Originally Posted by purpleRN2B

Hi All,

Not a blk Male, but I've come to support, I'm a blk female. I think it's awsome to see all men entering nursing, but even better to see men of color especially blk men, considering there is a double minority there. There is 1 African male in my program & 1 Hispanic male, 7 Cauc. males, 10 AA females (class of 40 students BSN accelerated program). No AA men. But I do know a few gay blk male nursing students (majority r family members). I don't understand it, I see so many men from Africa going into pharmacy, nursing, and medicine, but there are almost no Afr. Americ. males, I'm not sure , but it looks like they represent less than 1%. During my pre-reqs I met only 1 blk male that was going in2 nursing. It saddens me that blk men aren't taking advantage of this opportunity, there are endless amounts of resources and funding for blk males in nursing & teaching. I understand the whole gay male nurse stereotype, but come on, guys can only use that so much. Afr. Amer. are known for our stregnth and high self- esteem. I am baffled as to why these men are so insecure with their sexuality. Gay, straight, male or female as long as u r comfortable w/ who/ what u r don't let it stop u from making money and getting an education. Afr. Amer. know ALL to clearly that nothing in this world is given to us, we have to work 3 times as hard to take it. I want to see more blk men on the college campuses, but moreso in nursing, we need u. I applaude all of u that r taking that step I can't wait to join u in the workforce & remember Black is strong and bold color, don't weaken it with sterotypes and biases, stand up and represent. Best of Luck to u all.

First off, thank you so much your contribution to this post! I'm a black man working towards my ADN and I am so looking forward to graduating. One of my closest friends, who is also black earned a BSN from Auburn University and have been working in the field for 7 years and he absolutely loves his job! When I first started college, I decided I was going to do business because I "thought" it would best suit me because of the career path I was on at that time. The thing was that I've always wanted to be a nurse, but I chose to suppress that dream because I knew to get into the programs after pre-reqs, would be competitive. However, it only took me one semester and Intro. to Business, to realize that I was clearly in the wrong field. I am now proud to say that I will be done with my pre-reqs in about two semesters! I've realized that I am perfectly capable of making my dream come true, even if it means I have to compete with other students, it just simply means that I have to be the best student, that I can possibly be!

I am a African American male attending Wright State Uninversity in Dayton, Ohio. I am taking my prerequesite classes as we speak. And your are right, I am the only AA male in my Organic Chemistry class out of 120 students. I dont wprry about the stereotypes people lablel others. I was in automotive manufacturing for 10 years and was a member of management and lost my job due to outsourcing. Its strange to be back in school at the age of 36, but oh well. I will be apply for nursing school by June 30th 2010. So I am excited about the opportunity to make a difference.

I am a black nurse working in the ICU as well. I happen to be a female one, but I still notice that there isn't a whole lot of us (female or male) around in the ICU. In fact, where I work, I am the ONLY black nurse on my unit (for the day shift and night shift). Needless to say I stick out like a sore thumb, and feel like I'm under a mgnifying glass all the time. I wonder why alot of my people choose not to do the ICU?

I am a black nursing student from the south. Yes, many black people feel that a black male should like sports, be an athlete, contractor, lawyer or anything that screams, I am a "man". I am the completely different and the closes I get to dirty work is at my old job at a Hardware store. Dont get me wrong I am straight but I am different from the general stereotype of black males.

Yes, I'm a black male nurse here in California! We are under represented, however!

Wanna talk minority? I'm a Black, 6'3", 350lb male nursing student. Guess who'll be handling the rowdy ER patients when he graduates, lol? I could NOT care less about the perception of being gay. I'm married and VERY secure in my manhood. I tell you what, though. It would be nice to look around my pre-req classes and find another MALE (black, white, purple, green or blue) that was going into nursing. 1 truly is a lonely number...

At least I get to be surrounded by some extremely attractive women (who will defend me at a moment's notice). I cal them my School Wives!!!

btw, I am 34 and in Las Vegas

I am an LVN Black Male. I am looking into seeing how long it takes for your license to be transferred to another state. Thinking of Atlanta,Ga Thanks SharonH, P.S. Sharon if you know of a good RN program down there let me know. =D

i seriously need to move to atlanta

I am one. I am sure there are many more. I have been a nurse for 25 years. I have worked with a few here in NYC.

I don't think that I have personally come accross an African-American male nurse, though there are a lot of African immigrants (especially Kenyans, from my experience), including males and my husband being one of them, who have or are choosing to go into the nursing field; in my class of 40 for my lpn I think we had like 6 or 7 & that's here in the midwest.