Dr. Lillian Holland Harvey (1912–1994) was an African American nurse, public health educator and activist. She served as the Dean of the Tuskegee Institute’s School of Nursing (1948–1973). Dr. Harvey earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Columbia University—all in nursing. Dr. Harvey applied her knowledge and passion for public health at Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama and worked diligently to improve the quality of nursing programs for African American students.

Doubling as a Registered Nurse Superintendent, and the Director of Tuskegee Institute School of Nursing, Dr. Harvey aided in inducting sixteen Tuskegee nursing candidates into the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. In 1945, she assisted as a local official, teaching a six-week course in Red Cross Home Nursing.

Dr. Harvey’s public health concerns expanded on issues such as infantile paralysis in the U.S. South and women’s health care. She taught courses and initiated group discussion at John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital and gave public speeches along the east coast to advocate for women’s activities.

In 1949, Dr. Harvey confirmed that the School of Nursing had received a 25% score in top-ranking nursing programs. The program was able to achieve this through Harvey’s relentless efforts in expanding the nursing building and improving the curriculum and faculty. Ten years later, in 1959, Harvey’s program received a $125,000 scholarship from the March of Dimes that created a supplementary, fully accredited, and even larger learning facility for her nursing students. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.