Wom. Inter. League For Peace, Freedom Protests Bias, Nurse Training

A protest that Negro women are discriminated against as candidates for training as nurses was made to county commissioners yesterday in a letter from Helen M. Harris, "minorities chairman," of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

"The League has recently been informed that not only is the Red Cross refusing to accept Negro or other dark-skinned women for nurses' aid classes, but that no hospital in the city accepts Negroes for training in nursing," said Mrs. Harris. "We should like to know if it is true that our King County Hospital does not accept as trainees any others than members of the white race.

"Negroes, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese -- whatever their racial origin -- American-born girls, are all citizens."

The matter was referred to Chairman Tom Smith.

At King County Hospital Superintendent of Nurses Harriet H. Smith said there is no discrimination either by the hospital or the Red Cross.

"The Red Cross has a colored applicant for the Volunteer Nurse training at Providence Hospital, and I told a colored woman ten day ago she could come here for training," Miss Smith said, "We have four Japanese student nurses.

Columbus and Seattle General have both Chinese and Japanese. There are nine graduate Japanese nurses in town. As for the colored nurses, I know that some enrolled in the preliminary course at the University, from which all our student nurses come, but none has come here.

"We advise young colored women wanting nursing training to go to one of the several schools in the country where they train only colored nurses."