Mavis Claytor was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Nursing, earning her BSN in 1970. Claytor entered the BSN program in 1968, after graduating first from the Lucy Addison High School of Practical Nursing in Roanoke in 1963, and the Helene Fuld Provident Hospital's Registered Nursing Program in Baltimore in 1967. After earning her BSN, Claytor returned to the historically Black Burrell Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, where she worked as an RN on the general medical-surgical floor. She also worked as a public health nurse, and in 1976, joined the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, where she worked as a mental health nurse. In 1983, Claytor returned to the UVA School of Nursing to complete a master's program in mental health, earning her MSN in 1985. Claytor continued working at Salem's Veterans Affairs Medical Center, retiring after 30 years of service. On April 7, 2017, School of Nursing Dean Dorrie Fontaine offered a formal apology to Claytor, acknowledging the discriminatory practices that excluded Black students from attending or fully engaging in University enrollment, matriculation, traditions, and student activities.
1970
Private collection of Mavis Claytor
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