E2024-G161

The Nightingale of Korea: Elisabeth Johanna Shepping and the History of Nursing in Korea

Narrative

Elisabeth J. Shepping (1880-1934) was a German-born American nurse and missionary who served in Korea from 1912 until her death as part of the Southern Presbyterian mission. In 1918, she founded Neel Girls’ School in Gwangju together with Lois Hawks Swinehart (1869-1971). She also served as a nurse at Jejung Hospital (today’s Kwangju Christian Hospital). She wrote and translated the first nursing textbooks in Korean. In 1923, she founded the Chosun Nurses Association which later became the Korean Nurses Association. She was also a vocal advocate for the rights of Hansen’s disease patients, having established an independent facility for their treatment on Sorokdo Island. Shepping is known for having lived a modest life and for having actively assimilated into Korean society. She rescued many girls, even adopting 13 of them. She is buried in Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetary. In 1937, a biography of her life was written by Lois Swinehart in the book Glorious Living: Informal Sketches of Seven Women Missionaries of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., and a Korean documentary entitled Seo Seo-pyeong, cheoncheonhi pyeongonhage (Elisabeth Shepping, Slowly and Peacefully) was made of her life in 2017.

Story Map

• Missionary Legacy: Western Christianity’s Transformation of Gwangju
  • As Seen Through Landmarks: The Influence of Western Missionaries in the Early Japanese Colonial Period
  • The Western Missionaries Laid to Rest in Gwangju: Yangnim-dong Missionary Cemetery
  • The Introduction of Western Residential Housing: Missionary Wilson’s House
  • Gone Too Soon in a Foreign Land: Missionary Children Who Passed Away in Gwangju
  • The Bell Family
  • The Nightingale of Korea: Elisabeth Johanna Shepping and the History of Nursing in Korea
  • Korea in the Early Twentieth Century as Seen by Western Missionaries in Gwangju