Thoms was born Adah Belle Samuels in Richmond, Virginia, to Harry and Melvina Samuels. As a young woman, she married briefly, and kept the surname Thoms. Before she became a nurse, she was a school teacher in Richmond, Virginia, and then in the 1890s, she went to New York, to study elocution and speech at Cooper Union. She then studied nursing at the Women's Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage, graduating in 1900 as the only black woman in a class of thirty. Thoms continued her education at the Lincoln Hospital and HomeSchool of Nursing, a school for black women, graduating in 1905. Although she served as acting director between 1906 and 1923, racist policies prevented her receiving the official title of director. Thoms became involved in international efforts to advance the nursing profession, attending the International Council of Nurses in 1912. In the first part of the 20th century, Thoms worked with Martha Minerva Franklin and Mary Mahoney to organize the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. The organizing meeting was held at Lincoln Home and Hospital, and hosted by Thoms, in 1907. The organization, founded in 1908 by a group of 52 black nurses, aimed to secure the full integration of black women nurses into the nursing profession. Focused on the American Nurses' Association, nursing education programs, employment opportunities, and equal pay, the organization was ultimately dissolved by president Mabel Keaton Staupers in 1950, after successfully integrating the US Armed Forces and the American Nurses' Association. Thoms served as president of the NACGN from 1916–1923, and played a critical role in lobbying the American Red Cross to permit black nurses to enroll during World War I, in order to lead to service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. The Surgeon General agreed to limited enrollment of African American nurses in the Army Nurse Corps in July 1918. Enrollments started during the flu epidemic in December 1918. Thoms was received at the White House by President and Mrs. Warren G. Harding in 1921, during the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurse Convention in Washington, D.C. In 1923, she remarried, to Henry Smith, who died within the year. Adah Belle Samuels Thoms died in New York City, February 21, 1943.
Nursing Profession
Thoms moved to Harlem, New York in 1893 to pursue her aspirations to become a nurse. This was mainly because African Americans had a better opportunity for advancement up North. Thoms enrolled in a nursing course at the Women's Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage as a start to nursing. In 1903, Thoms entered the program and was offered the position as head nurse of one of the surgical wards in 1904. In 1905, Thoms was hired as the head nurse at the Lincoln Hospital and Home. A year later, she was promoted to superintendent of nurses and acting director and kept the positions until she retired in 1923.
Thoms served as an acting director of Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing from 1906 to 1923 and was never promoted to full director because of racial descrimination. In 1908, Adah met Martha Minerva Franklin, who at the time was striving towards holding a conference for 52 graduate black nurses. Franklin wanted the support of Lincoln School for Nurses Alumnae Association, who eventually sponsored the meeting. The idea of establishing an organization for African-American nurses attracted Thoms, leading to the development of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. Because of Thom's experience with discrimination, it drove her to start the NACGN with Franklin in order for African-American nurses to achieve higher professional standards and develop leadership among black nurses.
