Imogene Bunn (1911-2002) was a civil rights activist who came to Charlottesville in 1944 with a diploma from St. Philip Hospital School in Richmond, Virginia, and a certificate in public health nursing from the Medical College of Virginia. In Charlottesville, Bunn worked to break down racial barriers, one at a time. In 1946, she became the first Black nurse in the area when she was hired by the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association (IVNA). In that capacity, she visited both Black and white patients in their homes. Later, when the IVNA merged with the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department, Bunn became the agency's nurse supervisor. She eventually earned a Bachelor of Science degree in public health nursing at the University of Michigan. In 1970, she was promoted to nursing director for the Thomas Jefferson Health District. A community leader and bridge builder, Bunn challenged segregation at UVA Hospital and elsewhere, and found ways for people to work together. She often worked quietly behind the scenes. "When I look back," she said, "I was very proud that I was involved in desegregating institutions like the University hospital, the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, Blue Ridge Hospital, and places like that."

Mavis Claytor (1943 -) was born in Callaway, Virginia, in rural Franklin County. Her grandfather was a former enslaved laborer. Claytor's nursing trajectory began at Burrell Memorial Hospital's Lucy Addison High School of Practical Nursing Program, where she graduated in 1963. She attended Morgan State University, a historically Black college in Baltimore, Maryland, and then obtained a diploma in nursing from the Provident Hospital's Registered Nursing Program in Baltimore. Because she desired a baccalaureate degree, she applied to the NLN-accredited University of Virginia School of Nursing. Despite obstacles resulting from an entrenched segregation at UVA, in 1970 she became the first Black woman to graduate from the School of Nursing. She earned a master's degree in mental health nursing at UVA in 1985 and spent the rest of her career at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia. She retired as Service Line Chief Nurse for Geriatrics and Extended Care, after 30 years of dedicated and awarded service.

Holly Edwards (1960-2017) was a parish nurse and service coordinator of the Public Housing Association of Residents in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was a strong resource in providing residents' spiritual and health needs while always aiming to, as she said, "meet people where they are." Throughout her work, she mentored dozens of nursing students, whose community health clinical rotations took place at Westhaven and Crescent Hall community clinics under her guidance and supervision. She also was a Charlottesville city councilor from 2008 to 2011 and vice mayor during the final two years of her term. In 2004, Edwards was chosen as one of "The Distinguished Dozen," an award given by The Daily Progress. She earned her Ph.D. in nursing from UVA School of Nursing in 2017.

Evelyn Rogers Gardner (1941-) created UVA’s outpatient neurology clinic in 1967—essentially from scratch—and was its backbone during a 45-year career. In the 1970s, she lobbied for staff rewards and recognition and succeeded in a campaign to secure a wage increase for LPNs. She graduated from the Jackson P. Burley/UVA Hospital licensed practical nursing program in 1961. 

Rachael (early 1800s) was a nurse and midwife enslaved by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Very little is known about Rachael, limited to only that which was recorded in the papers of Thomas Jefferson and the Monticello estate. We do not know her last name or her date of birth or death. We do know that Rachael played a unique role in her community, attending numerous births on Thomas Jefferson’s properties during the early 19^th century, including the years from 1813 until 1827. 

Grace Quarles Tinsley (1933-2006), civil rights activist, nurse, and advocate for public education, received her nursing certificate from the Jackson P. Burley/University of Virginia Hospital Licensed Practical Nursing Program in 1958. As one of several African American nurses to integrate UVA Hospital, she worked for 18 years as a labor and delivery nurse, pharmacology research technician, and Supervisor of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory. She also served as Supervisor of Nurses with the Charlottesville School System and was the first African American woman appointed to the Charlottesville City School Board. As an active member of the NAACP, she was executive board member and chair of the Political Action Committee. She also earned appointments on the boards of the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center and the Piedmont Virginia Community College, while raising funds for the creation of a Public Defender's Office in Charlottesville. Tinsley was recognized as a Bridge Builder for her efforts to cross racial, class, and economic barriers. Among her many awards, in 2002 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award. After her death in 2006, the Charlottesville Democratic Party created a scholarship in her name for students at Charlottesville High School who demonstrate exceptional community leadership.

Randolph Lewis White (1896-1991) was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement in Charlottesville. He worked as a machinist in Ohio before joining the U.S. Army in 1919, where he was a clerk in the judge advocate office until 1928. He came to Virginia in 1931. Despite his earlier experiences, he could only gain employment as a janitor in the UVA Hospital. Soon, however, he earned the highest position for a Black man in the hospital by becoming the supervisor of orderlies, ward maids, and janitors. In 1944, he was instrumental in African American employees' efforts to form Local 550, a union that pushed for better wages and working conditions. This involved heading negotiations that led to hospital and university leaders conceding to improvements in Black workers' salaries, working hours, and retirement benefits. He also labored to desegregate UVA Hospital's patient wards. White founded the Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune, the weekly African American newspaper, and through his editorials, he played a key role in desegregation efforts of the Charlottesville schools. His wife was a registered nurse.

Honor Mobley, Weda Gilmore, Annie M. White, Fannie S. Randolph, and Mary B. Henry were the first African American registered nurses at UVA Hospital. They were graduates of Historically Black Schools of Nursing that were crucial to educating African American registered nurses during their long and constant struggle to gain rightful positions in the health care system. Honor Mobley graduated from Good Samaritan Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Others included Weda Gilmore from Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC; Annie M. White from Lincoln Hospital in New York; Fannie S. Randolph from Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina; and Mary B. Henry from Dixie Hospital in Hampton, Virginia. In September 1951, these women went to work at UVA Hospital. Their efforts were vital in desegregating the hospital and obtaining greater acceptance for African Americans within the Charlottesville community.

Graduates of the Burley-UVA Licensed Practical Nursing Training Program (1952-1967) were the first African American nurses to be trained at UVA Hospital. In 1951, the UVA Hospital, in response to local nursing shortages, collaborated with Black community leaders and the Jackson P. Burley High School, a local Black high school, to establish a Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program to train Black women and men. The students completed the training program in 18 months and once an LPN, typically worked under the supervision of registered nurses. The more than 150 graduates of the Burley-UVA program went on to desegregate the UVA Hospital and had a major impact on their patients and communities. Although the LPN graduates always thought of themselves as UVA alumni, UVA denied them alumni status until April 2019, when the UVA president inducted them into the Alumni Association.