St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing

St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing
Location: 
Raleigh, NC
Date Est.: 
1896
Date Cls.: 
1961

Opened in 1896 by Sarah Hunter, wife of the head of St. Augustine's College, St. Agnes Hospital offered the first professional training for black nurses in North Carolina. In 1909 a new facility was completed, built by the masonry students of St. Augustine's College from stone quarried on the college's campus.

The African American community in Raleigh depended on the hospital for healthcare. St. Agnes is said to have charged just enough for its services to let the patients keep their dignity but not so much as to keep them from seeking help. In 1937 St. Agnes Training School was accredited by the American Medical Association. The hospital closed in the wake of the civil rights movement in 1961, and it is estimated that nearly 700 nursing students were trained there during its existence.  (From NC Dept of Natural and Cultural Resources)

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Compiled by: 
Phoebe Pollitt