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The Healers of Harlem: The Black Women Who Changed Medicine Forever
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25 copies available
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For fans of Hidden Figures, an amazing history of Harlem Hospital with particular emphasis on the pioneering work done by Black women.
The story of the Harlem Hospital is entwined with the history of desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement. In this unique interdisciplinary history, Chhita chronicles the Harlem Hospital from its beginnings as a small hospital in the late-19th century to its present as a world class medical facility. She focuses on four Black women who were instrumental in the long struggle to demolish racist barriers in the hospital and overcome anti-Black bias against its work after integration.
Chhita spent years doing interviews and painstaking archival research, and the book features many previously unpublished primary sources which she skillfully weaves into a story of personal and collective struggle and triumph.
Science writer and artist Nina Chhita tells the story of Harlem Hospital from its founding to the day the hospital saved MLK after an assassination attempt to the present day. A talented artist known for her portraits of women in STEAM on Instagram (@nina.draws.scientists), Chhita’s two-color illustrations will be featured throughout.
The story of the Harlem Hospital is entwined with the history of desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement. In this unique interdisciplinary history, Chhita chronicles the Harlem Hospital from its beginnings as a small hospital in the late-19th century to its present as a world class medical facility. She focuses on four Black women who were instrumental in the long struggle to demolish racist barriers in the hospital and overcome anti-Black bias against its work after integration.
Chhita spent years doing interviews and painstaking archival research, and the book features many previously unpublished primary sources which she skillfully weaves into a story of personal and collective struggle and triumph.
Science writer and artist Nina Chhita tells the story of Harlem Hospital from its founding to the day the hospital saved MLK after an assassination attempt to the present day. A talented artist known for her portraits of women in STEAM on Instagram (@nina.draws.scientists), Chhita’s two-color illustrations will be featured throughout.
- GenresYoung Adult
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication August 25, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 3, 2026
I read an uncorrected proof (thank you for the publish for the ARC via NetGalley, and this no way impacts my review) and unfortunately the formatting didn’t translate very well to my Kindle, so I had to do a lot of deciphering of the formatting, but it was a very valuable and informative read! I have not heard much about this side of the history of medicine, and am glad I was able to learn more through this book.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
ARC provided by the Publisher
The Harlem Hospital started in 1887 as a branch of Bellevue hospital, operating out of a Victorian home and serving the growing population of the area. It is still operating today, although the building has changed. What makes the hospital particularly interesting is that it was groundbreaking in the hiring of Black doctors and nurses. This was not an easy process, and one that took many years. It is also the site where Martin Luther King was taken when he was stabbed in 1958. The doctors there saved him, although they almost didn't get a chance. Since there were Black doctors, and even a Black anesthetist, authorities wanted to move King, who had a blade wedged in his chest close to his heart, to a different hospital with white staff.
This type of discrimination was repeated again and again over the course of the hospital's history. In 1919, a young doctor named Louis Wright, who had graduated from Harvard Medical School, desperately wanted to be hired. He was... but only treating outpatients on a voluntary basis! Soon after, Coral Smith, a nurse, was offered a place and then dismissed because she was Black. The thought was that the white staff would not work with Black doctors and nurses. She sued, and got her place back, and this gave Wright the motivation he needed to secure his own place.
There was also Lurline Vassal, who in 1922 wanted to take a training course in nursing, since there was little that Black women could train for other than teaching. Most work offered was domestic work. She wasn't allowed in a class with white students, but the hospital put together a class of Black women at the same time that the hospital finally agreed to have Black doctors.
Some women fought against the odds to become doctors. May Edward Chinn started out in teachers college in music education, and the fact that she had accompanied Paul Robeson on the piano actually got her hired as a doctor in 1926. By 1930, there was an overhaul, and 40% of the doctors were Black.
It's hard to get information on some of these doctors and nurses, like Pearl Andrea Strachn, a surgeon, although others, like Louis Wright's daughter, Jane Cook Wright, kept newspaper articles about herself in a scrapbook. Myra Adele Logan did pioneering work in antibiotics alongside Dr. Benjamin Duggar, who discovered Aureomycin. Many of these medical personnel overlapped, so someone like Muriel Petioni, who started an organization to unite women in medicine worked with May Chinn.
This is a wonderfully researched narrative nonfiction book that reminded me a lot of Dreilinger's The Secret History of Home Economics, and it left me wanting an entire series of 32 page middle grade biographies of these groundbreaking medical pioneers! There's even information about the Harlem Riots of 1935 and the WPA murals painted by three Black artists. I loved that these survived and were put back into a renovated hospital pavilion! There is so much information that I'm merely skimming over it; I do wish there were a timeline at the back, but perhaps there will be in the finished book.
I'm always looking for interesting narrative nonfiction over 200 pages long for several language arts projects that teachers at my school assign. This would be a great choice for a strong middle grade reader with an interest in medicine. Because there are so many people portrayed, it is a little hard to follow than some books, but it was very interesting! The illustrations by the author are attractive, but I did find myself wanting to see photographs, but these may not always exist.
The Harlem Hospital started in 1887 as a branch of Bellevue hospital, operating out of a Victorian home and serving the growing population of the area. It is still operating today, although the building has changed. What makes the hospital particularly interesting is that it was groundbreaking in the hiring of Black doctors and nurses. This was not an easy process, and one that took many years. It is also the site where Martin Luther King was taken when he was stabbed in 1958. The doctors there saved him, although they almost didn't get a chance. Since there were Black doctors, and even a Black anesthetist, authorities wanted to move King, who had a blade wedged in his chest close to his heart, to a different hospital with white staff.
This type of discrimination was repeated again and again over the course of the hospital's history. In 1919, a young doctor named Louis Wright, who had graduated from Harvard Medical School, desperately wanted to be hired. He was... but only treating outpatients on a voluntary basis! Soon after, Coral Smith, a nurse, was offered a place and then dismissed because she was Black. The thought was that the white staff would not work with Black doctors and nurses. She sued, and got her place back, and this gave Wright the motivation he needed to secure his own place.
There was also Lurline Vassal, who in 1922 wanted to take a training course in nursing, since there was little that Black women could train for other than teaching. Most work offered was domestic work. She wasn't allowed in a class with white students, but the hospital put together a class of Black women at the same time that the hospital finally agreed to have Black doctors.
Some women fought against the odds to become doctors. May Edward Chinn started out in teachers college in music education, and the fact that she had accompanied Paul Robeson on the piano actually got her hired as a doctor in 1926. By 1930, there was an overhaul, and 40% of the doctors were Black.
It's hard to get information on some of these doctors and nurses, like Pearl Andrea Strachn, a surgeon, although others, like Louis Wright's daughter, Jane Cook Wright, kept newspaper articles about herself in a scrapbook. Myra Adele Logan did pioneering work in antibiotics alongside Dr. Benjamin Duggar, who discovered Aureomycin. Many of these medical personnel overlapped, so someone like Muriel Petioni, who started an organization to unite women in medicine worked with May Chinn.
This is a wonderfully researched narrative nonfiction book that reminded me a lot of Dreilinger's The Secret History of Home Economics, and it left me wanting an entire series of 32 page middle grade biographies of these groundbreaking medical pioneers! There's even information about the Harlem Riots of 1935 and the WPA murals painted by three Black artists. I loved that these survived and were put back into a renovated hospital pavilion! There is so much information that I'm merely skimming over it; I do wish there were a timeline at the back, but perhaps there will be in the finished book.
I'm always looking for interesting narrative nonfiction over 200 pages long for several language arts projects that teachers at my school assign. This would be a great choice for a strong middle grade reader with an interest in medicine. Because there are so many people portrayed, it is a little hard to follow than some books, but it was very interesting! The illustrations by the author are attractive, but I did find myself wanting to see photographs, but these may not always exist.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Healers of Harlem by Nina Chhita
The book Healers of Harlem, written by Nina Chhita, describes the trailblazing of black nurses and doctors as they change how white hospital board members and the Harlem hospital community view them. During the late 1800’s and early 1900s, when segregation was prevalent, the board took many steps to block black medical professionals from applying their knowledge and skills in the main halls of Harlem Hospital, relegating them to areas of the hospital where black patients were commonly found.
This book demonstrates the tenacity of qualified African Americans in entering and maintaining professional careers during segregation.
Healers of Harlem should be added to middle-grade classroom libraries to encourage students to stay diligent in their endeavors, no matter how challenging it may be, because the rewards will outweigh the struggle.
The book Healers of Harlem was provided as an ARC from NetGalley. I appreciated the scope and depth the author provided in the struggle of blacks in Harlem.
The book Healers of Harlem, written by Nina Chhita, describes the trailblazing of black nurses and doctors as they change how white hospital board members and the Harlem hospital community view them. During the late 1800’s and early 1900s, when segregation was prevalent, the board took many steps to block black medical professionals from applying their knowledge and skills in the main halls of Harlem Hospital, relegating them to areas of the hospital where black patients were commonly found.
This book demonstrates the tenacity of qualified African Americans in entering and maintaining professional careers during segregation.
Healers of Harlem should be added to middle-grade classroom libraries to encourage students to stay diligent in their endeavors, no matter how challenging it may be, because the rewards will outweigh the struggle.
The book Healers of Harlem was provided as an ARC from NetGalley. I appreciated the scope and depth the author provided in the struggle of blacks in Harlem.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Healers of Harlem is a beautiful intersection of thoughtfully researched science/medical history and deeply human depictions of historical figures. I have never encountered a more effective depiction of why modern medicine has inherent racial biases in its foundations that also makes it clear that there has been valiant push back from the beginning of its development. Nina Chhita walks a thoughtful, effective line of using evidence and testimony about the women who did this as well as pointing out the times when the records that are lost also have things to say. The strength, grace, and brilliance of the women in medicine is a celebration without lying about the circumstances. It is exactly the kind of book I was looking for as a new teacher riding the representation high of Hidden Figures, written in appropriate approachable language for middle grade readers.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC of this book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Reading The Healers of Harlem by Nina Chhita was an absolute eye-opener, and it is a well-deserved five stars. I had never heard of the phenomenal Black women doctors and nurses discussed in this book, but learning about how they overcame every barrier to shape Harlem Hospital left me deeply enlightened and inspired. While written to captivate and empower middle grade readers and teens, this moving history is an essential, gripping read for anyone.
It is a true privilege to see this kind of history brought to light so vividly. I want to extend a massive thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this beautiful book because it is a perspective we drastically need more of.
It is a true privilege to see this kind of history brought to light so vividly. I want to extend a massive thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this beautiful book because it is a perspective we drastically need more of.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book is a fantastic reminder of just how impactful and far-reaching the Harlem Renaissance is—not was, but is. By presenting Harlem as "The Black Capital of the World," it highlights what Black people can achieve when free to pursue their talents without barriers. While many know the era’s artistic achievements, fewer are aware of its medical breakthroughs—like research in antibiotics, chemotherapy, and the many lives educated. I’d recommend this book to readers 12 and up, as well as scholars of New York history, Black American history, women’s history, medical history, the Harlem Renaissance, and more.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was really important information to know! I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn more in depth about how people of color shaped, changed, and challenged the medical industry and made it a much better place. They faced so many hardships and still persevered. However, I had difficulty with how dense the writing was. These people are fascinating, yet this read like a bunch of facts written on a page. I think the delivery of this could have been done in a more engaging and powerful way.
The information: 5 stars
The way it was written: 3 stars
The information: 5 stars
The way it was written: 3 stars
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Healer’s of Harlem is a non-fiction books about the women of color that fought racial bias and changed medicine forever along the way. This book was very educational. It’s target audience is likely teenagers, but I still enjoyed it. Four stars.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Such an important book to see the history of Harlem hospital. Highly recommend for anyone but especially anyone in the medical field!
June 24, 2026
#netgalley Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advance reader copy to review.
This is not my normal read, but I absolutely loved it. When I read nonfiction it is usually animal related, but learning about Harlem Hospital through the eyes of some absolutely incredible Black women was inspiring and kept me hooked through the end. The way this is written is fantastic. You get invested in it and it doesn't feel like "nonfiction" in a negative way. It reads like a story. I think kids will love this book, and adults would too. It is not written "young" so I think anyone could easily enjoy it.
This is not my normal read, but I absolutely loved it. When I read nonfiction it is usually animal related, but learning about Harlem Hospital through the eyes of some absolutely incredible Black women was inspiring and kept me hooked through the end. The way this is written is fantastic. You get invested in it and it doesn't feel like "nonfiction" in a negative way. It reads like a story. I think kids will love this book, and adults would too. It is not written "young" so I think anyone could easily enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews