Our History

about us

Freedmen’s Hospital Training School for Nurses was founded November 15, 1884, by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. The beginning of Freedmen’s Hospital dates back to the Civil War. Many freed slaves poured into Washington, D.C.; the sick, the infirm, and destitute, who were in hope that here their wants would be supplied. Because of these circumstances, the War Department of the Federal Government decided to establish a “Freedmen’s Bureau” to create an emergency facility to care for the sick and destitute. Administration of the School of Nursing was established within the jurisdiction of Freedmen’s Hospital when it was a national institution under Federal control. The sponsorship of the School of Nursing placed the responsibility for education outside an educational institution. This was essentially the way nursing education began in the U.S.A.


Dr. Williams appointed Sarah C. Ebersole as superintendent of nurses. She was a graduate of the Illinois Training School for Nurses. The role and functions of the superintendent of nurses typified concretely the conflict between education and care of the sick. She was responsible for both nursing education and nursing service. The school was established as an 18 month program of studies with 17 students between the ages of 21-35. Its objective was to afford opportunity for young Negroes to receive systematic preparation for care of the sick and to increase good nursing care to the patients.

In 1900 it was recommended that the Training School for Nurses should offer a 36-month course. In 1904 the School was registered in the State of New York and graduate nurses were admitted to the Nurses Associated Alumnae (present day American Nurses Association) of the USA.  In September 1909, under Julia Duffy, the acting superintendent of nursing the training course was extended to 36 months with classes being taught in “practical and theoretical nursing”. The hospital as well as the nursing students benefited by the change. The Training School for Nurses continued to develop within the framework of the Freedmen’s Hospital administration.

 The name of Freedmen’s Hospital Training School for Nurses was changed to Freedmen’s Hospital School for Nurses in 1942. In 1967, Freedmen’s Hospital and the School of Nursing were transferred to Howard University by an Act of Congress. In 1968, Howard University College of Nursing was established with Dr. Anna B. Coles, FHSN Class of 1948, as its first dean. In 1969, Alice J. Naughton, FHSN Class of 1951 was appointed director of Nursing Service for Freedmen’s Hospital and Ida C. Robinson, FHSN Class of 1945 was appointed director of Nursing Education. Prior to 1969, all the preceding directors or superintendents had a dual function: one, of providing nursing service to patients in Freedmen’s Hospital as a primary responsibility, and the other, operation of the school of nursing.

Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing was phased out and admitted its last class in 1970. The last class graduated in 1973. By 1973, 1558 nurses had graduated from FHSN. FHSN was fully accredited by the Department of Diploma Programs of the National League of Nursing and was approved by the Nursing Examining Board of the District of Columbia.

Reference: The Souvenir Brochure Committee published June, 1973 by the Committee chaired by Elizabeth V. Stewart, MS, RN, FHSN Class of 1934.

Revised in October, 2015 by Julia Varner McFarlane, M.Ed., RN, FHSN Class of 1969, and Executive Board President.