Martha M. Franklin
*Martha Franklin was born on this date in 1870. She was a Black nurse and activist.
Martha Minerva Franklin was born in New Milford, Connecticut, to Mary E. Gauson and Henry J. Franklin. Her father was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. She graduated from Meriden Public High School in 1890 as the only Black student in her class. In 1895, she moved to Philadelphia to attend the Women's Hospital Training School for Nurses. She graduated in December 1897 and was once again the only Black student in her class.
After graduation, Franklin returned to Meriden and became a private nurse. In the early 1900s, Franklin moved to New Haven and became involved in the city's Black social organizations. Franklin began studying Bback nurses' status in the fall of 1906 as an advocate for family consumer services. She mailed more than 500 letters to black nurses, superintendents of nursing schools, and nursing organizations to gain a broader perspective on their experiences. Franklin determined that the prestigious American Nurses Association was technically open to black members, but many State Nurse's Associations refused to admit blacks.
State-level membership was required to join the American Nurses Association; thus, many qualified African American nurses were barred from full membership in the national association. Franklin sent 1,500 letters to black nurses, suggesting a national meeting. Adah Belle Samuel Thoms hosted the meeting at the Lincoln Hospital and Home in New York City. Fifty-two nurses attended this first meeting to form the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN), and Franklin was elected president. Three goals were set out in the initial meeting of the NACGN: improve training for Black nurses, reduce racial inequality in the nursing profession, and cultivate leaders from within the Black nursing community.
The NACGN received early support from the National Medical Association, a black physicians' group. The NACGN was invited to hold its meetings in tandem with the National Medical Association, and articles written by nurses were published in the National Medical Association's journal. In 1951, the NACGN merged with the American Nurses Association.
Franklin moved to New York City and graduated from a six-month postgraduate course at Lincoln Hospital. Through this course, Franklin became a registered nurse and began working as a public school nurse. Between 1928 and 1930, Franklin studied public health nursing at Teachers College, Columbia University, but did not complete a degree.
Martha Franklin retired and moved to New Haven. She died on September 26, 1968, at the age of 98, and is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery.
