Part of Bayside Historical Society's Author Talk at the Castle Series

Cost: $10.00 for BHS members; $15.00 for non-members

The Bayside Historical Society is excited to collaborate with the Greek Elder Care Network Book Club and the Hellenic American Project to present an author interview with Maria Smilios, featuring a captivating conversation with Dr. Nicholas Alexiou, Founder and Director of the Hellenic American Project and Professor of Sociology at Queens College, about her award-winning new book. The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Helped Cure Tuberculosis reveals the extraordinary history of the dedicated Black nurses who were instrumental in combating the deadly tuberculosis epidemic in New York City during the 1900s.

A Q&A discussion will follow the interview, and Maria will be signing and selling copies of her book.

About The Book:

New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nursing shortage.

In the pre-antibiotic days when tuberculosis stirred people's darkest fears, killing one in seven, white nurses at Sea View, New York's largest municipal hospital, began quitting en masse. Desperate to avert a public health crisis, city officials summoned Black southern nurses, luring them with promises of good pay, a career, and an escape from the strictures of Jim Crow. But after arriving, they found themselves on an isolated hilltop in Staten Island, confronting racism and consigned to a woefully understaffed sanatorium, dubbed "the pest house," where it was said that "no one left alive."

Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this remarkable true story follows the intrepid young women known by their patients as the "Black Angels." For twenty years, they risked their lives working under appalling conditions while caring for New York's poorest residents — patients who languished in wards, waiting to die, or became guinea pigs for experimental surgeries and deadly drugs.

But despite their major role in desegregating the New York City hospital system — and their vital work in helping to find the cure for tuberculosis at Sea View — these nurses were completely erased from history. The Black Angels recovers their voices and spirit, celebrating their legacy.

Awards:

• Winner of the Christopher Award 2024

• NPR Science Friday Best Summer Beach Reads 2024

• Gotham Book Finalist 2024

• NASW Science in Society Journalism Award Finalist 2024

• PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize Finalist 2024

About The Author:

Maria Smilios is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and adjunct lecturer at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She was born and raised in New York City and holds a Master of Arts in American literature and religion from Boston University, where she was a Luce and Presidential scholar. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Narratively, The Forward, Lit Hub, Writers Digest, The Emancipator, Newsweek, and other publications.

The Black Angels won the 2024 Christopher Award in literature, which celebrates works that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit." It was also a finalist for the prestigious Gotham Book Prize, a NASW Science in Society Journalism finalist, an NPR Science Friday Summer Read for 2024, and shortlisted for the English PEN Literary Award.

New York City and State honored Maria for "outstanding service" and "positive contribution" to the people of New York. The book greatly informed and inspired the Staten Island Museum's exhibit "Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View," which is on display through 2025. Most recently, the city of New York officially named a street after the Black Angels — Black Angels Way. You can find Maria at mariasmilios.com

About the Greek Elder Care Network:

The Greek Elder Care Network is a social impact company dedicated to providing support and resources to older people and their families in the Greek American community. For more information, visit greekeldercarenetwork.com.

About the Hellenic American Project:

The Hellenic American Project at Queens College is a scholarly initiative dedicated to promoting the study and understanding of Greek culture, history, and diaspora experiences in America. For more information, visit hapsoc.org.

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