N.C. A&T Alumni Times

Bluford Archives: Hannah A. Bullock, One of N.C. A&T’s First Female Graduates to Become A Nurse

In 1901, the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, stopped admitting women. However, three female students who were already enrolled did complete their bachelor's degrees. One of those women was known only in the catalogs and A&T histories for decades as “Mrs. H. A. Bullock”, of Greensboro, N.C., class of 1902. While it was known that Mrs. Frances T. Grimes, ‘1901 and Mrs. F. E. Garrett ‘1902 became teachers, it is believed that H. A. Bullock was only “a housewife” from some of the old catalog listings. After researching newspapers, community histories, directories, and census records to learn more about her, a fascinating story of a great community figure began to re-emerge.

Mrs. Bullock was born Hannah A. Hill between 1872 -1879, the daughter of Abner and Martha (or Alelia) Hill in Wilmington, N.C. It is not known how she came to be in Greensboro, but in May 1891 she married Samuel B. Bullock in Guilford County. They were married until his death in 1915. She was enlisted as a freshman for the 1898-1899 academic year as “Hannah H. Bullock” and graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanics between May 25-29, 1902 during the four-day commencement events. In the 1890s and the first decades of the 20th century, Samuel B. Bullock was a restaurateur and hotel manager in Greensboro and the couple raised seven children: Madaline, Godfrey, Samuel, James, Alford, John, and Annie.

Very little is known about her life immediately after her graduation, but in the 1910 U.S. Census, Hannah was a practicing nurse for a private family. In a February 1916 “Greensboro Daily News” article she was announced as the new “community nurse for negroes”, hired by the city of Greensboro committee board of public welfare at a salary of $40.00 dollars a month. Her new salary was sponsored by Lunsford Richardson, president of the Vicks Chemical Company, with an additional pledge of $5.00 a month from A&T College and other community institutions.

Bullock’s training and preparation for her role as the “community nurse” for African-Americans is still unknown, but the Daily News article also said that she was well-known among physicians in the Greensboro community. In the early days of the land-grant colleges, it was widely known that agriculture mechanics, and home economics provided a strong foundation for applicants in the medical fields. In its first 11 years, several A&M Aggies pursued further education to become dentists, like Dr. P. E. Robinson ‘1899, Dr. B. W. Barnes ‘1909 (Barnes Hall), and Dr. Cornelius Dixon ‘1910; or to become physicians, like Dr. I. S. Cunningham, ‘1899. Even faculty like Prof. S. P. Sebastian (Sebastian Health Center), left A&T for some time to attend medical school, becoming our most famous physician. As far as we know, Mrs. Bullock may have been the first Aggie graduate to become a nurse.

Regardless of how Bullock was trained, her role as community nurse or “district nurse” was continually supported by A&T. The “Greensboro Daily News” devoted a May 1916 article to her services titled “Negro Community Nurse Given Plenty Community Work.” This article mentioned the A&T College and President James B. Dudley working for the support of the local Bethel A. M. E. Church and their pastor the Rev. Charles W. Robinson to financially support her work. The text also details how she made over 225 home visits in one month. She performed a range of nursing duties like treating burns, cleaning rooms, attending mothers with babies, and bathing infants. In the fall of 1916, Hannah Bullock sold Red Cross Seals to fight tuberculosis among African-Americans in Greensboro. In the spring of 1917, story noted how she made 217 visits that January treating everything from tuberculosis to eczema. During this time, Bullock’s daughter, Madaline was also a nurse. Hannah Bullock’s efforts would have been priceless in a time when there was not a modern full-service hospital for African Americans in the Central or Piedmont Carolina region until the establishment of the L. Richardson Memorial Hospital in Greensboro in 1927.

Hannah A. Bullock was a wife, a mother, a community nurse who cared for over to 200 people a month, and one of only 3 female Aggies with a bachelor’s degree, all in the first decades of the 20th century. Truly a remarkable woman and an early example of what “Aggies DO”. She is known to have practiced nursing as late as 1923. It is also believed that she moved out of the state for some time, returned to North Carolina, and passed away around 1950.

As Bluford Library Archives prepares for a history of the 120th anniversary of the class of 1899, we are also seeking more information on the first three female graduates of A&T. Along with Hannah Bullock, they were Mrs. Frances T. Grimes, who was a teacher at the Wharton Normal and Industrial School in Charlotte, N.C. who later resided in Asheville, NC, and Mrs. F. E. Garrett, a teacher in Greensboro, N.C. who is listed as deceased in the college bulletins beginning in 1917.

If you have any information or would like to know more about A&T history, please contact the F. D. Bluford Library Archives at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.