Adah Belle Thoms

Adah Belle Thoms (1870 to 1943) was an African American nurse and organizer who worked to open the nursing profession to Black women. Born Adah Belle Samuels in Richmond, Virginia, she taught school before moving to New York, where she graduated from the Women's Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage in 1900 and from the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing in 1905. She served as acting director of the Lincoln School for Nurses from 1906 to 1923, although racist policies kept her from receiving the title of director. With Martha Minerva Franklin and Mary Mahoney she helped organize the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and was its president from 1916 to 1923. She lobbied the American Red Cross to enroll Black nurses during the First World War, which led to limited enrolment in the Army Nurse Corps from December 1918. She received the first Mary Mahoney Medal in 1936 and was among the first nurses inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.