Tuskegee University
School of Nursing and Allied Health
~ 1892 - 2003 ~
The Tuskegee Normal School for nurses was established in September 1892 to educate young Black women who wanted to learn the art of caring for the sick.
Today the Tuskegee University Department of Nursing has a very distinctive place in the history of professional nursing as the first baccalaureate nursing program established in the state of Alabama and one of the first such programs at a Historically Black College or University in the nation. One of the oldest predominantly Black schools of nursing in continuous operation in the United States, the Department of Nursing marks in May 2003 the 50th Anniversary of the first class to graduate in Alabama with bachelor of science degrees in nursing.
The two-year nursing program was established by Dr. Booker Taliaferro Washington, Tuskegee’s founder and first president, and directed by Dr. Hattie Dillian, M.D., the Black female school physician.
In 1898, funds were successfully raised to build -- using student labor -- a hospital. Completed in 1901, the two-story building in front of James Hall accommodated twenty-five beds, and services were extended to the community. Miss Nellie Singleton, a graduate nurse, was the first nurse to direct and/or supervise the nursing students.
In 1902, Washington employed Dr. John Andrew Kenney, a graduate of Hampton University and Leonard Medical School of Shaw University, to be the resident physician, surgeon and superintendent of the hospital and Nursing Training School. Mrs. W.A. Richardson was head nurse and supervisor.
The three-year nursing program was initiated in 1908, and, in 1912, the John Albion Andrew Memorial Hospital and Nurse Training School was chartered and built through the generosity ($55,000) of Mrs. Elizabeth Mason of Boston Massachusetts. The hospital was in honor of her grandfather, who was governor of Massachusetts during the civil war. The hospital’s grand opening was in 1913. Financial difficulty closed the community hospital. Tuskegee University will reopen the completely revamped John A. Andrew facility as home to, among other entities, the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
In 1928, the Alabama State Board of Nurse Examiners approved and registered the Nursing Program. In 1941, the School of Nursing initiated the first predominately Black post graduate nurse practitioner program in nurse midwifery. When the program closed in 1946, twenty-five Black nurses had graduated as mid-wives. Also in 1946, the Nurses Home Building was completed.
Dr. Lillian Holland Harvey became Director of the nursing program in 1945. In 1948, she initiated the first baccalaureate program in the state of Alabama. The first class graduated from the baccalaureate program in 1953. For her achievements during her 1944-1973 tenure leading nursing at Tuskegee, Harvey was among the first to be inducted into the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame in 2001.
In 1957, the school received full accreditation from the National Nursing Accrediting Service of the National League for Nursing and has enjoyed continuous accreditation since that time. Most recently the program was accredited until 2008 by the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission. It is also approved by the Alabama Board of Nursing.
The Tuskegee University Department of Nursing within the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health is housed in Basil O’Connor Hall, completed in 1968. Allied Health was added at the beginning of the 1979-80 academic year.
The Mary Starke Harper Chair in Nursing Research honors the numerous contributions of the international professional nursing alumnae in the name of the registered nurse, sociologist, clinical psychologist, educator and program administrator whose distinguished career spanned 45 years. The Mary Starke Harper Chair established at Tuskegee is the first endowed chair in nursing research named for a Black nurse.
In 1970, Dr. Harper was the first nursing recipient of the Alumni Merit Award initiated in 1943. The award is given in recognition of alumni’s distinguished service in advancing human welfare.
In the 1980s, the annual Scholarly Events Day and annual Mary Starke Harper Lecture Series were launched. The objective is to identify the role research plays in improving quality of client care, facilitating the identification or researchable problems in the clinical and education environments, and promoting research initiatives in clinical settings.
The School of Nursing and Allied Health has had five deans:
- Dr. Doris S. Holeman, 1999 to present, is associate dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health
- Dr. Margie N. Johnson, 1988-1998
- Dr. Rosetta Ford Sands, 1984-1987
- Dr. Lauranne Sams, 1974-1984
- Dr. Lillian H. Harvey, 1944-1973.
This partial history is maintained in a full version by the Tuskegee University Nursing Alumni Club. Call (334) 727-8382.
