III 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 386 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 
Received and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Honoring Mary Eliza Mahoney, America’s first professionally 
trained African-American nurse. 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney was born May 7, 1845, in Dor-
chester, Massachusetts, to Charles Mahoney and Mary 
Jane Seward Mahoney; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney, at the age of 33, was accepted 
as a student nurse at the hospital-based program of nurs-
ing at the New England Hospital for Women and Chil-
dren; 
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Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney was one of four students, of 
a class of 40, who completed nursing at the New England 
Hospital for Women and Children in 1879; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney devoted her time and efforts 
unselfishly to the National Association of Colored Grad-
uate Nurses and was installed as the Official Chaplin; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney’s motto was ‘‘Work more and 
better the coming year than the previous year.’’; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney delivered the first annual key 
note speech of the National Association of Colored Grad-
uate Nurses and established the Mary Eliza award, which 
today continues as the Mary Eliza Mahoney Award be-
stowed biennially by the American Nurses Association; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney supported the suffrage move-
ment and was the first African-American professionally 
trained nurse to receive retirement benefits from a fund 
left by a Boston physician to care for 60 nurses, who re-
ceived twenty-five dollars every three months as long as 
they lived; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney’s gravesite is in Woodlawn 
Cemetery, Everett, Massachusetts, and the headstone on 
her grave states, ‘‘The First Professional Negro Nurse in 
the U.S.A.’’; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney was inducted into the Amer-
ican Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1976; 
Whereas Mary Eliza Mahoney advanced the nursing profes-
sion by fostering high standards of nursing practice and 
confronting issues affecting professional nurses, such as 
the shortage of nurses; 
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Whereas today the shortage of nurses is a crisis, estimated 
to be 110,000 nurses, and is expected to increase to 
2,800,000 by 2020 if this trend continues; and 
Whereas nursing is a critical investment to the delivery of 
high-quality, cost-effective patient care, and the Nation 
should invest in and value nursing care: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That the Congress— 
(1) honors Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first Afri-
can-American nurse for an outstanding nursing ca-
reer, dedication to the United States nursing profes-
sion, and exemplary contributions to local and na-
tional professional nursing organizations; 
(2) recognizes Mary Eliza Mahoney as the first 
professionally trained African-American nurse, and 
honors other African-American nurses who practice 
nursing with distinction; 
(3) honors and supports the goals and activities 
of National Nurses Week; 
(4) promotes further understanding and public 
awareness of the history of American nurses, who 
practiced nursing with compassion and devotion and 
transmitted new scientific knowledge using science- 
based nursing practice; and 
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(5) advocates for women of color to enter nurs-
ing and supports strategies to counteract the short-
age of nurses. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 
2006. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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