At 90, FAMU’s School of Nursing celebrates a pioneering legacy

Three Key Takeaways

• FAMU’s nursing legacy began more than a century ago. The university offered its first nursing courses during the 1904-05 academic year, decades before establishing its fully recognized baccalaureate program.
• The 1936 program was a first for Florida. FAMU established the state’s first baccalaureate nursing program, opening a path into professional nursing education for generations of Black students.
• The legacy continues today. Ninety years later, the School of Nursing remains one of FAMU’s signature academic programs and a lasting part of the university’s contribution to the health professions.

Long before FAMU became known for producing generations of Black physicians, pharmacists, engineers and other health professionals, it was quietly building a pipeline of nurses.

That history was celebrated recently as FAMU’s School of Nursing marked its 90th anniversary with a commemorative gala honoring the people, milestones and enduring influence of one of the university’s most historic academic programs.

The anniversary marks a milestone that extends well beyond a single academic program.
In 1936, FAMU established a fully recognized Bachelor of Science nursing program, the first baccalaureate nursing program in Florida. That distinction, placed FAMU at the forefront of professional nursing education in a state where opportunities for Black students were severely restricted by segregation.

But the story began even earlier.

FAMU offered its first nursing courses during the 1904-05 academic year, more than three decades before the university formally established its baccalaureate program. Over time, that early beginning evolved into what is now the oldest continuing baccalaureate nursing program at a historically Black college or university in the United States.

For FAMU, the anniversary is therefore less a celebration of longevity than a reminder of what the program represented when it was created and what it has continued to represent across generations.

A program born in an era of exclusion
The nursing program emerged during a period when Black Americans faced profound barriers to higher education and professional advancement.

For Black women in particular, nursing offered a pathway into a respected profession, but access to professional training was sharply limited by segregation. Establishing a baccalaureate nursing program at a Black university in Florida created an opportunity that did not otherwise exist at the state's predominantly white institutions.

FAMU's program helped transform that opportunity into a tradition.

Generations of students came through its classrooms and clinical training, carrying their education into hospitals, communities, public health agencies, universities and other institutions across the country.

The significance of that history is difficult to separate from the broader story of health care in Black communities.

Nurses were often among the most accessible health professionals in communities where medical resources were scarce. They provided care, education and public-health services while also becoming teachers and mentors for subsequent generations.

The FAMU nursing tradition grew within that larger mission.

Ninety years of impact
The School of Nursing's anniversary also arrives at a moment when the demand for nurses and other health professionals remains acute.

Yet the program's historical importance cannot be measured only by workforce numbers.

Its deeper legacy is reflected in the generations of graduates who entered a profession in which Black representation was once severely limited  and who, in turn, helped open doors for those who followed.

That continuity is one reason the 90th anniversary carries particular weight.

The university was founded in 1887 with a mission that has repeatedly evolved to meet the needs of Black Floridians and the nation. The FAMU nursing program became one its earliest and  clearest expressions of that mission: education not simply as an academic pursuit, but as a means of expanding access to professions that could transform families and communities.

The gala brought that history into focus, honoring the people whose work sustained the program through nine decades.

There were the faculty members who taught generations of aspiring nurses. The administrators who protected and expanded the program. The alumni who carried the FAMU name into hospitals and health systems. And the students who became the next generation of health care professionals.

Together, they form a lineage that stretches from the first nursing courses offered in the early 20th century to today's School of Nursing.

A legacy still being written
The anniversary also offers a reminder that historic programs do not remain relevant simply because they are old.

They remain relevant because they continue to evolve.

Nursing has changed dramatically since FAMU's first courses were offered. The profession now encompasses increasingly sophisticated clinical specialties, advanced practice, research, technology and population health.

The challenges facing the nation's health system have changed, too.

But the central need that helped give rise to FAMU's nursing program remains: expanding access to high-quality health education and preparing professionals who can serve communities that have historically been underserved