The “White Plague” and Color: Children, Race, and Tuberculosis in Virginia 1900–1935

Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, this historical research describes nurses' efforts regarding early 20th century pediatric tuberculosis care in Virginia. Virginia nurses played a leadership role in designing a template for children's care. Ultimately, however, their legacy is a mixed one. They helped forge a system funded by a complicated, poorly coordinated, race- and class-based mix of public and private support that is now delivered through an idiosyncratic web of community, state, and federal programs. However, they also took courageous action, and their efforts improved the lives of many children. By so doing, they helped invent pediatric nursing.