Honoring Thereasea Elder, Charlotte’s First Black Nurse
The community of Charlotte, North Carolina is paying tribute to Thereasea Elder, the city’s first black nurse, who passed away at the age of 93 on Tuesday. She forever changed the face of medicine when she fought to integrate the state’s segregated public health system.
Her story is a reminder of how far we have come in terms of making the healthcare system more equitable, but there’s still more work to be done.
Growing Up in Segregated North Carolina
Throughout her life, Elder was a fierce advocate for the black community. According to public records, she was born in the city’s historically black Greenville neighborhood, along with her five siblings, born to Booker T. and Odessa Clark.
Jan. 6 Thereasea Clark Elder, Charlotte's first Black public health nurse, died at the age of 93 on Tuesday. Elder best known and revered for her work as a nurse who integrated Mecklenburg County's Public Health Department was born in 1927 in Lancaster, South Carolina and attended school in Charlotte. According to a history website from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Elder was raised .