Military Series – Celebrating Hazel Johnson-Brown
Hazel Winifred Johnson-Brown was a nurse and educator who served with the U.S. Army from 1955-1983. In 1979, she became the first Black female general in the U.S. Army and the first black chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She was also the director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing.
Hazel Johnson was born in 1927 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, one of seven children. Her application to the West Chester School of Nursing was rejected because she was Black. She moved to New York City, and enrolled in the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in 1947.
Hazel Johnson-Brown: Entering the Army and Prejudice
Johnson-Brown enlisted in the Army in 1955. In 1960, Johnson-Brown become a first lieutenant and joined the Army’s Nursing Corps. She was a staff nurse in Japan and chief nurse in Korea. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Villanova University while enlisted, a master’s degree in nursing education from Columbia University and a doctorate in education administration from Catholic University of America — all while serving active duty in the Army.
In 1979, Johnson-Brown earned the rank of brigadier general, becoming the first Black female general in the United States Army to hold that rank. She was also the first Black chief of the Army Nurse Corps.
Johnson-Brown served with distinction and stands as a testament to what grit and persistence can accomplish in the face of adversity.
Source: https://www.military.com/history/african-american-heroism-in-the-military
