First black nurse recalls discrimination
SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
by JILL SCHMELZER

Eva Noles

Eva Noles overcame racism and adversity when she applied to Buffalo City Hospital for nursing school in 1936 and was accepted.

It was unheard of for Noles, a 17-year-old black woman, to try to do anything more with her life than be a housekeeper or a cook. It was during the Depression era and as the oldest in her family, she said there was really no point in applying because one, she couldn't afford it, and two, she needed to take care of her siblings.

It wasn't until her friend dared her to apply that her life changed drastically. She moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Buffalo and enrolled in the nursing school.

Noles said she was surprised the director accepted her into the program, especially after reading a newspaper clipping where he verbally discriminated against her.

"When you're discriminated against in so many things, one more doesn't bother you," she said.

When she first started school, Noles lived with 20 other aspiring nurses in a single room; their sleeping areas separated by curtains. But when a fire broke out and the facility moved to Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, the women were forced to partner up, two to a room.

"Who would want to live with a black," she asked, noting the administration had to find her a private room.

"The funny thing was, my classmates came to my room to socialize," she said, noting it was really the administration that had an issue with her.

"They made an effort to make me quit," Noles remembered.

She had lost some weight, so they told her she had to leave until she gained a few pounds. Noles left school for six months, gained two pounds, and came back to class, finishing first above the rest of the students.

On graduation day, the director came around to each of the nurses to find out where they would be working.

"He asked me if I got a job. I said 'yes'," Noles recalled. "He said, 'who would hire you.'"

Noles went on to become a distinguished educator, a nationally recognized figure in health care, a promoter of civil rights and education for minority women, and the founder of New York State Nurses Week.

Noles served in many hospitals, but her career took off at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where she spent 30 years in the business.

She became the first black director of nursing at Roswell, and served on the State Board of Nursing and State Nurses Association. Noles also joined the International Nurses Association and traveled to conferences held in Israel, London, Japan, Hawaii, Montreal, Canada and Mexico.

When she visited Mexico, she remembered a police officer told her and her friends to "come with me." They did, and he locked them up in jail.

To get out, they had to teach the officer some English words. She also remembered visiting the river Jordan in Israel, which helped her appreciate being a Catholic.

"These are the experiences that you really remember," she said.

As the nursing director at Roswell, Noles appealed for overtime pay to the administration and won it for the entire hospital staff. She also invented an index for the central supply room, which made locating medicines and supplies quick and easy.

"The whole experience was interesting, worthwhile, and I showed the world we (black people) could do something," Noles said.

As an educator, Noles taught about cancer at D'Youville College. She also trained nurses at several hospitals in Western New York. She wrote and published three books, including "Black History: A Different Approach - A Compilation;" "Buffalo's Blacks Talking Proud;" and "Six Decades of Nursing at Roswell Park."

Noles, 88, said she has written another book, but hasn't published it yet. In 1986, Noles received the William Wells Brown Award from the Afro American Historical Association. The University at Buffalo Library Archives acquired the papers of Noles last year. Her biography and photos are on display at Erie County Medical Center. Noles' son, Tyrone Noles, lives on Grand Island with his wife. They have two grown children.

If you have a suggestion for someone to feature in this column, send it to Jessica L. Finch, Amherst Bee, Associate Editor, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231 or call 204-4917.