital School of Nursing in Washington,D.C.Upon graduating with honors three years later,she began working as a private service nurse.In 1920 Mabel and two African Americans physicians Louis T. Wright and James Wilson,founded the Booker T. Washington Sanitarium in Harlem,treating African Americans suffering from tuberculosis.In 1922 Mabel conducted a detailed investigation in to Harlem's health care needs.The report identified serious shortcomings in the city's treatment of people of color suffering from tuberculosis.In response,New york founded the Harlem Committee of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association and appointed Mabel as executive secretary.She spent the next 12 years ensuring that Harlem's residents suffering from tuberculosis were allotted adequate resources for dealing with the disease.In 1934 Mabel was named executive secretary of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN),a post she retained until 1946.She advocated for black nurses by organizing local and state nursing  associations,advising black nurses and campaigning to integrate the Armed Forces Nurses Corps.The integration had officially occurred in 1941,a rigid system of quotas denied African American nurses full integration.Backed by overwhelming public support including an endorsement from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt,and following a nationwide nursing shortage during World War 2,Mabel campaign for the U.S. Armed Forces Nurses Corps finally succeeded in 1945.In 1948,she turned her attention to the American Nurses Association (ANA),the largest organization of professional nurses in the United States.Pressured by Mabel and other prominent black nurses,the ANA finally integrated its ranks in 1949.Shortly after this monumental breakthrough,she was elected president of the NACGN.In 1950,however Mabel led the disbanding of the NACGN,feeling that the organization had completed its mission as black nurses now had access to all nursing organizations.For her role as an advocate for racial equality and for outstanding achiievement Mabel received the Springarn Medal in 1951.Ten years later she would publish her own story of the NACGN.In 1967,New York Mayor John V.Lindsay presented her with a citation of appreciation,reading "To an immigrant who came to the United States and by Individual Effort through Education and Personal Achievement has become and Outstanding American Leader and Distinguished Citizen of America."Mabel moved to Washington D.C.IN 1970,where she died.

Mabel is in the middle.