Black Nurses Week 2026: Honoring a Legacy While Building the Future

Founder & CEO, Precious Holistic Touch LLC

There are some professions you choose.

Then there are professions that become part of who you are.

For me, nursing has never simply been a career. It has been a calling.

Since becoming a registered nurse in 2009, I’ve had the privilege of caring for patients across multiple specialties, leading healthcare teams, mentoring nurses, improving quality outcomes, and now serving in executive leadership while also building my own wellness company dedicated to helping people heal holistically.

This year’s Black Nurses Week feels especially meaningful.

Not only because I have now earned my Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in Leadership and Administration, but because I have lived many of the experiences that statistics often summarize in a single sentence.

I know what it’s like to be one of the youngest nurses in the room.

I know what it’s feels like to be the only Black nurse in leadership meetings.

I know what it’s feels like to have to prove yourself over and over before others recognize what you already know you’re capable of.

And I also know what it feels like when someone opens a door, offers encouragement, or simply says,

“I see your potential.”

Sometimes that one moment changes everything.

A Legacy Worth Celebrating

Black Nurses Week is observed each year from July 26 through August 1, intentionally ending on August 1, the anniversary of Mary Eliza Mahoney becoming the first professionally trained Black nurse in the United States in 1879.

Her perseverance created opportunities that countless nurses, including me, continue to walk through today.

Every Black nurse practicing today is standing on the shoulders of someone who refused to give up despite barriers that were far greater than many of us will ever experience.

That legacy deserves to be celebrated.

This Year’s Theme: Restoring What’s Owed

The 2026 Black Nurses Week theme, “Restoring What’s Owed: Legacy, Reparations, and the Future of Black Nursing,” invites us to reflect on more than history, it challenges us to actively shape the future.

To me, restoring what’s owed means recognizing the generations of Black nurses whose brilliance, resilience, and compassion helped build our healthcare system, often without the recognition, opportunities, or support they deserved.

It means acknowledging that while progress has been made, there is still meaningful work to do in creating equitable pathways to education, mentorship, leadership, and executive decision-making.

It means ensuring that talented nurses are not overlooked because of bias, but are empowered because of their ability, character, and commitment to excellence.

As a Black nurse who has grown from bedside care to nursing leadership, and now leads my own wellness organization, I don’t view this theme as something that belongs only to history.

I see it as a call to action.

Every time we mentor a new nurse, advocate for fairness, create opportunities for others, or lead with integrity, we help restore what is owed, not only to those who came before us, but to those who will follow after us.

That is how legacies are honored.

That is how the future is built.

The Work Isn’t Finished

While we’ve made tremendous progress, the work is far from complete.

Research continues to show that many Black nurses experience:

• Racial discrimination in healthcare workplaces

• Limited access to mentorship and sponsorship

• Fewer opportunities for advancement into executive leadership

• Underrepresentation in decision-making positions despite qualifications and experience

  
  

These challenges don’t just affect nurses.

They affect patients.

Healthcare organizations thrive when leadership reflects the diversity of the communities they serve. Diverse perspectives improve innovation, strengthen patient trust, and contribute to better health outcomes.

Representation matters, not because one group is better than another, but because every voice adds value.

Why Mentorship Matters

One of the greatest gifts we can give the next generation is access.

Access to knowledge.

Access to leadership.

Access to opportunities.

Access to someone willing to say,

“Come sit at this table.”

I’ve learned throughout my career that mentorship is more than teaching clinical skills.

It’s helping someone believe they belong in rooms they’ve never entered before.

It’s advocating for them when they aren’t present.

It’s helping them navigate challenges that aren’t written in any nursing textbook.

Every nurse deserves that.

My Commitment

As I continue serving in healthcare leadership and through Precious Holistic Touch, I remain committed to creating spaces where nurses, healthcare professionals, caregivers, and communities can thrive, not just professionally, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and environmentally.

Healing is holistic.

Leadership is service.

And representation creates possibilities.

If my journey encourages even one young Black nurse to believe that they belong in leadership, then every challenge I faced has produced something meaningful.

To My Fellow Black Nurses

Thank you.

Thank you for every night shift.

Every code.

Every difficult conversation.

Every patient who remembered your kindness more than your credentials.

Every family you comforted.

Every student you mentored.

Every barrier you quietly broke so someone else could walk through with a little less resistance.

You are changing healthcare every single day.

And whether anyone says it today or not…

Your presence matters.

Your leadership matters.

Your voice matters.

Happy Black Nurses Week to every nurse continuing the legacy while helping shape the future of our profession.

May we honor those who paved the way, advocate for those walking beside us, and intentionally prepare the way for those who will come after us. The future of Black nursing will not be shaped by one generation alone,it will be built through courage, mentorship, excellence, and a commitment to ensuring every nurse has the opportunity not just to serve, but to lead.

That, to me, is what restoring what’s owed truly looks like.

References

• American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Nursing Workforce Fact Sheet. Reports that approximately 76.6% of the U.S. registered nurse workforce identifies as White and 8.6% identifies as Black or African American.

• National Institutes of Health (NIH), Barriers to Career Advancement in the Nursing Profession. Highlights barriers including racial discrimination, limited mentorship, and unequal advancement opportunities experienced by many Black nurses.

• Black Nurses Week®. About Black Nurses Week. Observed annually July 26–August 1 to honor the legacy of Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first professionally trained Black nurse in the United States, who earned her nursing credential on August 1, 1879.