3.5

A depressing but necessary read. “Black Angels” is a memoir collected by the oral history of early 20th century nurses who were children of former-slaves, saw WW1, survived the Great Depression, moved to the north where they faced continued racism, and then lived through WW2. These are the black female nurses who chose the thankless job of caring for those suffering from the vile disease of TB because white nurses would not. Because they were excellent at their job, their stellar documentation and records were used as data in the pharmaceutical development of Isoniazid.