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Abstract: This article traces the beginning of African Americans in the nursing profession in the state of North Carolina with particular emphasis on the origin and demise of the St. Agnes School of Nursing at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, NC.
Key Words: African Americans; St. Agnes School of Nursing; African Americans in Nursing; Nursing and African Americans in North Carolina
After the completion of the Civil War, much of the south lay in ruins. The economy which was based on Confederate currency was in shambles. Reacting to Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831, the North Carolina legislature made teaching enslaved people to read and write a crime punishable by fines, whipping and incarceration. Because of these atrocities, the literacy rate for African Americans was estimated at between five and ten percent. Social institutions existing prior to the war, including schools and churches were gone or changed so much that they were almost unrecognizable. War widows, orphans, disabled veterans and newly freed slaves had to reconstruct their lives under these trying circumstances.
During this period of Reconstruction following the Civil War, many northern religious and philanthropic groups aided by the Federal government began building new kinds of programs and institutions in the former confederate states. Educating newly freed African Americans was a goal shared by many of these northern reformers. The ability to read write and 'cipher' helped provide access to a variety of jobs as well as power to ensure fairness in their business and personal affairs. Colleges and graduate schools were needed to educate African American lawyers, doctors, professors, nurses, business leaders, ministers and other professionals to serve the needs in African American communities.
In 1867, white northern reformers from the Protestant Episcopal Church arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina, (NC), to open St. Augustines's, a school for African Americans. The school was chartered in July 1867 and accepted its first students in January 1868. No tuition was charged. Board was set at $8.00 per month. Students from the capital city of Raleigh and surrounding counties came to St. Augustine's to get an elementary and high school education. With help from public and private supporters, the school grew and expanded. In 1896, on the campus of St. Augustine's, the St....