People, Locations, Episodes

Abbie Voorhies, Military Nurse and Officer born

*Abbie Voorhies was born on this date in 1915. She was a Black nurse and military officer. Abbie Edith Voorhies was born in Louisiana and graduated from Kansas City General Hospital Nursing School in Missouri. Her first job was with Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. She said she joined the military after hearing that […]

Lee Lorch, Math Professor, and Activist born

*Lee Lorch was born on this date in 1915.  He was a white Jewish-American mathematician, American Civil Rights activist, professor, and communist.  Lee Alexander Lorch was born in New York City to Adolph Lorch and Florence Mayer Lorch. He graduated from Cornell University in 1935 and obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati […]

Ruby S. Jackson, Public Health Nurse, born

*The birth of Ruby S. Jackson is celebrated on this date in 1915. She was a Black Public Health Nurse. From Eufaula, Alabama, Ruby Sherman Jackson moved to Atlanta in 1932 to continue her high school education at Booker T. Washington High School, as education for Blacks ended in the 10th grade in Eufaula. In […]

Homer Harris, Student/Athlete, and Physician born

*Homer Harris was born on this date 1916. He was an African American physician and athlete.

Mary Lancaster Carnegie, Nurse, and Administrator born

The birth of Mary Elizabeth Lancaster Carnegie occurred on this date in 1916. She was an African American nurse, activist and administrator.

From Baltimore, MD, her parents were Adeline Beatrice Swann and John Oliver Lancaster. Young Lancaster spent most of her youth with her aunt & uncle due to her parents divorce. She had an after school job in her youth at an all-white cafeteria called the Allies Inn. A graduate of Dunbar H.S., she moved to New York with disappointment following for lack of work. In 1934, she applied and was accepted at Lincoln Hospital School of nursing.

The Wheatley-Provident Hospital (Kansas City) is Founded

The 1916 founding of Wheatley-Provident hospital is celebrated on this date. It was the first medical facility to serve the Black community of Kansas City, MO.

Created in 1910 as the Perry Sanitarium and Training School for Nurses, it was named after Dr. J. Edward Perry. The hospital, however, had become too small and outdated to fully serve the community’s needs. Through the efforts of many area civic groups, Wheatley-Provident was replaced by Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. On June 12, 1972, the last patients of Wheatley-Provident were moved to the new hospital.

Ruth Barrow, Health Educator born

Ruth Nita Barrow was born on this date in 1916. She was a Jamaican nurse, politician, and administrator.

She was born in Barbados at Nesfield, St. Lucy, where she trained as a nurse, midwife, and health care administrator, holding a variety of nursing, public health and public administration jobs in Barbados and Jamaica in the 1940s and 1950s. Barrow made her contributions in several arenas, but her most prominent contributions were in nursing education and with the YWCA. She worked on the professional organization of nurses and the establishment of quality nursing education.

Mamie Clark, Child Psychologist born.

Mamie Phipps Clark was born on this date in 1917. She was an African American educator (child psychology), community activist and administrator.

Dunbar Hospital (Detroit) is Founded

Dunbar Hospital in Detroit, MI, was founded on this date in 1918.

Dr. Charles Watts, Physician born

*Dr Charles Watts was born on this date in 1917. He was an African American physician, surgeon, and activist for the poor.

The Municipal Training School for Colored Nurses Begins

*On this date in 1917, we celebrate the first class of the Municipal Training School for Colored Nurses (MTSCN). Mrs. Ludie Andrews founded MCSTN, which became part of the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing program. This was an accredited nursing school for black students. Municipal School students took courses at Spelman College and completed clinical work at Hughes […]

Mattiedna Johnson, Nurse, and Laboratory Technician born

*Mattiedna Johnson was born on this date in 1918. She was a Black nurse and laboratory technician. Mattiedna Johnson was born to sharecroppers in Mississippi. She weighed three and a half pounds at birth and was the fifth child born in her family. With concern about his daughter’s low birth weight, Johnson’s father pleaded to God to […]

Charles H. Wright, Physician and Philanthropist, born.

*Charles H. Wright was born on this date in 1918. He was a Black physician, author, and philanthropist. Charles Howard Wright was born in Dothan, Alabama. He graduated from Southeast High School in 1935. He attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University), graduating in 1939, and entered Meharry Medical College, graduating in 1943. Wright served two […]

Herman Cooke, Entomologist born

*Herman Cooke was born on this date in 1918.  He was a Black Entomologist and Zoologist.  Herman Glen Cooke was from Petersburg, Virginia. He received a Bachelor of Science from Virginia State College in 1936 and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1939.  Cooke earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the […]

John L.S. Holloman Jr., Doctor, and Activist born

*John L.S. Sullivan was born on this date in 1919. He was an African American Physician and activist.