Bernice Isobel Carnegie-Redmon

Bernice Isobel Carnegie-Redmon

This is a photograph of St. Phillip's public health nursing class of 1945. Bernice Redmon, Canadian-born Black Registered Nurse, is in the front row, far left, the first. She’s a good example of what Black Canadian women went through in attempts to serve their community. She had to travel to the United States to study in Virginia, because Canadian schools denied admission to Black girls in the 1940s. The mere fact that she had to travel to another country for a nursing degree, shows the discrimination in nursing education that was present in Canada. She made history, not only by becoming a Registered Nurse, but the first Black woman to be hired by the Victorian Order of Nurses.

Virginia Commonwealth University

“St. Philips Class of Fall 1945-1946,” VCU Libraries Gallery, accessed November 25, 2025, https://gallery.library.vcu.edu/items/show/79725.

VCU Libraries Gallery

1951

VCU Libraries Gallery

Photograph