Petra Fitzalieu Pinn (February 9, 1881 – February 21, 1958) was an American nurse and hospital administrator, and president of the

National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was a professional organization for African American nurses founded in 1908. Foundation In 1906, Connecticut nurse Martha Minerva Franklin surveyed African American nurses to see what challenges ...

(NACGN) in 1923 and 1924.

Early life

Petra Pinn was born in

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...

, the daughter of William H. Pinn and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hicks Pinn. Her father was born in 1840, enslaved on a plantation in

Warrenton, Virginia Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, of which it is the seat of government. The population was 9,611 at the 2010 census, up from 6,670 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2019 was 10,027. It is at the junction of U.S. R ...

; in adulthood, he worked at a glass factory and was a policeman in Ohio. Pinn trained as a nurse at the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

, graduating in 1906, and was founder and president of the nursing program's alumni association.

Career

Pinn began her nursing career in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. From 1909 to 1911, she served as superintendent of nurses and matron at a Red Cross sanitarium and training school in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. She was in private nursing positions for several years, then in 1916 she moved to

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

, to help open and run Pine Ridge Hospital. She moved to New York City and worked at the

Seaview Hospital Seaview Hospital was a historic tuberculosis sanatorium, now a national historic district located at Willowbrook on Staten Island, New York. The complex was planned and built between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal fac ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. In 1931 she sued and won a cash award from a hospital in South Carolina after a contract dispute, though the legal process dragged into 1932. In 1932, she was director of nurse training at Bethune–Cookman College. She joined the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) early in her career. She represented the NACGN at the

American Nurses Association The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is ba ...

meeting in Atlanta in 1920. In 1923, she was elected president of NACGN; she resigned the presidency in 1926 for health reasons. She served as treasurer of the organization from 1929 to 1946, and won the NACGN's first

Mary Mahoney Award Mary Eliza Mahoney (May 7, 1845 – January 4, 1926) was the first African-American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States. In 1879, Mahoney was the first African American to graduate from an American school of nu ...

in 1939. She retired from nursing and from NACGN in 1946.

Personal life

Pinn was married in Louisville in 1911, to William D. Walker. They divorced in 1913, and she reassumed her birth name. In retirement, Pinn lived with her sister in

Wilberforce, Ohio Wilberforce is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,271 at the 2010 census, up from 1,579 at the 2000 census. History After Wilberforce College was established in 1856, the community was a ...

. She died at a hospital in

Xenia, Ohio Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Greek l ...

in 1958, after a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, aged 77 years.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinn, Petra 1881 births 1958 deaths People from Zanesville, Ohio American nurses American nursing administrators Tuskegee University alumni Bethune–Cookman University