{{Short description|African-American nurse in World War II (1921–2005)}} {{Distinguish|Eleanor Powell}} {{use mdy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox military person | birth_date = {{Birth year|1921}} | death_date = {{Death year and age|2005|1921}} | birth_place = Milton, Massachusetts, U.S. | allegiance = {{Flag|United States}} | branch = {{Flag|United States Army}} | rank = Second lieutenant }} '''Elinor Powell''' (1921–2005) was an African-American nurse in World War II who married a German prisoner of war.
==Background== Powell was raised in Milton, Massachusetts, where her grandmother moved after she escaped slavery as a teen, travelling north via the Underground Railroad.<ref name="The secret romance of a black Army nurse and Nazi POW">{{cite web |last1=Linge |first1=Mary Kay |title=The secret romance of a black Army nurse and Nazi POW |url=https://nypost.com/2018/05/19/the-secret-romance-of-a-black-army-nurse-and-nazi-pow/ |website=New York Post |date=May 19, 2018}}</ref> Powell's father served in World War I, which later inspired her to also join the United States Army as a nurse.
==Career and relationship== In 1944, Powell joined the army and completed her basic training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, the largest military installation for black soldiers and nurses.<ref name="The Army's First Black Nurses Were Relegated to Caring for Nazi Prisoners of War">{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Alexis |title=The Army's First Black Nurses Were Relegated to Caring for Nazi Prisoners of War |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/armys-first-black-nurses-had-tend-to-german-prisoners-war-180969069/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> Powell was one of only 300 nurses allowed to join the Army Nurse Corps under strict quotas.<ref name="The Army's First Black Nurses Were Relegated to Caring for Nazi Prisoners of War"/> Powell worked as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps based at POW Camp Florence, Arizona, where she was required to help German soldiers, including Nazis captured in Europe and Northern Africa, as black nurses were prohibited from treating white GIs until the last years of the war.<ref name="The secret romance of a black Army nurse and Nazi POW"/> Originally, Camp Florence employed white nurses, but they were replaced with black nurses to discourage fraternisation, and many of the camps enforced strict segregation policies.
Despite this, Powell fell in love with a German prisoner, Frederick (German: Friedrich) Albert, who was a Luftwaffe medic from Vienna who had been captured in Italy.<ref name="How a 1940s black nurse married a WW II Nazi soldier against American and German views on race">{{cite web |last1=NTREH |first1=NII |title=How a 1940s black nurse married a WW II Nazi soldier against American and German views on race |url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-a-1940s-black-nurse-married-a-ww-ii-nazi-soldier-against-american-and-german-views-on-race |website=Face2Face Africa |language=en |date=December 9, 2019}}</ref> This was incredibly risky, as such a relationship could get her court-martialled. Powell met Albert in the mess hall, where he was assigned to work as a cook. Just before Albert was released and deported in April 1946, they conceived a son, enabling Albert to obtain a visa and return the following year to marry in New York.<ref name="They didn't let racism win">{{cite web |last1=Feliciano |first1=Ivette |title='They didn't let racism win' -- The story of an interracial couple on opposite sides of WWII |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/they-didnt-let-racism-win-the-story-of-an-interracial-couple-on-opposite-sides-of-wwii |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us |date=June 17, 2018}}</ref> They moved to Boston but experienced discrimination due to being in an interracial marriage, and so moved to Germany. This was no better, so they returned to settle in Connecticut. Frederick died in 2001, followed by Elinor in 2005. They had two sons, Steven and Chris. Chris became a trumpeter with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.<ref name="The secret romance of a black Army nurse and Nazi POW"/>
In 2018, the book titled ''Enemies in Love'' by Alexis Clark was written about the relationship between Elinor Powell and Frederick Albert.<ref name="Enemies in love">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Alexis |title=Enemies in love: a German POW, a black nurse, and an unlikely romance |year=2018 |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1620971864}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Elinor}} Category:1921 births Category:2005 deaths Category:American women nurses Category:African-American nurses Category:United States Army officers Category:People from Milton, Massachusetts Category:Date of birth missing Category:Date of death missing Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:American expatriates in Germany Category:21st-century African-American women Category:Military personnel from Massachusetts