The history and establishment of Harlem Hospital School of Nursing related to Bellevue Hospital, whose school of nursing was established in May 1837 as the first school of nursing founded on the Nightingale Plan in the United States.

The goal was to assure the students at Bellevue School of Nursing the highest possible level of training.

A daughter of Mr. William Vassall, a New York civil servant of Jamaican descent, wanted to become a nurse in January 1922, during her senior year in Washington Irving High School.

Mr. Vassall began his efforts to help her enter nursing school. At that time, Negro students had never been granted admission to the Bellevue School. After multiple letters to the Superintendent of Nursing and then letters and a meeting with the Medical Superintendent of Bellevue Hospital.

Mr. Vassall was ultimately told his daughter would not be admitted because the white students would never accept her.

After much discussion and insistence, Mr. Vassall’s suggestion of a class for Negro girls at Harlem Hospital was finally accepted experimentally.

The school and the candidates had to meet the same standards as the Bellevue School and the Nightingale Plan. However, he and his daughter were tasked with finding Negro candidates for the class.

In 1922 letters were sent to the American Consulates in Kingston, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Liberia. Also, circulars were sent to schools, colleges, and prominent ministers throughout the South and beyond to attract educated young Negro women interested in entering the nursing profession.

The first student arrived in January 1923.

A compliment of over 37 young women from several states and the West Indies formed the first class, "The Class of 1925."

Thus, Mr. Vassall and his daughter were the catalysts to the establishment of the school. What was called the "experiment," in fact, was the foundation of a successful school.

On Thursday evening, April 23, 1925, the first class, 36 students, graduated. They had completed a two and half year course. Mr. Edward C. Carter, whose wife later became chairman of the School's Advisory Committee. and a familiar figure to the students up into the 1960s was the Guest Speaker.

In. 1926, the training program was increased to three years. The School of Nursing was accredited by the State immediately upon request and evaluation. Harlem has always been a good training laboratory for students with an approved curriculum.

In. 1929, Harlem Hospital became a separate institution within the Department of Hospitals. Simultaneously, the. School of Nursing expanded its facilities.

In. 1930, the students began affiliations at Seaview Hospital for Tuberculosis Nursing. Graduates of the school during the era could be employed only at Harlem at Lincoln Hospitals. With affiliation in practice, graduates would now be employed at Riverside and Seaview Hospitals.

In October 1935, a six-week affiliation to Bellevue for Psychiatric Nursing was started for both Harlem and Lincoln school of nursing. The same year, Queens General Hospital opened, and Negro Graduate Nurses were eventually employed on equal footing with other nurses.

This was the first integration breakthrough in the Department of Hospitals in the City of New York.

Later, affiliations were made with Williard Parker for Communicable Diseases and James Ewing-Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital for Cancer Nursing.

In October 1945, Ms. Alida C. Daley, a graduate of the Class of 1927, became the first Black Superintendent of Nursing Services and Principal of the School of Nursing. She held that position until her retirement in 1967. Preceding and during her tenure, Directors of Education were Ethel Bacon, Alice Brewer, Henrietta Forest Farrar, Jessie Stevens, Grace Marr Nugent, Ruth Bryan, and Midred Chatmon Norman.

During World War II, members of the class of 1945, among others, participated actively in the Cadet Nurse Corps Program. The school also provided post-graduate nursing programs and fieldwork to students enrolled at local colleges and universities. Harlem. Hospital is respected as a clinical laboratory for student nurses today.

The school had now become and continued to be rich in tradition and achievement. Harlem Hospital Graduate Nurses were highly sought after whenever other professionals were exposed to them. Harlem Hospital Graduate Nurses have been the first blacks in many areas; State Boards, the Department of Education, college faculties, granted high commissions in the Armed Services, and other top administrative positions.

They served in every State of the Union, in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and the Caribbean. The school continued to create and maintain educational programs and facilities optimum for learning and timely in concept.

Throughout the years, many adjustments and improvements were made in the three-year curriculum to align with changes in philosophy and social and educational trends. These changes finally evolved into two and one half year basic curriculum.

In June 1969, the first male student graduated. The facilities of the School, which consisted of the old nurses' residence and the new residence (27 WEST136TH Street) were moved to the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Pavilion during July and the subsequent months of 1969.

In keeping with the current trends, affiliation with the Borough of Manhattan Community College began in September 1969, with students. taking college courses in Physical and Behavioral Science and the Humanities. College credits earned could be transferred to a four-year college program in the City University system.

In July 1970, control of all NYC Municipal Hospitals was assumed by the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation. Affiliations in other institutions were discontinued. with the Class of 1972.

Upon the graduation of The Class of '77, June 5th, 1,909 students had graduated from the School, 32 of whom were men. Harlem Hospital Center School of Nursing closed as a school, and the school cap and pin retired. was the last to graduate before the school closed.

Graduates representing every class from 1925 to 1977 participated in the ceremony. Mrs. Edith Benoit removed her school cap, worn during her tenure as the last Director of the School, and turned it over to the Alumni Association of the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing Archives.

This marked the closing of the school and a long healthy history of producing THE HIGHEST IN STANDARDS. THE BEST IN SERVICE.

Community Curation

Cheryl Walker