On This Day in History Quilt for April 16.
On this day in 1845, Mary Eliza Mahoney was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Mahoney was the first African American registered nurse in the United States. Her interest in nursing started in her teen years and she spent 15 years at the New England Hospital for Women and Children as a cook, janitor, washerwoman and unofficial nurse’s assistant. She was admitted to the hospital’s nursing program at age 33 and was one of four students (out of 42 who started the course) to complete the course. Mahoney was inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame in 1978, fifty years after her death.
Martha Rebecca Crider Posey of Franklin Parish, Louisiana hand made this quilt, pattern name unknown, in 1930 for her daughter Major Reber Lillian Posey of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. The quilt traveled with Posey’s daughter to Europe and the Far East. Martha Posey’s great-granddaughter owns the quilt now and documented it during the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project in 2002.
View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view.
Sources:
http://womenshistory.about.com/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/partners/early/e_pioneers_mahoney.html
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org