Harlem Hospital School of Nursing

Nursing school in New York City

Harlem Hospital School of Nursing

Former names

* Training School for Colored Nurses of Harlem Hospital
* Training School for Nurses of Harlem Hospital

|

Type| Public nursing school
Active| January 3, 1923 (1923-01-03)–1977 (1977)
Founders|

* John Francis Hylan
* William Vassall
* Lurline Vassall DeShields

Parent institution

| Harlem Hospital Center
Students| 20 (first year class)
Location|

Harlem, New York City

New York

United States

40°48′52″N 73°56′18″W﻿ / ﻿40.81444°N 73.93833°W﻿ / 40.81444; -73.93833
Campus| urban
[1][2]

Harlem Hospital School of Nursing was a training school for African-American women, which was established at Harlem Hospital in Harlem, New York City in 1923. It was founded due to the lack of nursing schools in New York that accepted African American women. Until 1923, the Lincoln Hospital School for Nurses in The Bronx was the only school that allowed the enrollment of Black women.

## Formation

[edit]

When Mayor Hylan sought reelection in 1921, the NAACP and other community organizations lobbied the mayor to improve healthcare access.[1] Around the same time, Lurline Vassall of Brooklyn, was denied entry to the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing because of her race.[1] Lurline's father William Vassall launched a campaign to open a school for black nurses.[1][3] In response, Hylan's administration supported the creation of the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing.[1]

The school opened on January 3, 1923, with a class of twenty black women.[1] It was a two and a half year program.[1] An additional thirteen students were enrolled in April 1923 and another sixteen students were enrolled in September 1923. Thirty-six of these students would go on to graduate on April 23, 1925, becoming the first graduating class.[4]

## Early student experience

[edit]

Students followed a rigorous twelve-hour schedule.[5] This schedule included academic activities as well as work in the hospital. Some of their activities included cleaning, making beds and caring for patients.[6] Students were often subject to the prejudice of white doctors and nurses, many of whom refused to work with black nursing students.[5]

Students were required to wear pink long-sleeved dresses that came down to six inches off the ground. In addition, each wore an attached collar and cuffs and a long white apron. For shoes they were black high tops.[7] The color of the uniform was soon changed from pink to blue.[8] Shortly after being admitted, students attended a capping ceremony in which they received nurse's caps that symbolized their initiation into the school. Some students were surprised that they were not given the same caps as Bellevue students, but instead were given standard caps. Rumors spread that they hadn't received Bellevue caps because of concerns that black hair would be too greasy. In 1949, a committee formed to replace the standard cap with a more unique design. The design chosen featured a distinctive three point brim representing faith, hope and charity.[9]

## Dissolution

[edit]

The Harlem Hospital School of Nursing closed in 1977.[10] The decision to close the school was made in part due to lack of funding.[11]

## Notable alumni and personnel

[edit]

* Renee Amoore[12]
* Goldie Brangman-Dumpson – graduated in 1943[13]
* Rosetta Burke – graduated in 1957.[14]
* Irma Dryden – graduated in 1942 [15]
* Alma Vessells John – attended 1926–1929.[16]
* Hazel Johnson-Brown attended 1947–1950[17][18] the first Black female general in the United States Army and the first Black chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps.[19]
* Salaria Kea O'Reilly – attended 1930–1934.[20]
* Estelle Massey Osborne – taught in the late 1920s.[21]
* Laura Holloway Yergan, became nursing educator in Africa, Caribbean, Asia, and Middle East

## See also

[edit]

* Adah Belle Thoms

## See also

[edit]

* List of defunct colleges and universities in New York

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g Building a Healthy Black Harlem. Cambria Press. ISBN 9781621969686.
2. ^ "Established Clinical Medicine in Harlem". northbysouth.kenyon.edu. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
3. ^ "A Compilation of African Americans and Historic Sites in the Town of Huntington" (PDF). Town of Huntington New York. February 2009. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
4. ^ Bennet, M. Alisan (1984). "A History of the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing: Its Emergence and Development in a Changing Urban Community, 1923–1973 (New York)". Teacher's College. Columbia University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing: 39. ProQuest 303286873.
5. ^ a b Campbell, Barbara (June 8, 1973). "Harlem Nursing Alumnae Recall Early Racial Snubs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
6. ^ Bennet (1984, pp. 38–39)
7. ^ Bennet (1984, p. 38)
8. ^ "Harlem History Center School of Nursing 1923–1977". Alumni Association Harlem Hospital Center School of Nursing. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
9. ^ Bennet (1984, pp. 39–40)
10. ^ "Exhibit Featuring Long-Closed Harlem Hospital School of Nursing Honors One of its Students". TWC News. December 4, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
11. ^ "Centennial Celebration of Harlem Hospital School of Nursing". Community Curation Platform. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
12. ^ "Renee J. Amoore's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
13. ^ Snyder, Jean (January 16, 2022). "Jean Snyder column: Remembering Goldie Brangman, the nurse anesthetist who helped save Rev. Martin Luther King Jr". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
14. ^ "Rosetta Burke". BMWF. Black Military Women Foundation. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
15. ^ "Nurse to Tuskegee Airmen dies in Georgia at 100". ABC News. Associated Press. September 29, 2020. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
16. ^ Clark, Karen (August 9, 1993). "Alma John papers 1955–1980" (PDF). New York Public Library Archives. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
17. ^ Langer, Emily (March 6, 2016). "Hazel Johnson-Brown, Army nurse who was first black female general, dies at 83 – The Washington Post". Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
18. ^ Lukens, Rob (June 28, 2012). "History's People: Hazel Johnson-Brown, First Female Black General". Chester County Historical Society. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
19. ^ "Hazel Johnson". answers.com. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
20. ^ "Kea, Salaria". The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. December 10, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
21. ^ "archives.nypl.org – Estelle Massey Osborne papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved February 1, 2022.

## External links

[edit]

* http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/health/hospny.htm

* v
* t
* e

Education in Harlem

Public schools|

* Columbia Secondary
* HS for Math, Science and Engineering at City College
* Manhattan Center for Science and Math
* Young Women's Leadership of East Harlem

| Charter|

* Harlem Village Academies
* New Heights Academy Charter School
* Opportunity Charter School

|

Private schools|

* Bank Street School for Children
* The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine
* The Children's Storefront
* Cristo Rey New York HS
* Harlem Academy
* The Harlem School of the Arts
* St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School
* The School at Columbia University

Tertiary/other schools|

* Bank Street College of Education
* City College of New York
* CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy
* CUNY School of Medicine
* CUNY School of Professional Studies
* Columbia University
* Helene Fuld College of Nursing
* List College
* Manhattan School of Music
* New York College of Podiatric Medicine
* Union Theological Seminary

Closed schools|

* Bishop Dubois High School
* Harlem Hospital School of Nursing
* Manhattan Vocational & Technical HS
* New York School of Applied Design for Women
* Rice HS
* Wadleigh HS for Girls

New York Public Library|

* Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
* branch libraries
* 115th St
* Hamilton Grange

Education in New York City • Harlem
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