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Harlem Hospital School of Nursing was a training school for African-American women established in 1923. It was founded due to the lack of nursing schools in New York that accepted African American women. Until 1923, the Lincoln Hospital School for Nurses in Bronx was the only school that allowed the enrollment of Black women.
When Mayor Hylan sought reelection in 1921, the NAACP and other community organizations lobbied the mayor to improve healthcare access. Around the same time, Lurline Vassalls of Brooklyn was denied entry to the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing because of her race. Lurline's father William launched a campaign to open a school for black nurses. In response, Hylan's administration supported the creation of the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing.
The school opened on January 3, 1923 with a class of twenty black women. It was a two and a half year program.
The Harlem Hospital School of Nursing closed in 1977.