'Black Angels' tells the true story of 300 black nurses who helped prevent a public health crisis in New York. In 1929, when white nurses staged a walk out at Staten Island's 2000-bed TB sanatorium, health officials made the decision to sanction a national call for 'coloured nurses'. Lured by the promise of good pay, education, housing, and the opportunity to work in a hospital free of quotas and segregated wards, 'Black Angels' from all over the country boarded trains and buses to enter wards. This book tells a 'triumphant story', bringing together medicine, politics, racial strife, women's rights, and cutting-edge science.