“We are thrilled to be part of sharing this historic narrative,” said Janice Monger, president and CEO of the Staten Island Museum, at the recent opening of the “Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital” exhibition at the museum. The exhibition honors the Black nurses who cared for tuberculosis (TB) patients at Sea View Hospital in Staten Island, risking their lives to save the lives of others.
Sea View Hospital served as the largest facility for treating TB in the country, and was also instrumental in finding a cure for TB. It served as a place primarily for TB patients from the 1930s until 1961 when it closed.
TB is a serious disease that primarily affects the lungs. According to the Mayo Clinic, tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that are spread when an individual with TB sneezers, coughs, or sings. This puts small droplets with germs into the air. When someone else breathes that air, they breathe in those germs and can develop TB themselves. Symptoms include coughing, mucus containing blood, night sweats, fever, and weight loss. TB remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and was widespread in the United States during the early- to mid-20th century.
According to Monger, in her remarks at the Public Opening Reception: “Culture matters. When we are in trying times, art and culture and the lessons of history give us cause to examine our lives and society. This exhibition is representative that the Staten Island Museum has steadily expanded whose stories are being told and whose voices are being heard.”
Monger also said that “as you experience this exhibition, we encourage you to learn about these amazing women and the incredible history that took place there. We also hope this exhibition and the contemporary video installation offer the opportunity to reflect on our most recent pandemic and the lessons we still need to learn and incorporate going forward.”
Monger acknowledged several staff members as vital to the success of the exhibit, including Gabriella Leone, Rylee Eterginoso, and Exhibitions Manager Donna Pagano.
Co-curator of the exhibition and History Archives Manager Leone said in her remarks at the opening reception that “‘Taking Care’ shines a light on the nursing staff at Sea View Hospital who risked so much to care for patients suffering with tuberculosis. Many nurses traveled great distances to work at Sea View. They faced racism and risked catching an, at the time, incurable disease…Through their work at Seaview, the nurses blazed a trail for Black women [in the] healthcare profession and administered the clinical trials that led to a cure for tuberculosis. In the midst of the COVID -19 pandemic and [during] a current global tuberculosis crisis, the impact of their work is ongoing and international in scope.”
The exhibition tells the story of the Black Angels through oral histories; objects on loan from the nurses, Sea View Hospital, and Historic Richmond Town; and photographs, some taken by the nurses themselves.
Leone concluded her remarks by acknowledging Virginia Allen, who said in a previous Amsterdam News article that “[t]he biggest challenge I overcame is the ability to tell my story.” Leone said that “we are so happy to welcome so many women in healthcare today, especially Ms. Virginia Allen. Ms. Allen was a nurse at Seaview from 1947–1957. She’s been a tireless ambassador for this history, and was a consultant on the exhibition.”
Leone also acknowledged all the families and descendants of Black Angels in attendance.
Co-Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs and Programs Eterginoso spoke specifically about the multimedia aspect of the exhibition, “Back and Song.” She called it “a meditative film and art installation reflecting on how music, movement, sound therapy, ritual dance, rest, and meditation are brought together as a spectrum of individual and communal pursuits of well being…Throughout the summer and fall [of 2023], [Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young] came to the museum to film Ms. Virginia Allen, Ms. Curlene Bennett, and Ms. Lucille Harring, incorporating their contributions into the archive of Black women healers, doctors, nurses, midwives, morticians, and health aides featured in ‘Back and Song.’ Their portraits serve as a powerful connection to this history and legacy of the Black Angels at Seaview Hospital.”
Maria Smilios, a member of the exhibition’s Scholar Advisory Panel and author of the best-selling book “Black Angels,” told the AmNews in an interview that “I am so overwhelmed and delighted to see this exhibit and see the stories in the book come to life in a meaningful way, where the families can walk through a gallery and see their aunts, or their grandmothers, or their moms or their sisters, or great-grandmothers or distant relatives on a wall in an NYC museum, in a place where this story took place, in a place that did not welcome than originally, that treated them like second-class citizens, and for them to see this now, that decades later, they are being honored in such a meaningful way… makes me really [hopeful].”
Smilios spoke about touring the exhibition with descendants of the Black Angels: “I walked around with some of the family members who were moved to tears, who could not believe that their grandmothers or aunts or loved ones were in the NYTimes on a museum wall. That they were finally being seen. It makes all the eight years of work worth it…I hope that this is only the beginning.”The exhibition is on display at the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor through the end of 2024. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For tickets and information, visit www.statenislandmuseum.org.