The Dixie Three: Hampton Honors Nurses Who Protested Segregation

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

Sixty-two years after “The Dixie Three” – Mildred Smith, Patricia Taylor and Agnes Stokes, three Black nurses were fired for resisting Jim Crow-era segregation laws in Hampton, Virginia, they were finally recognized for writing their chapter in the books of African-American History.

Recently (December 5), the city of Hampton dedicated a Heritage marker in recognition of the three African American nurses who in August 9, 1963 risked their careers to protest segregation at a Hampton hospital.

The Black nurses chose to eat lunch in the hospital cafeteria that was deemed for “Whites only,” rather than in the small classroom in the basement for African-American staff members. Their protest, which mirrored similar acts happening across the South, led to a court battle that was ultimately settled in their favor.

Smith died in 2013, but the other two nurses, Patricia McKenzie and Agnes Chrisman, attended the ceremony dedicating the marker. It is located at the former hospital site, now Hunter B. Andrews PreK-8 School, 3120 Victoria Blvd.

At the ceremony, Mayor Jimmy Gray said: “Often history is made quietly, gradually, by ordinary men and women whose names are not known beyond their hometowns … These three ladies made a profound statement with the simple act of sitting down to eat.”

On Feb. 22, a locally produced documentary about The Dixie Three will be screened at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk as part of the celebration of Black History Month.

Two months after the hospital dismissed the “Dixie Three,” according to an October 19, 1963 edition of the GUIDE, in an article headlined “No Frictions as Bars Fall at Dixie,” the hospital   desegregated its employee cafeteria.

According to the GUIDE, Hospital Administrator W. C Walton, said “the actions took place about the first of the month and no incidents of friction have come to my attention.”

However, at that time, the three Black nurses were not rehired.

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Walton said, “Negroes have more privileges in this hospital than in any other hospital I know of in the South that is owned and operated by White people.”

Apparently, the segregation laws when they were in effect, did not apply to the four Black doctors on hospital staff.

One ironic note, “Dixie Hospital at its beginning,” the administrator said, “was primarily financed by Whites for the training of Negro Nurses and the benefit of the Negro patients.”

Three years later in a May 7, 1966 edition of the GUIDE, an article appeared, headlined “Hampton Hospital told to Hire 3 Nurses again.”

“The Management of Dixie Hospital in Hampton must reinstate three nurses, Mildred Smith, Agnes L. Stokes, and Patricia L. Taylor, in their jobs and pay them all time lost in almost three years, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.”

A lower court, the U.S. District Court (in Norfolk) had ruled the three were not entitled to relief at the time of their dismissal.  Hospital officials admitted the nurses were dismissed on the second day they attempted to desegregate the hospital cafeteria despite being warned.

When they were fired, the three nurses pointed out that the room would only accommodate 35 people. But there were more than 100 Black hospital personnel assigned to eat in the space. Also, Black employees had to call and pre-order their meals and wait for them to be delivered. This practice consumed a good portion of their 30-minute lunch break.