Mattie Donnell Hicks Collection

Collection

Identifier: WV 0044

Staff Only

Mattie Donnell Hicks Collection, Digital Materials

Scope and Contents

African American nurse Mattie Donnell Hicks of Greensboro, N.C., served in the Army Nurse Corps from 1945 to 1966. Artifacts, an oral history interview, and textiles document her service during World War II and the Korean War. Artifacts include service ribbons, cuff buttons, and shoulder insignia. The oral history interview documents Hicks's early life, her military service, and her post-war life in Greensboro, N.C. Specific subjects include basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin; segregation in the army; damage done in Korea during the war; her activities as a nurse during the Korean War; her travels to Japan, Korea, and Germany; and her social activities in Germany. Textiles include two uniforms, a seersucker exercise suit, a hospital gown and cap, outer wear, and accessories that primarily date from the 1950s.

Dates

1942-1999

Creator

Hicks, Mattie Donnell (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to 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 Note

Mattie Donnell Hicks was born and raised in Greensboro, N.C. She graduated from Dudley High School and entered nurse's training at the Grady Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, Ga. Hicks graduated after three years and worked in Gainesville, Ga., and Spartanburg, S.C. She also attended graduate courses in public health in both Richmond, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.

Hicks joined the Army Nurse Corps on July 2, 1945, and completed three weeks of basic training with an integrated unit at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. She was shipped to the general army hospital at Camp San Luis Obispo in California, where she became a member of a segregated African American unit.

Hicks left the army shortly after arriving in California, in August 1945, but re-entered the military in March 1946. She was sent to Tilton Army Hospital at Fort Dix, N.J., as a general medical or surgical nurse, and then to the Fort Lee, Va.

From 1951 to 1953, Hicks was stationed in both Japan and Korea. She served at the Eleventh Evacuation Hospital in Korea and later at the Osaka Hospital in Japan. Additional stations of duty during Hick's military service include Lockburne Air Base, Columbus, Ohio; Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Pa.; Letterman Army Hospital, San Francisco, California; U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Lee, Va.; 2nd Field Hospital, Germany; U.S. Army Hospital, Bremerhaven, Germany; and Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Hicks retired from the army as a major in April 1966, after twenty-one years of service. She built a house in Greensboro, N.C., and worked part time at the L. Richardson Memorial Hospital in Greensboro.

Extent

12.50 Linear Feet (6 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

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

Additional Description

Abstract

African American nurse Mattie Donnell Hicks of Greensboro, N.C., served in the Army Nurse Corps from 1945 to 1966.

Artifacts, an oral history interview, and textiles document her service in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II and the Korean War. Artifacts include service ribbons, cuff buttons, and shoulder insignia. The oral history interview documents Hicks's early life, her military service, and her post-war life in Greensboro, N.C. Specific subjects include basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin;, segregation in the army; damage done in Korea during the war; her activities as a nurse during the Korean War; her travels to Japan, Korea, and Germany; and her social activities in Germany. Textiles include two uniforms, a seersucker exercise suit, a hospital gown and cap, outer wear, and accessories that primarily date from the 1950s.

Arrangement Note

The collection contains the following series: Series 1: Oral History, 1999 Series 2: Photographs, circa 1945-1966 Series 3: Printed Materials, 1966, 1999 Series 4: Artifacts, undated Series 5: Textiles, circa 1942-1959

Method of Acquisition

Gift of Mattie Donnell Hicks of Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 25, 1999.

Offensive Language Statement

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