Top 10 Iconic Nurses Who Made History

You might be astonished to learn that the concept of modern nursing, with its emphasis on skilled and reliable care, has existed in America for fewer than 150 years. In the past, many individuals avoided professional medical treatment, believing that home remedies were safer than relying on hospitals or nurses.

In earlier times, nursing responsibilities were handled by nuns or, in wartime, by military personnel. Prior to the late 19th century, the majority of nurses had no formal training, and many were entirely uneducated. These caregivers, usually women, offered emotional support to the ill and injured but often lacked the skills to provide effective medical treatment. It was only through the efforts of the remarkable individuals on our list, who championed reforms and paved the way for nursing education, that the foundations of contemporary nursing were established.

We begin our list of renowned nurses with the trailblazer who brought nurse-midwifery to the United States.

10: Mary Breckinridge

Mary Breckinridge devoted her life to improving rural health care, but it was only after enduring personal losses, including the deaths of her two children, that she felt compelled to pursue nursing.

After training at St. Luke's Hospital in New York, she became a registered nurse in 1910. Her career led her to Boston, Washington, D.C., and even France, where she worked with the American Committee for Devastated France post-World War I. There, she encountered French and British nurse-midwives, inspiring her to combine midwifery with her mission to provide health care to underserved rural families in America. In her early 40s, she studied midwifery in London and is celebrated for introducing nurse-midwifery to the U.S. [source: Frontier Nursing Service].

In 1925, Breckinridge established the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a group of nurse-midwives dedicated to offering general and maternal health services, including prenatal and postnatal care, to residents of Kentucky's Appalachian region. These nurses traveled on horseback to deliver babies and provide family care, often accepting minimal payment or barter in return.

9: Mary Ezra Mahoney

Mary Ezra Mahoney made history as the first African-American woman to complete formal nursing education and earn the title of registered nurse.

Before being admitted to the nursing school at the New England Hospital for Women and Children at age 33, Mahoney worked there. She was one of only four graduates out of 42 applicants, showcasing her determination and skill.

After graduating, Mahoney registered with the Nurses' Directory at the Massachusetts Medical Library and began a private nursing practice in New England. Her achievements prompted her alma mater to relax its restrictive policies on admitting black nursing students.

Despite facing racial discrimination, Mahoney became a vocal advocate for black nurses' rights. In 1908, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) to support and uplift black nursing professionals.

8: Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary

Martha Jane Cannary, famously called Calamity Jane, was a frontierswoman, sharpshooter, Army scout, and companion of the legendary James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok. Known for her masculine attire, she was celebrated for her marksmanship, hard drinking, and colorful language. From 1852 to 1903, she traveled extensively across the American West, working as a cook, miner, oxen-team driver, gold prospector, and even a nurse, among other roles.

In 1878, while working as a Pony Express rider near Deadwood, South Dakota, Jane volunteered to care for eight men quarantined during a smallpox outbreak. Using remedies like Epsom salts and cream of tartar, she successfully nursed five of the patients back to health [source: Lakewood Public Library].

7: Walt Whitman

Although renowned as one of America's greatest poets, Walt Whitman also served as a teacher, journalist, and, during the Civil War, a dedicated volunteer nurse for three years.

Without formal nursing training, Whitman was inspired to care for wounded soldiers in military hospitals around Washington, D.C., after his brother George was injured at the Battle of Fredericksburg while fighting for the Union Army in 1862.

During his visits to Civil War hospitals, Whitman provided both physical and emotional care to the wounded. He listened to their experiences, communicated with their families, and even brought ice cream to soldiers recovering across 18 wards in one D.C. hospital, as he described in a letter to his mother [source: Murray]. He uplifted spirits and offered comfort to dying soldiers. Whitman estimated he made 600 hospital visits, tending to over 100,000 wounded soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies [source: Biography.com].

6: Florence Guinness Blake

Florence Guinness Blake was a trailblazer in 20th-century nursing education, championing improved training for nurses. Her efforts in medical education helped transform patient care into a respected profession.

Blake focused particularly on pediatric nursing, dedicating her career to advancing care for children and educating future pediatric nurses. She established and led the first advanced pediatric nursing graduate program in the U.S. at the University of Chicago. Beyond teaching, she authored and contributed to nursing textbooks, including her 1950s publication, "The Child, His Parents and the Nurse," which emphasized the importance of parent-child relationships and parental involvement in medical care—principles that remain foundational in nursing today.

5: Lillian Wald

In the 1890s, nurse Lillian Wald educated immigrant women on Manhattan's Lower East Side about home nursing and proper hygiene. After observing the dire living conditions and inadequate healthcare in the tenement neighborhoods, she established the Visiting Nurse Service. By 1895, with government and financial backing, she expanded the service into the Henry Street Settlement House, a community center providing a range of support services to those in need. This initiative made Wald and her team the first public health nurses in the U.S.

As a trailblazer in public health, Wald played a key role in placing nurses in public schools across America. She also co-founded the National Organization of Public Health Nursing, the National Women's Trade Union League to support working women, and the Children's Bureau to combat child labor.

4: Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger was a pioneering advocate for women's sexual health and contraceptive education during a time when the Comstock Act deemed such information obscene and illegal under federal law.

Growing up in a large Irish-Catholic family, Sanger attributed her mother's death to the physical strain of 18 pregnancies (her mother ultimately succumbed to tuberculosis). This inspired Sanger to pursue nursing and work as a visiting nurse in New York City's Lower East Side. There, she witnessed the devastating effects of unwanted pregnancies on immigrant women, including unsafe abortions and the resulting illnesses and deaths.

In 1916, Sanger launched the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, operating illegally to provide women with reproductive health education and contraceptive information. The clinic was shut down just nine days after opening. Later, she established the American Birth Control League, which evolved into the Planned Parenthood Foundation in 1942, and the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau, an organization that not only distributed contraceptives but also monitored their safety and efficacy.

Sanger played a pivotal role in advancing oral contraception, commonly known as "the pill." The first FDA-approved oral contraceptive was introduced in 1960, just six years before her death.

3: Dorothea Dix

Though Dorothea Dix lacked a nursing background—she was a teacher and ran a private school in New England—she is celebrated as a humanitarian and social reformer. For over 40 years, she advocated for improved care for the mentally ill and more humane prison conditions.

Shortly after the Civil War began in 1861, Dix volunteered for the Union army and was named Superintendent of Women Nurses by the Secretary of War. In this role, she managed approximately 6,000 women providing nursing care in military hospitals.

While championing the rights of the mentally ill, Dix established 32 institutions dedicated to mental health treatment, advocated for state-funded mental hospitals, and fought for the rights of the mentally ill and prisoners globally.

2: Clarissa "Clara" Barton

Born in 1821, Clara Barton started her career as a teacher and later worked as a recording clerk at the U.S. Patent Office. Like many women on this list, war transformed her into a renowned nurse. During the Civil War, she earned the title of America's "angel of the battlefield."

After noticing shortages of medical supplies and camp essentials, Barton organized efforts to deliver these items to the battlefield and began nursing wounded soldiers. Post-war, she led initiatives to locate missing veterans and continued advocating for soldiers' rights. At 60, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881, inspired by the International Red Cross, and led the organization until 1904.

1: Florence Nightingale

Known as "The Lady With the Lamp," "The Queen of Nurses," and "The Soldier's Friend," Florence Nightingale is arguably the most iconic nurse in history.

Born into a wealthy British family in 1820, Nightingale felt a calling to nursing early in life. She trained at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany, in 1851. However, her experiences during the Crimean War transformed her from a 19th-century nurse into a legendary figure.

When Nightingale arrived in Turkey with her team of 38 nurses, she encountered dire conditions: filthy hospitals, scarce supplies, and inadequate patient care. She and her team cared for wounded British soldiers, many suffering from cholera and malaria, while implementing strict hygiene practices to curb infections. Her efforts succeeded, and after the war in 1860, she established the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. There, students were trained not only in patient care but also in the critical role of hygiene and sanitation in healthcare, setting the foundation for modern nursing education.