The first Black woman to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after the military was desegregated in the 1940s has died. She was 104. Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who retired as a major and died earlier this ...

First, men -- no matter their race -- were unable to join the Army as nurses. (That prohibition lasted until 1955.) Second, the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) was dragging its feet on accepting Black women.

The first Black woman to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after the military was desegregated in the 1940s has died. She was 104. Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who retired as a major and died earlier this ...