Editor-in-chief Diana J. Mason responds: Ethnicity-specific nursing organizations arose because many state nurses' associations (SNAs) and the National League of Nursing Education (precursor to the National League for Nursing) initially denied membership to black nurses. Until 1948, membership in an SNA was required for membership in the American Nurses Association. Our African American colleagues formed the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) in 1908. In 1951, finally able to join white nurses' associations, they dissolved the NACGN, only to discover that the integrated associations were not addressing the needs of black nurses. The National Black Nurses Association was formed in response, in 1971.