The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis (Virtual)

Ms. Maria Smillos will discuss her book entitled "The Black Angels The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis," the  remarkable and true story of The Black Angels that spanned  the Great Depression and moved through World War II and beyond. The 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.

This presentation is a collaboration between Bloomfield Public Library and The Wintonbury Historical Society.

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. She 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, an 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 recently 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 was on display in 2024.