These are some important milestones in the re-telling and preservation of the history of Seaview and the “Black Angels.”
1983
Seaview opens New York State’s first museum dedicated to healthcare and names it after the former Superintendent of Nurses Stiversa A. Bethel.
1985
Seaview Hospital becomes a New York City Landmark as a part of a Historic District that includes the New York City Farm Colony, a neighboring public housing complex and farm that dates back to the 1830s.
1998
Seaview’s first Black and first woman CEO Jane Lyons successfully lobbies alongside Borough Historian Richard Dickenson for a historic marker from the New York State Women’s History Trail to be placed honoring Stiversa Bethel.
2010
Sandy Ground Historical Society Partners with StoryCorps to collect interviews about the “Black Angels.”
2011
Now retired, Jane Lyons organizes a committee of local community leaders to advocate for funding and improvements to the Museum. Among the members are Virginia Allen, Edward C. Josey (President of the Staten Island NAACP Branch), Thomasina Williams (President of the Staten Island Section of the National Council of Negro Women), Elizabeth Egbert (President of the Staten Island Museum), and Sylvia D’Alessandro (President of the Sandy Ground Historical Society). “Considering the fact that Staten Island is celebrating its 350th birthday this year, we wish to inform the public about the existence of the Stiversa A. Bethel Museum…,” said the committee’s mission statement, “We believe Staten Islanders would be proud of this rich history, if only they knew about it.”
2015
Virginia Allen contributes her recollections of working at Seaview to the audio tour for the Staten Island Museum’s installation of From Farm to City an exhibition about Staten Island History co-presented at the Museum of the City of New York and the Historic Richmond Town.
2016
Oprah Winfrey announces her imprint will publish The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios. The book is forthcoming.
2018
Staten Island Museum hosts a program to screen The Black Angels mini-documentary by Denetra Hampton.
2018-2019
The Museum of the City of New York presents the exhibition Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis includes the story of the “Black Angels,” exhibiting a selection from Virginia Allen’s interview.
2021
A series of murals depicting the history of Seaview Hospital called “The Spirit of Seaview” by Yana Dimitrova are unveiled on Seaview’s campus. One of the four scenes is dedicated to celebrating The “Black Angels.”
Image Courtesy of Yana Dimitrova