Black Nurses Week

03/10/2026

Today is National Day of Rest for Black Women.

A day meant to remind Black women to pause, breathe, and prioritize our well-being in a world that often expects us to keep going no matter the cost.

For Black women in nursing, that reminder carries even more weight.

Because many of us walk into every shift with an unspoken reality.

Black women nurses often feel the pressure to work twice as hard just to be seen as equally capable.

So we take the extra patient.

We accept the assignment no one else wants.

Sometimes we stay late because we are guilt-tripped into it.

Sometimes we are the ones called back early from our break when the unit gets busy.

And sometimes we are the ones who never really get a break at all.

Many Black women nurses are also working in a profession that has not always been openly welcoming to us, which means the pressure to perform, prove, and protect our reputation rarely turns off.

And when Black women step into nursing leadership, something else often happens.

We become the problem solvers.

The ones called when a situation is complicated.
The ones pulled in when an issue becomes controversial.
The ones expected to speak up when others stay silent.

Because we are trusted to handle what others would rather avoid.

So we carry more.

More patients.
More expectations.
More responsibility.

And still…

We are praised for being strong.

But strength without rest eventually becomes exhaustion.

Black women caring for others is not new.

During the American Civil War, Harriet Tubman served as a nurse caring for sick and wounded soldiers while also leading missions that freed hundreds of enslaved people.

Long before nursing schools opened their doors to Black women, Black women were already doing the work of healing.

Which is why National Day of Rest for Black Women matters.

Because rest is not a luxury for Black women in nursing.

It is necessary.

Necessary for our health.
Necessary for our longevity.
Necessary for the future of the profession we serve.

So today, give yourself permission to slow down.

Space to rest.
Space to connect.
Space to be pampered.

Whatever rest looks like for you today, take it.

Because the healthcare system will keep moving.

But you only get one body.

Choose Rest Before Rest Chooses You.

03/09/2026

Black nurses…..keep taking up space!!

We see you🖤

💃🏾🎥: .xz

💊💉

03/08/2026

Dear Healthcare System,

Black History Month passed by with little or no acknowledgment in some healthcare institutions.

Which is remarkable for a profession that advanced in part through the use of Black bodies without consent long before Black professionals were welcomed into its institutions.

Black history did not end in February.

And as we acknowledge Women’s History Month, the history of Black nurses stands at the intersection of both.

So let’s be clear about the record.

Before nursing became a formal profession, Black women were already caring for the sick as midwives, healers, and community caregivers.

You did not create our skill.

You built modern gynecology through surgical experimentation on enslaved Black women without anesthesia.

You advanced medicine on our bodies before you ever opened your schools to our minds.

In 1879, Mary Eliza Mahoney became the first professionally trained Black nurse in the United States.

While most Black women were barred from white nursing schools.

When professional nursing education expanded in the late 1800s, Black women were denied admission to most white training schools.

So we 🧱built our own.

👉🏾Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses, Chicago, 1891.
👉🏾Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing, Washington, D.C., 1892.
👉🏾Tuskegee Institute Nurse Training Program, Alabama.
👉🏾Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing, New York.

Black nurses organized, documented, and built parallel institutions when the system shut us out.

We learned how this profession works because we had to.

In 1908, when Black nurses were denied entry into white professional associations, we founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

During World War I, Black nurses were refused commissions in the Army Nurse Corps.

In 1918, as influenza spread through military camps, only 18 Black nurses were finally admitted near the end of the crisis.

Eighteen.

During World War II, quotas restricted how many Black nurses were allowed to serve.

Segregated assignments. Limited advancement.

Black women were often called when the system was in crisis.

When hospitals were overwhelmed.
When epidemics spread.
When others refused the work.

Even then, Black women showed up and carried the profession forward.

In segregated hospitals and public health systems, Black nurses were disproportionately assigned to tuberculosis wards and the most under-resourced facilities.

You placed us at the bedside.

But kept us out of boardrooms.

You needed our labor.
You did not want our leadership.

After desegregation, many Black nursing schools and hospitals closed.

Black-controlled institutions disappeared.

Integration dismantled Black institutions without transferring leadership.

Across every era, the structure remained the same:

Black nurses supplied the labor.
White-controlled systems retained the authority.

You depended on us.
You limited us.
You used us.
And still, you feared us.

Because competence you cannot control exposes the system.

We were never competing.
We were doing the work.

And you could not outwork us.

American healthcare has never functioned without Black nurses.

Not then.
Not now.

We know the history.
We know the pattern.

And this generation is not our ancestors.

We studied their survival.
We carry their strength.

And yet, some still try to run the same tired playbook when it comes to Black nurses.

But this generation understands the game.

So while you continue to play checkers,
this generation is playing chess.

Checkmate.

Sincerely,
Black Nurses🖤

03/02/2026

🤔The math ain’t mathin’.

There are over 4 million registered nurses in the United States.

This Federal Register page shows 61,860 public comments. And that number includes every profession affected, not just nurses.

We were loud when we first heard about this.

But that volume is not reflected in the public record.

This proposed rule sets a limit on how much can be borrowed to pursue advanced practice graduate degrees.

Advanced practice nursing programs are not currently included in the higher loan tier under the proposed definition.

That matters.

I submitted my public comment and you should too.

👉🏾Go to federalregister.gov
👉🏾search ED-2025-OPE-0944 or scroll down to “Popular Documents”
👉🏾Click on “Reimagining and Improving Student Education”
👉🏾 “Submit a Public Comment.”

Deadline: March 2 at 11:59 PM EST.

Policy moves whether we participate or not.

Make sure your voice is part of the record.

02/27/2026

A single post reached millions.

But the message mattered more.

People are EXHAUSTED.

Not just in nursing.

Across professions.

Across the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Singapore, India, and beyond.

Running on borrowed time.
On expectations.
On fumes.

Waiting for permission to rest.

That’s when I knew this couldn’t stay a post.

It had to become a reminder.

CHOOSE REST BEFORE REST CHOOSES YOU.

This is not just a shirt.

It’s an intentional decision.

Pre-orders are now open.

LINK IN BIO.

02/22/2026

🌟 Black Nursing Excellence Spotlight 🌟

Representation changes what people believe is possible.

Today we honor as he is expanding what nursing looks like and who belongs in it.

Black men remain significantly underrepresented in nursing, yet they continue to show up, lead, and serve across every level of care.

Swipe to read how he defines Black Nursing Excellence.

Interested in being featured?
Submit through the link in our BIO.

02/21/2026

It is worth the read…..

02/18/2026

I work night shift. ICU.

A few months ago we admitted a 58-year-old male. Cardiac complications. Uncontrolled hypertension. Renal decline. Newly diagnosed aggressive cancer found during the workup.

When I walked into his room, he wasn’t panicked.

He was tired.

Not sleepy.

Tired in his bones.

As I started my assessment, he looked at me and said,
“You’re a nurse, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Promise me something.”

I paused. “Depends what it is.”

“Promise me you won’t live like I did.”

That caught me off guard.

⸻

Over the next few nights, I learned his story.

He worked two jobs for 30 years. Slept four hours a night. Lived on coffee and drive-through meals. Missed physicals. Ignored headaches. Brushed off chest tightness.

“I thought stress was just part of being responsible,” he said.

He showed me pictures on his phone.

A small house.
“That mortgage cost me sleep for 20 years.”

A warehouse floor.
“Worked doubles. No days off for months.”

A hospital bracelet from ten years ago.
“Doctor told me my blood pressure was dangerous. I said I’d handle it.”

He never did.

“I kept saying I’ll rest when things calm down,” he told me. “Things never calm down.”

⸻

One night around 2 AM, monitors steady, unit quiet, he looked at me and said:

“You know what the worst part is?”

“What?”

“I didn’t even enjoy the years I was sacrificing myself. I was too stressed to feel them.”

Silence.

“I missed birthdays because I was exhausted. Snapped at my wife because I was depleted. Stopped going to the gym because I was ‘too busy.’”

He laughed softly.

“Turns out my body was keeping score.”

Hypertension.
Chronic inflammation.
Untreated sleep deprivation.
Cortisol through the roof for decades.

Then cancer.

“I thought disease just happens,” he said. “No one told me stress is slow poison.”

As nurses, we know better.

But we don’t live better.

⸻

One shift he grabbed my wrist gently.

“You look tired.”

I almost laughed.

“Occupational hazard.”

He shook his head. “No. That’s how it starts. You normalize it.”

He pointed to his chest.

“This doesn’t break overnight. It erodes.”

He told me he used to brag about never calling out.

Never taking vacation.

Never needing help.

“Turns out my body didn’t care about my work ethic.”

⸻

He declined quickly.

Organ systems that had been compensating for years just… stopped compensating.

On his last night, he said something I’ll never forget.

“Tell nurses this: Rest is not weakness. It’s maintenance. Stress isn’t just emotional. It’s biological. And your body will collect the debt.”

He died at 4:12 AM.

No dramatic moment.

Just a tired body that had been running on empty for decades.

⸻

I went home after that shift and couldn’t sleep.

Not because of grief.

Because of recognition.

How many of us are living the same way?

Stacking shifts.
Ignoring headaches.
Normalizing 3 hours of sleep.
Pushing through burnout like it’s resilience.

We educate patients about hypertension.
About inflammation.
About stress management.

Then we chart for 14 hours and call it dedication.

⸻

Now I nurse differently.

But more importantly, I live differently.

I take my days off.
I monitor my labs.
I sleep.
I say no to extra shifts when my body says no.

Because I watched a man die from decades of “I’ll rest later.”

Stress is not just mental.

It is chemical.
Hormonal.
Cellular.

And your body keeps score.

Every time.

Be a great nurse.

But don’t sacrifice your organs to prove it.

Someone is in your bed right now because they thought exhaustion was strength.

Don’t let that be you.

Choose rest before rest chooses you.

02/17/2026

‼️‼️‼️‼️

💉 The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office in Texas is investigating if a jail nurse exposed about a dozen county jail inmates with diabetes to HIV. 🔗 link to information in the comments 👇

02/16/2026

🔥JOIN US at the 5th annual BNW Conference

Restoring What’s Owed: Legacy, Reparations, and the Future of Black Nursing

🗓 July 30–August 1, 2026
📍 Tulsa, Oklahoma (Black Wall Street)
🎟 Registration is open (LINK IN BIO)

SACRED GROUND. REVOLUTIONARY FUTURE.

We are not simply going to Tulsa.
We are returning to where the blueprint for Black collective power was born.

Where Black money, Black medicine, Black enterprise, and Black community once operated in formation: self-funded, self-governed, and unstoppable.

We are not just holding a conference.
We are bringing Black nursing back into formation economically, socially, and historically.
We don’t need permission or approval.

A movement to:
⚫️Protect, preserve, and propel our legacy forward
⚫️ Restore what’s owed — in access, opportunity, and ownership
⚫️Redesign the future of Black nursing on our terms

This is sacred ground.
This is strategic ground.
This is our ground.

You’re not simply invited.
You have been summoned.

See you there🖤

02/15/2026

It was a pleasure to chat it up with these ladies today🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾

Check it out👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

BrigitteNP and I are back for February-Black History Month. Let's learn together what experiences were the catalyst for Tauqilla to create Black Nurses Week....

02/14/2026

: STORIES THEY DON’T WANT US TO TELL

Public statements against racism mean nothing without action.

When support was requested, access was denied.

Today she went in person.

Accountability matters.

Code Black is a Black Nurses Week® series sharing anonymous, real-life stories from Black nurses who have faced racism, retaliation, gaslighting, and/or harm in healthcare settings.

📌 These are the stories they don’t want us to tell.
But we’re telling them anyway in our own way, in our own voice, and with a system we trust: SBAR.

📣 Want to share your story anonymously?
✍🏾 We’ll guide you through it.
💬 The community will respond.

🚨 Tap the link in bio to Activate Code Black now.
Your voice/story could be the alarm another nurse has been waiting for.