Celebrating Black History Month: Phyllis Mae Dailey, first African American woman commissioned Navy officer

Phyllis Mae Dailey, born March 12, 1919 in New York City, became the first African American woman to serve in the United States Navy and a commissioned Navy officer.  She graduated from the Lincoln School for Nurses in Manhattan, and studied public health at Teachers College, Columbia University.  

When the US entered WWII, she kept applying to the Army Nurse Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps.  The Navy desegrated its Nurse Corps in January 1945.  On March 8, 1945 Dailey was sworn into the Navy Nurse Corps, becoming the first African American woman to become a commissioned Navy officer.  

She served the Navy after the war until she was discharged May 9, 1951, having earned the rank of lieutenant (junior grade).  She worked as a clinical nursing instructor for the New York City Board of Education.  She died in October 1976 after a short illness.