Mabel Keaton Staupers (née Mabel Elouise Doyle; February 27, 1890 – September 30/November 29, 1989) was a pioneering Caribbean-American nurse, civil rights advocate, and organizational leader who played a pivotal role in breaking down racial barriers in the American nursing profession, particularly during and after World War II. Born in Barbados, West Indies, to Thomas Clarence Doyle and Pauline Doyle, Mabel immigrated to the United States in 1903 at age 13 with her mother, settling in Harlem, New York City. Her father joined them a few years later. The family gained U.S. citizenship in 1917.
She attended public schools in New York before enrolling in 1914 at the Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing (now part of Howard University College of Nursing) in Washington, D.C. She graduated with honors in 1917. This institution, founded to serve formerly enslaved African Americans and later affiliated with Howard University, provided crucial training for Black nurses in an era of widespread segregation. After graduation, Staupers worked as a private-duty nurse in Washington, D.C., and New York. Deeply committed to addressing health disparities in Black communities, she co-founded the Booker T. Washington Sanitarium in Harlem in 1920 alongside physicians Louis T. Wright and James Wilson. It was one of the first facilities in Harlem dedicated to treating African Americans with tuberculosis (TB). This disease disproportionately affected Black populations due to poor living conditions and limited access to care. She served as its first superintendent (1920–1921/1922).
In 1921–1922, she held a fellowship at the Henry Phipps Institute for Tuberculosis in Philadelphia, a leading research and training facility. Returning to New York, she surveyed Harlem’s health needs. She became the executive secretary of the Harlem Committee of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association (1922–1934), a role she held for 12 years.
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Leadership in the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN)
In 1934, Staupers became the first paid executive secretary of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN), an organization founded in 1908 to support Black nurses excluded from many mainstream nursing groups and state associations. She later served as its president (1949). Under her leadership, the NACGN grew in influence, advocating for better opportunities, education, and integration.
World War II Advocacy and Desegregation of the Military Nurse Corps
Staupers’ most famous achievement came during World War II. Despite severe nursing shortages, the U.S. Army and Navy maintained strict racial quotas and segregation policies, initially limiting Black nurses to a small number (e.g., a quota of 56 in the Army) and often assigning them to segregated or undesirable duties.
She organized national campaigns, including letter-writing drives, public protests, and testimony before Congress in support of the Cadet Nurse Corps (1943), pushing for protections for minority nurses. In 1944, she met with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to highlight the injustices. Her persistent advocacy, combined with wartime pressures, led to a breakthrough: On January 10, 1945, the Army (followed by the Navy) opened its nurse corps to all qualified applicants regardless of race. This victory not only allowed hundreds of Black nurses to serve but also advanced broader civil rights efforts in healthcare.
Post-War Achievements and Legacy
Following the military integration, Staupers continued pressing for change. In 1948, the American Nurses Association (ANA) was fully integrated, largely due to her efforts and those of the NACGN. With these goals largely achieved, she supported the NACGN’s voluntary dissolution in 1951, believing its mission had been fulfilled and that Black nurses should fully participate in mainstream organizations. In 1951, the NAACP awarded her the prestigious Spingarn Medal for her contributions to racial equality. She documented her experiences and the broader movement in her 1961 book, No Time for Prejudice: A Story of the Integration of Negroes in Nursing in the United States. Later in life, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she lived with her sister, Dr. Dorothy Harrison, and continued advocating for nursing and civil rights.
Personal Life
Staupers married twice. In 1917, she wed Dr. James Max Keaton (marriage ended in divorce). In 1931, she married Fritz C. Staupers, a Barbadian-American; he died in 1949 after 18 years of marriage. She had no children. Mabel Keaton Staupers died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C., at age 99 (sources vary slightly on the exact date between September 30 and November 29, 1989).
Her honors include:
- Spingarn Medal (1951)
- Induction into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame (1996)
- Recognition by the National Park Service and various historical societies for key sites tied to her life and work (e.g., Freedmen’s Hospital, Harlem locations)
Staupers is remembered as a determined strategist and advocate whose work not only advanced opportunities for Black nurses but also contributed significantly to the broader civil rights movement by challenging institutional racism in healthcare and the military. Her legacy continues to inspire efforts toward equity in nursing and beyond.