English: Biography: As nurse and public health administrator, Florence Edmonds served her community for more than 50 years, both professionally and in a volunteer capacity. Born, raised, and educated in Pittsfield, Mass., Mrs. Edmonds was refused nurses' training at the local hospital. In 1917 she enrolled in a three-year course at Lincoln Hospital and Home Training School for Nurses in New York City. Upon its completion, she was awarded a one-year scholarship to Teachers' College at Columbia University to study hospital social service. She then worked at the Henry Street Settlement, a visiting nurses service. She married William Bailey Edmonds in 1922, and returned with him to her hometown of Pittsfield, where they raised their four children. During World War II, she taught Red Cross home nursing classes, and in 1945, she joined the Pittsfield Visiting Nurse Association where she remained for 11 years. She served as secretary to District One of the Massachusetts State Nurses Association, and was health coordinator and part-time instructor in home nursing at Pittsfield General Hospital from 1956 until 1968 when the affiliated nursing school closed. An active church member and volunteer in community activities, Mrs. Edmonds was named "Mother of the Year" in 1962 by the townspeople of Pittsfield.

Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick
Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Collection: Black Women Oral History Project
Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp

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