While reading the assigned article, my curiosity instantly spiked when I read that there was a nurse who was responsible for monitoring the participants throughout the syphilis study. Upon further research, I found that the nurse, Eunice Rivers, was born to a poor, working class family. Although she lost her mother at age 15, she was put through nursing school by her hardworking father who wanted a better life for his daughter. After graduating from the Tuskegee Institute’s School of Nursing in 1922, she spent her early career as a travel nurse aiding deprived southern families with health education, health services, and was part of the creation of birth and death statistics in the state of Alabama (Bernal, 2013). As an African-American herself, she was highly trusted and respected by the African-American families she helped.
