Dent Family papers addendum

Albert Walter Dent, educator and hospital administrator, served as the third President of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1941 until his retirement in 1969. He played a significant role in the development of Flint-Goodridge Hospital and Dillard University and influenced the lives of many African American students who evolved into Civil Rights activists and leaders in New Orleans and beyond. He was also involved in several organizations, including spearheading the United Negro College Fund, an educational assistance organization that provides funding to 41 private historically Black member colleges and universities.

Dent was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 25, 1904. His father was a day laborer who died shortly before his birth and his mother, a domestic worker, held down several jobs to support the family. Upon graduation from high school, Dent enrolled at Morehouse College where he majored in business administration and was active in student affairs, including the basketball team, glee club, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and orchestra, and served as auditor for the Athletic Association. In addition to these activities, Dent worked at the Atlanta Life Insurance Company as an auditor. After graduating in 1926 with a degree in accounting, Dent became a branch office auditor for Atlanta Life.

In 1927, Dent joined the Safety Construction Company in Houston, Texas, as its vice president. In 1931, and at the urging of mentor, Morehouse President John Hope, Dent returned to the university as its alumni secretary and director of its endowment campaign. During that same year, Dent married Ernestine Jessie Covington, the only daughter of Dr. Benjamin Jesse Covington, a noted Houston physician, and Jennie Belle Covington. Jessie graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1924 and received a fellowship to the Juilliard Graduate School of Music in New York City, where she studied piano for four years. The Dents welcomed three sons: Thomas Covington, Benjamin Albert, and Walter Jesse.

While working at Morehouse College, Dent met Will W. Alexander, acting President of Dillard University, who eventually hired Dent as the superintendent of Flint-Goodridge Hospital in New Orleans. The university and hospital grew out of the merger between Straight College, an American Missionary Association school, and New Orleans University, a Methodist Episcopal Church institution.

Representatives of the two schools, the Rosenwald Fund, the General Education Board (GEB), as well as local white residents met in New Orleans on February 21-22, 1929 to abandon Straight University and New Orleans University campuses for a new consolidated campus and hospital. The hospital scheduled for construction first, would retain the name of Flint-Goodridge. The resulting institution of higher learning was opened in 1935 and named Dillard University after James Hardy Dillard, a former professor at Tulane University and a well-known proponent of Black education.

The new, well-equipped hospital opened in February 1932. Flint-Goodridge was designed for the dual purpose of meeting the medical needs of Black New Orleanians and serving as a teaching hospital for Black physicians and nurses. In 1932, New Orleans employed thirty-five licensed Black doctors and Flint-Goodridge was the only hospital in New Orleans where they could practice.

In 1935, on New Orleans philanthropist Edgar Stern's recommendation, the Dillard board of trustees assigned Dent the additional responsibility as business manager of the university. Dent served in this dual capacity as Superintendent of Flint-Goodridge Hospital and Business Manager of Dillard University until 1941.

In 1936, Dent introduced the "Penny-A-Day'' hospitalization plan, the predecessor to all health insurance plans in the United States. For a $3.65 yearly premium, the plan guaranteed up to 21 days of hospitalization each year. More than 100 New Orleans employers offered this plan to their employees via payroll deduction for plan membership and counted 3,231 members by December 1938. The program continued until 1943 when Flint-Goodridge joined the Hospital Association of New Orleans's citywide insurance plan. Under Dent's leadership, Flint-Goodridge not only made its presence felt in New Orleans, but also throughout the country with its active promotion of better standards of healthcare. As a result, the American College of Hospital Administrators elected Dent a fellow, the first African American so honored.

On May 21, 1940, Dent and New Orleans philanthropist Edgar Stern met with representatives of the American Missionary Association, the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rosenwald Fund, and the GEB and appealed to the community in securing a $3,000,000 endowment for Dillard University. Within four years, Dent announced the successful attainment of that goal. By 1954, the endowment increased to $4,500,000. Dent consequently garnered a national reputation for his fundraising skills and acumen. His respected reputation and close relationship with various philanthropic foundations resulted in his appointment to a national planning committee that created the United Negro College Fund in 1944. The United Negro College Fund raises money for 41-member HCBUs operating expenses, scholarships, and educational equipment and support. It also finances the construction, expansion, and maintenance of physical plants at the member institutions. Dent served as chair of the fund from 1965 to1970.

In May 1941, Dent was elected president of Dillard University, a position he held for the next 28 years. Dent proved to be as efficient in the management of the university as he had been at the hospital. He strengthened the faculty, increased academic offerings, raised the endowment, and established a college nursing program. The college of nursing program, a five-year program, led to a Bachelor of Science Degree and was the first nationally-accredited college nursing program in Louisiana. Dent also completed Dillard University's building program, which included renovating and enlarging buildings and the construction of new buildings on campus.

Dent retired from Dillard University in 1969 but remained a consultant for the university till his death. After his retirement, Dent continued his pace of involvement with several boards, charities, and civic organizations, including the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools for Negroes, the National Merit Scholarship Program, the Ford Foundation’s Committee on Faculty Fellowships, the American Council of Education, and others.

In 1973, Dillard dedicated its new health and physical education building to Dent, renaming it Albert Walter Dent Hall. Dent died in New Orleans in February 1984.

Note written by Shannon Burrell Updated by Melissa Smith, 2023