Pin for American Red Cross Nurse worn by Lt. Louise Lomax
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1942
name: label: Manufactured by
content: Unidentified
label: Distributed by
content: American Red Cross, American, founded 1881
label: Owned by
content: Louise Virginia Lomax, American, 1920 - 2011
notes: label: Caption
content: Louise Lomax attended the Saint Philip Hospital School of Nursing, a segregated nursing school that was part of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. She graduated in September 1942 and passed her nursing examinations in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. She then applied for admission to the Army Nurse Corps (ANC). In order to be eligible for admission to the ANC, women were required to be a graduate of a nursing school, to be a registered professional nurse, to be a member of a national nursing organization, and to be a member of the American Red Cross.
label: Caption
content: Lomax joined the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943 with the help of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses and trained as a psychiatric nurse at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. By September 1943 she was stationed at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, home of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lomax remained at Tuskegee during the war, where she was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
label: Caption
content: After the war, Lt. Lomax went on to serve at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio; Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; at VA hospitals in Downey, Illinois; and Perry Point, Maryland; and finally at the Army’s Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lt. Lomax retired from active duty in March 1949 and transferred to the Reserve Corps, where she served for four years. She was honorably discharged from the ANC in April 1953.
label: Description
content: An American Red Cross Nurse pin worn by Lt. Louise Lomax. The pin is brass colored with a painted enamel center. A red cross inside a white background is at the center of the pin. This is circled with a blue border with gold lettering. The text on the pin reads [AMERICAN NATONAL RED CROSS NURSE].
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Associations and institutions
label: Topic
content: Medicine
label: Topic
content: Nursing
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Awards, Medals, and Insignia
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pia Marie Winters Jordan in memory of her mother, First Lieutenant Louise Virginia Lomax Winters, Army Nurse Corps; and her uncle, Sgt. Henry James Lomax, U.S. Army
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2022.42.2.2.1
objectType: label: Type
content: lapel pins
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Unknown – Restrictions Possible
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: metal, enamel
label: Dimensions
content: Diameter: 7/8 in. (2.2 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 7/8 × 7/8 × 3/16 in. (2.2 × 2.2 × 0.4 cm)