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Nurse Aileen Cole

The nurses pictured here were members of the Army Nurse Corps. Both the American Red Cross and the Army maintained barriers prohibiting black nurses. It was not "deemed advisable to assign white and colored nurses to the same posts." However, with the combination of both World War I and the Influenza epidemic of 1918 the need for trained nurses was critical. Once separate quarters were arranged a total of 18 black nurses were assigned in segregated posts.

Nurse Aileen Cole (pictured front row left) was notified by the American Red Cross on her selection, but "it remains with you to justify our selection and to prove that the Red Cross stands for efficient service." Nurse Cole was to accept "conditions without comment or criticism... to adapt ... cheerfully and without friction to the environment."

The head nurse at Camp Sherman where Nurse Cole was assigned concluded that the black nurses "were a credit to their race" adding "I now find myself deeply interested in the problems of all colored nurses..."