Aileen Ewell
Founder of the first Black nursing sorority, Chi Eta Phi, Inc
Aileen Ewell was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She earned her training at Freedman’s Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC and later earned her BSN. She worked as a visiting nurse and for the Public Health Department for Washington D.C. Later in her career she also worked for a maternity home where she cared for unwed mothers and their babies, ultimately serving as its executive director for a decade. She is most known for founding the Chi Eta Phi Sorority at Freedman’s Hospital on the campus of Howard University with eleven other nurses in 1932.
Chi Eta Phi was founded to elevate nursing, increase interest in the field, and serve humanity. During the 20 years when the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses dissolved in 1951, and before the National Black Nurses Association was founded in 1971, Chi Eta Phi served as the only opportunity for Black nurses to develop organizational leadership skills. When national nursing organizations became more integrated, a direct connection was noted with the many Chi Eta Phi members that went on to become national, regional, state, and local leaders. Chi Eta Phi remains in existence today with more than 8,000 registered nurses, as well as current nursing students across the United States, Virgin Islands, and West Africa.
Sources
We sourced information for the above biography from Chi Eta Phi History, North Carolina Nursing History, the Year of the Nurse and Midwife Film Project 2020 the book The Paths We Tread: Blacks in Nursing Worldwide 1854–1994 by M. Elizabeth Carnegie.
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