Phil Gingrey: “I rise today in honor of an extraordinary member of my community, Clara Jenkins. In the 1950s, Clara helped advance the…”

“I rise today in honor of an extraordinary member of my community, Clara Jenkins. In the 1950s, Clara helped advance the Civil Rights movement in Georgia by breaking down color barriers at a local hospital. On August 20, 1951, Clara was hired as the first black nurse at Kennestone Hospital in Cobb County. Now, 1951 was not an easy time to be a black nurse among all-white colleagues. The Brown v. Board of Education ruling, that mandated separate but equal was inherently unequal, was still 3 years away. In 1951, Kennestone Hospital was segregated by floor and ward. Black patients and white patients received their care separately and in unequal surroundings. But Clara did not let segregation deter her goal of providing care for the sick and the needy. Through her determination and talent, she proved to her colleagues that skill, not skin color, was what mattered most. Despite having earned a nursing degree right here in Washington, D.C., Clara was not initially allowed to work with white patients. However, over time, doctors and nurses noticed her skill, especially her ability to insert IVs into patients with thin or hard-to-find veins. Clara said her work on parents with darker skin made her adept at finding veins by touch, not sight, a skill the other nurses lacked. Increasingly, white doctors and nurses began asking for Clara's help. After the 1954 Brown versus Board ruling desegregated Kennestone Hospital, Clara was assigned to several special hospital units.”