Second row: William Hall Goodwin (3rd from left), Edwin A. Alderman (University President) (7th from left), Josephine McLeod (8th from left), James Carroll Flippin (8th from right), J. Edwin Wood (3rd from right), Lawrence T. Royster (far right). Third row: William E. Bray (far left), Harvey E. Jordan (3rd from left), Edwin P. Lehman (6th from left), Henry B. Mulholland (9th from right), Halsted Hedges (2nd from right). Fourth row: Dudley C. Smith (8th from left), John H. Neff (7th from right), Vincent W. Archer (2nd from right), Robert B. Bean (far right).
Graduation class of 1930. This photograph is significant because it is typical of most nursing programs that feature their graduating classes in full uniform. The specific UVA nursing uniform became an honorable distinction for graduates. The photograph also shows the segregated nature of nursing schools with an all-white student body and faculty. The men in the photograph are all UVA faculty members (such as Harvey Jordan) who either are on the advisory board of the School of Nursing (link to 1939 Plan of Instruction) or who are lecturers to nursing students. As faculty leaders, these men became experts in eugenics and led the University of Virginia to become a center of eugenics teaching.
Eugenics, the study of the inheritance of physical, intellectual, and emotional characteristics, brought together many disciplines with the goal of advancing society and health. Eugenics became part of the program to combat venereal disease and other infections, thereby easily overlapping with public health measures. At the same time, these measures contributed to exclusionary policies that stigmatized certain groups. Termed "scientific racism," these polices were part of overarching health campaigns that included a variety of people and groups – nurses, physicians, public health workers, eugenic societies, and governments. Reformers, including nurses, argued for eugenic improvement while also enhancing environmental changes. Significantly, public health and nursing's role in it came of age when biological approaches to social problems were near their height. The legacy of eugenics in health care was prejudice and structural racism.
1930
Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia
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