Larkin Hood, Anthropology

Contact lnapua@u.washington.edu Box 353100

Mississippi Nurses: The Eliza Pillars Professional Nurses Organization

Dr. Lois Price-Spratlen (University Ombudsman; Faculty, School of
Nursing)is creating a book about one of the first organizations created by
and for African-American professional nurses in the American South. The
bulk of the work will be based on 27 oral histories collected by Dr.
Price-Spratlen during field visits to Mississippi in 2002. One of the
prinicipal themes of the book is how these African-Americans managed to
overcome the challenges of living in segregation-era Mississippi and
become productive professionals and leaders in health care fields. One
aspect of this work is to create a digital map of Mississippi to indicate
to the reader where each informant was born and raised.