Margaret Bailey, born December 25, 1915 in Selma, Alabama, graduated from nursing school in 1938 and worked at Mercy Hospital in st. Petersburg, Florida, the only primary care facility for the black community. A year later, resigned her position and went to work at Seaview Hospital on Staten Island, New York, which specialized in tuberculosis treatment and was also non-segregated.
She joined the US Army Nurse Corps in June 1944 and was assigned to the "all-Negro unit" in the corps. She completed basic training at Fort Huachuca in Arizona and was commissioned second lieutenant. She was assigned to Florence, Arizona to care for German POWs.
After WWII, Bailey served in domestic and international facilities, such as France, Germany, and Japan. she faced racism, but she advanced through the ranks. She was promoted to captain in 1950 after completing a six-month psychiatric nursing course at Brooke Army Medical Center.
In July 1964, she was promoted to lieutenant colonel, becoming the first black nurse to achieve the rank. She was transferred to the 130th General Hospital in Chinon, France. In 1966, she became the first chief nurse of the unit and the first black nurse to lead a non-segregated unit.
Bailey received the Army Commendation Medal in February 1969 and in January 1970, she became the first African American person to achieve the rank of colonel, the highest military rank possible within the United States Army Nurse Corps.
She retired from the Army in 1971 or 1972, and worked as a Consultant to the Surgeon General with a special responsibility to promote increased participation of minorities in the Army Nurse Corps. Throughout her lifetime, she was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, National Defense Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Legion of Merit, the second hightest non-combat military award.
Bailey passed away in August 2014 in Washington DC, at the age of 98.
