ST. LOUIS – In your Black History Moment, we remember the Homer G. Phillips Hospital and salute the nurses who lived to experience its greatness. The hospital is named after a Black civil rights activist and lawyer in St. Louis.
Homer G. Phillips contributed in several ways to the fight for justice. He defended African Americans in criminal prosecutions after the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis. He was also a founding member of the St. Louis Negro Bar Association.
In 1922, he fought to build a hospital for black people in St. Louis to go to during segregation. In 1937, the seven-story Homer G. Phillips Hospital was established in the Ville neighborhood. The hospital is the product of passion and persistence and became known for its excellence. It also served as a training ground for Black medical professionals who faced discrimination entering the field.
By 1961, the nationally renowned Homer G. Phillips Hospital produced the largest number of African-American doctors and nurses in the world.
“The Black nurses continue to organize and are very adamant about the sharing and the legacy of Homer Phillips Hospital, as well as their legacy within the hospital,” Cicely Hunter, a public historian with the Missouri History Museum, said. “Much of what they’ve done even until this point is all about the preservation of Homer G. Phillips Hospital.”
The members of the Homer G. Phillips Nurses’ Alumni exude pride and protect the hospital’s legacy. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 because of its unique architecture, opportunities for education, and significance in black history.