1. Salaria Kea's father was a gardener at the Ohio State Hospital for the Insane in Columbus where he was stabbed to death by a patient when Salaria was a baby.
13 Facts About Salaria Kea
1. 2.
Salaria Kea wanted to pursue a career in nursing, but racial segregation policy of the day inhibited this goal in Ohio.
3.
Salaria Kea was forced to move on to New York City in 1930, where she graduated the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in 1934.
4.
Salaria Kea was anxious to work as a nurse in Ethiopia but the emperor Haile Selassie did not accept foreign volunteers.
5.
Salaria Kea was appointed head surgical nurse for an American unit, where she supervised white nurses and treated patients of all nationalities, which would have been impossible in the States.
6.
Salaria Kea was captured by the Spanish Nationalist Army but managed to escape with the help of International Brigade soldiers after being held for six weeks.
7.
In Villa Paz, Salaria Kea met an injured Irish soldier, John O'Reilly, whom she later married.
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Haile Selassie 8.
In early 1938, Salaria Kea was transferred to different units in Aragon, Lerida and Barcelona and was herself injured in a Nationalist bombing raid.
9.
Salaria Kea's wounds were so severe that she was sent back to the United States in May 1938.
10.
Salaria Kea was treated as a celebrity in Black and Communist circles.
11.
Salaria Kea toured with the Negro Committee to Aid Spain with Thyra J Edwards in August 1938.
12.
Salaria Kea was drafted to serve in the military during World War II.
13.
In 1973 the couple retired to Akron where Salaria Kea died on 18 May 1990.