Black History Month - Lillian Holland Harvey

As we come to the end of our celebration of Black healthcare workers for Black History Month, we want to honor Lillian Holland Harvey. Her groundbreaking career in healthcare is marked by her service as the first Black woman to become Dean of Nursing at Tuskegee School for Nurses for over two decades. In this esteemed position, Harvey transformed the program to make it the first bachelor's degree in nursing in Alabama in 1953.
As a strong advocate for education, Harvey earned her doctorate in education at Columbia University in 1966 as she continued to serve in her dean position from 1948 to 1973. After her retirement, she became the first person to receive the title Dean Emeritus by Tuskegee University in 1978.
Among her achievements and recognitions, Harvey was honored with the Mary Mahoney Award in 1982 by the American Nurses Association (ANA). In 1999, she was initiated into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. Her legacy will live on with her progressive impact on medical education, as she continues to inspire future healthcare workers.