"Martha Minerva Franklin"(October 29,1870-September 26,1868)

Born in New Milford Connecticut.She was the middle child of Henry J.&

I could be wrong for once, I believe Martha is in the middle.

Mary E.Gauson Franklin.Martha grew up in Meriden where she graduated from Meriden Public school High School in 1890 as the only African American student in her class.Five years later she entered the women's Hospital Training School for Nurses in Philadelphia.The Philadelphia school was more racially inclusive than nursing training schools in New England,Martha was once the only again the only African American graduated in the class of 1897.After graduation she returned to Connecticut where she worked as a private nurse in patients homes.Because Martha was isolated from other nurses at this point in career,it was not until she moved to New Haven in the early 1900s that she began to see the extent of discrimination faced by her African American colleagues.In 1906 she sent out more than 500 notes to nurses,superintendents of nursing schools,and nursing organizations in order to gain a wider perspective on the outlook for African Americans in the field of nursing.After two years of research,Martha determined that,African American nurses were permitted to join the American Nurses Association (ANA),they were not admitted as equal members and could not work together within the organization to address concerns of segregation and discrimination in the profession.The first meeting was held in New York City later that year and was attended by fifty-two African American nurses.The National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) was founded at the 1908,meeting and Martha became its first president.The organization's were three-fold:first,to improve professional standards within the professional;second to eliminate racial discrimination in the field;and third,to develop leadership among African American nurses.The organization grew and became more formal as more nurses joined and as African American doctors from the American Medical Association also joined the effort.By 1921,the NACGN numbered 2,000 members and an NACGN delegation was even received at the White House by President Warren G.Harding.In 1928,Martha moved to New York City where she enrolled in a graduate program at the Lincoln Hospital.Upon completion of the program she became a Registered Nurse and began to work in the New York City school system.She also continued her education and pursued a degree in Public Health Nursing at the Columbia University Teachers College,Martha retired before completing all of the courses for the degree.Upon her retirement,Martha returned to New Haven to live with her older sister.Martha died in Meriden and is burned in the Walnut Grove Cemetery.She lived to see many of the NACGN'S goal accomplished and,the organization merged with ANA.In 1976,she was inducted into ANA hall of fame.Her gravesite is a stop on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.