Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital
On View
1938 - 1942 Gift of Richard T. Greene, Jr., in memory of Virginia (Lea) Greene Collection of Historic Richmond Town | 21.012.0001
In 1951, Staten Island made history when a breakthrough treatment for tuberculosis was tested at Sea View Hospital. Taking Care highlights the groundbreaking work, lives, and legacy of the Black nursing staff, who came to be known as the “Black Angels.” This group of nurses broke racial barriers and risked their lives to care for patients and administer the clinical trials that forever changed the trajectory of this horrific disease.
Through artwork, archival images, historic objects, and oral histories, Taking Care amplifies this significant local history, recognizes their global impact, and connects to a larger narrative of Black healthcare workers, healers, and caregivers.
Introduction
Tuberculosis (TB) has caused more deaths in history than any other infectious disease. TB wards were dangerous places to work. The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital spent decades caring for patients sick with a contagious and incurable disease. In 1951, they were integral to drug trials that ushered in a new era of treatment for TB. In addition to their pioneering work, they created professional, religious, and activist organizations throughout the region.
Seventy-two years after the clinical trials at Sea View, tuberculosis remains a global public health crisis. Five years from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial disparities in healthcare persist. The work of the Black Angels marked a turning point in the history of TB. Taking Care commemorates this medical milestone. We honor the legacy of the Sea View nursing staff and aspire to a future that continues and completes their work.
“[My mother] was a healthcare provider. She worked at Sea View and… took a bus to work, and when she got off the bus, she’d always say, don’t touch me until I change my clothes. Because she worked at the TB hospital and she showed us basic infection control. As of today, Theresa and I are both registered nurses. My specialty is in infection control and epidemiology, and I really think subconsciously, I trimmed this back to my mother and her basic infection control guidelines that she set up.”
—– Lucille Herring, RN, Infection Control and Epidemiology, 2008.
Learn more about historic contributions of The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital
Fresh Air and Sunlight: The Rest Cure
- In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Staten Island’s wide-open spaces, fresh sea air, and distance from the rest of New York City made it an ideal destination for summer resorts and vacationing, but also to provide therapy for the sick while keeping them far from the people they might infect. Read more
The Essential Work of Sea View Hospital
- When Sea View Tuberculosis Hospital opened in 1913, TB was a leading cause of death among New Yorkers, killing over ten thousand people in the year 1910 alone. Sea View was one of 30 public hospitals administered by the City of New York. With 1,402 beds, it was one of the largest tuberculosis hospitals in the country.
Living at Sea View
- Sea View’s patients mostly came from the city’s poor, working-class, and immigrant populations. Those who lived in notoriously close and poorly ventilated tenement houses were particularly vulnerable to tuberculosis. Falling sick with tuberculosis meant suffering from fever, wet, sometimes bloody cough, chest pain, weakness, loss of appetite, skin lesions, and other symptoms as the disease spread throughout the body. Read more
The Black Angels
- From the 1930s to the 1960s, Black women comprised the majority of the nursing staff at Sea View Hospital. In 1930, in response to a staff shortage and financial concerns, hospital administrators began recruiting Black nurses to work under “a white supervisory force.” This hierarchy revealed a racist assumption that Black nurses could not lead. The Black nurses who served at Sea View disproved this notion, toppling barriers to advancement and ushering in a new era of treatment for TB.
A Proud Legacy
- The legacy of the “Black Angels” lives in the stories they told, the families they left behind, and the communities they built. In fact, the nurses at Sea View often recruited family and community members to the profession, building a network of healthcare professionals that extended beyond Sea View itself. Read more
Between Sisters
- Because of the Great Migration (1910-1970s), Staten Island witnessed the growth and abundance of social and civic organizations dedicated to the betterment of the Black community, many spearheaded by the nurses at Sea View. Read more
The Power of Public Health
- While tuberculosis has existed for thousands of years, it was only in the 19th century that scientists began to understand the microbial origins of disease. Read more
“I am a graduate of Bellevue Nursing School, and I joined Sea View…I got an offer from Annie Eliza Giles, who was a Bellevue grad, to work at Sea View, and since I had a lot of experience with the TB service at Bellevue, she was very glad. She knew about all of the services that Bellevue provided, so she was very happy, I guess, to have me come aboard…and wear the same cap that she wore.”
—– Curlene Jennings Bennett, Sea View Nurse, 1957 – 1958
The Black Angels blazed a trail for generations to come. The names listed here represent only a fraction of the hundreds of nursing professionals who worked at Sea View. We extend our deepest gratitude to them for their tireless efforts and courage in the face of adversity and fear. Through continued research, hundreds more nurses have been identified and are listed in the exhibition catalog.
Photography by Kris Graves
Centering the exhibition in 2024 was Back and Song, a meditative film and art installation by artists Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young. This kaleidoscopic installation reflects on the manner in which health and wellness are part and parcel of the American Black experience from cradle to grave. Back and Song considers the labor and care provided by generations of Black healers—doctors, nurses, midwives, morticians, therapists, and health aides—and their histories of contribution to, and resistance against, the flawed and discriminatory structures of Western medicine.
Photography by Kris Graves
Curated by
Rylee Eterginoso and Gabriella Leone
Scholar Advisory Panel
Debbie-Ann Paige
Public Historian, Professional Genealogist, and Doctoral student, College of Staten Island, CUNY
Maria Smilios
Author of The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Helped Cure Tuberculosis
Dr. Rita Reynolds
Associate Professor/Chair, History Department, Wagner College
Lisa Holland
Interim Library Director, Wagner College
Cynthia A. Connolly, RN, PhD
Professor of Nursing and Associate Director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania
Taking Care is made possible by:
Presenting Sponsor Staten Island University Hospital
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Lead sponsorship provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Major support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation.
Healthcare Heroes
Theresa Herring
Richmond University Medical Center
New York State Nurses Association
Dr. Kerry J. Kelly
Drs. Michael & Ginny Mantello
Wagner College Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing
Honor a Healthcare Hero
Honor a healthcare hero by supporting Taking Care at the Staten Island Museum.
Taking Care Artists and Scholar's Panel
On February 15, 2024, the Staten Island Museum hosted a panel discussion moderated by Taking Care co-curator Rylee Eterginoso which brought together artists Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young, co-curator Gabriella Leone, scholar advisors Debbie-Ann Paige, Dr. Rita Reynolds, and Lisa Holland for a discussion around their research and participation in the exhibition Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital. Moderated by Rylee Eterginoso and filmed by Shani Mitchell.
“These were nurses who came from all over. The South, North, everywhere. They came to work at Sea View Hospital because…there was a dire shortage of nurses. [They] were recruited from as far away as the Caribbean and the Philippines. The majority of the nurses were Black…they couldn’t get jobs in other areas, even though they were very well trained with degrees. White nurses did not apply for these jobs because of the danger of catching tuberculosis. It was a very high-risk job”
—Virginia Allen, Nurse at Sea View Hospital, 1947-1957
Virginia Allen's Oral History
Interview with Virginia Allen, surviving Black Angel who worked as a nurse at Staten Island’s Sea View Hospital from 1947-1957. Conducted by Sarah Dziedzic, Rumpus Room, Former Nurses' Residence at Sea View, September 30, 2022.
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Taking Care in the News
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The Black Angels Book Launch (Watch on Youtube)
September 23rd, 2023