Paying Dues

• Mahoney was born in 1845, and as a teenager decided to study nursing while washing laundry at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, according to distinguishedwomen.com.
  
  

Nursing Certificate

• In 1879, she was one of four women, and the only black, out of an original class of 40 to graduate from the hospital's nursing program, according to bridgew.edu.
  
  

Private Nurse

• Following graduation, Mahoney worked as private nurse for 30 years before becoming a director at an orphanage on Long Island, New York, according to distinguishedwomen.com.
  
  

Pioneer

• In 1896, she became an early member of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada before she co-founded, in 1908, the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, according to distinguishedwomen.com.
  
  

Presidential Audience

• Mahoney was instrumental in getting the NACGN an audience with President Warren Harding in the early 1920s, according to bridgew.edu.
  
  

Legacy

• Mahoney died in 1926, and 10 years later the NACGN created an annual award in her honor for women who contributed to racial integration, according to distinguishedwomen.com.