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Sammie M. Rice Collection

 Collection
Identifier: WV 0257

Content Description

The collection includes various correspondence, 1942-1947; various photographs of Rice during her Army Nurse Corps service, circa 1942-1945; various clippings, including topics about her service and when in college, circa 1942-1950.

Dates

  • 1942-1950

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information. Please see our Sensitive Materials Statement.

Biographical / Historical

Sammie Mae Rice (1913-2006) was among the first African American nurses to serve in an overseas theater during World War II. Sammie Mae Rice (1913-2006) of Laurens, South Carolina, enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps on 24 July 1942.

At the time of her induction Lt Rice was assistant superintendent of Gillespie hospital in Cordele Georgia She was sent to Fort Bragg, NC, and Camp Kilmer, NJ, until February 1943, when she left for the African theatre with the 25th Station Hospital. When her shipped docked in Morocco in mid-March 1943, she became one of the first African Americans to serve overseas, and certainly the first African American nurse from South Carolina sent to that theatre during WWII.

After stops in Dakar and Freetown, Rice arrived in Liberia, where she working as a nurse in the Officers ward of the Army hospital. By November of 1943, she was in Northern Africa, and by January 1944 Lieutenant Rice had returned to the United States, where she was stationed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. Rice was discharged on 1 March 1946.

Extent

0.21 Linear Feet (6 folders )

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

  • License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Condition Description

The condition is fair.

Offensive Language Statement

The UNC Greensboro University Libraries collects, preserves, and makes accessible unique and historical materials for learning and research. The nature of historical materials is such that some material may represent positions, norms, and values that are offensive and objectionable. These materials represent the opinions and actions of their creators. By providing access to these records in our reading room and through our digital collections, we recognize that archives and rare books can play a vital role in holding those creators accountable and in helping us learn from the past.

Our finding aids and other collection descriptions may occasionally re-use language provided by creators or former holders of the materials, but we strive to place outdated or offensive terminology in context. That said, we recognize that we may not always make the right decision and welcome feedback from all sources so we can learn and adjust our practices. Please contact us at scua@uncg.edu if you encounter problematic language in our finding aids or other collection description. We will review the language and, as appropriate, update it in a way that balances preservation of the original context with our ongoing commitment to describing materials with respectful and inclusive language.

Processing Information

Processed by Matthew McCarthy.

Title
Sammie M. Rice Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Matthew McCarthy
Date
2023 January
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives Repository

Contact:
P.O. Box 26170
320 College Ave.
Greensboro NC 27402-6170 US
336-334-5246