Navy Rejected Black Nurses for Decades—She Changed That In 1945, Edith DeVoe became the second Black woman admitted to the Navy Nurse Corps after decades of rejection. She was the first Black nurse in the regular Navy (1948) and the first to serve outside the U.S. mainland (1950). She broke barriers for 15 years, retired as a Lieutenant in 1960, and died in 2000. Her courage opened doors that had been slammed shut for generations. #EdithDeVoe, #NavyNurse, #BlackHistory, #WWII, #MilitaryHistory,