Goldie Brangman-Dumpson


Goldie D. Brangman-Dumpson was an American nurse. Brangman-Dumpson was a co-founder of the school of anesthesia at Harlem Hospital, where she worked most of her career. Later she was the director of the school. While working at Harlem Hospital, she was part of the surgical team that worked on Martin Luther King Jr. after an attempted assassination on September 20, 1958. Brangman-Dumpson was a lifelong volunteer for the Red Cross and the first African-American president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Biography

Brangman-Dumpson was born on October 2, 1920 in Maryland. Brangman-Dumpson started as a volunteer for the Red Cross in 1940. Also in the 1940s, she married James R. Dumpson and the couple had one child. Brangman-Dumpson worked at Harlem Hospital and was there when Martin Luther King Jr. was brought in after an attempted assassination on September 20, 1958. Brangman-Dumpson was a member of his surgery team on that day. She was the one who operated the breathing bag during the surgery. Brangman-Dumpson later became the director of the Harlem Hospital's school of anesthesia which she had co-founded. From 1973 to 1974, Brangman-Dumpson was president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. She was the first African-American to hold that role at AANA.
Brangman-Dumpson moved to Hawaii in 1987. After moving to Hawaii, she continued to volunteer with the Red Cross. In 1992, after Hurrican Omar and Hurricane Iniki, she helped work at the shelter for storm victims. In 1996, She received the Ann Magnussen Award for her service in the Red Cross.
On February 9, 2020, she died in Kailua at age 99. An award in her name is given out by the New York State Association of Nurse Anesthetists.