You are in: Exhibits: Herbs: Public Health

<Back

Forward>

Lavlette Grant Smith

Lavlette Smith was the first African American public school nurse for the Lynchburg elementary schools, beginning in the early 1930s. She retired after forty-two years of service and after retirement worked two years as a dental assistant in the Head Start program. During her long career she received many awards and tributes from community groups.

A native of Danville, Virginia, Lavlette Grant Smith graduated from the Hampton Training School for Nurses in 1919. That same year, she was certified as a registered nurse by the state of Virginia. In this graduation photograph she is in the back row, third from the right, wearing glasses.

Loaned by Evanda Jefferson

Uniform of Lavlette Grant Smith

For forty-two years "Nurse Smith" was a familiar sight in Lynchburg's black elementary schools. According to one old-timer, "She was the only nurse we knew." In the 1940s she chaired the Negro Auxiliary of the Lynchburg-Amherst-Campbell County Social Hygiene Council, which held public clinics on such topics as "The Questions Children Ask or Do Not Ask" and "Looking Ahead to Marriage."

Donated by Evanda Jefferson

Caps

<Back

Forward>