My Contribution: I was a valuable and active member of Harrisburg in the twentieth century who focused my energies on improving health, safety, and sanitation among the population, and especially the African American community. I contributed my time and talents to supporting, organizing, and teaching about improving the welfare of mind and body.
My Legacy: As an instructional nurse, I impacted and taught many in Harrisburg important skills to improve and sustain a high quality and healthy life. Public health continues to be an area of society that is not equal to people of all races in America. My work was invaluable to the health of my community.
About Me: “At a planning conference at the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA recently… Mrs. Hannah Scott Cannon pointed out the need for greater knowledge in safety, sanitation and disease.” The Evening News, October 13, 1945.
“Mrs. Hannah Cannon of the Visiting Nurses’ Association, will speak on ‘Health and Race Problems.'” Harrisburg Telegraph, September 4, 1946.
Full Name: Hannah Elizabeth Scott; Hannah E. Williams; Hannah Warrick; Hannah Cannon.
Birth Date: November 29, 1898
Death Date: February 16, 1995
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sex: Female
Race: Black (1900 and 1940 Federal Censuses), “Mulatto” (1910 Federal Census), “Colored” (1926 marriage certificate), and “Negro” (1920 Federal Census).
Places of Residence: 1637 Titan Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1900); 360 Canal Road, Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County (1910); Washington, D.C.; St. Louis Missouri; 112 Edgecombe Ave, New York City, New York (1930); 232 Liberty Street (1925, 1940-1955) and 233 Liberty Street (1926), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Connection to the Old Eighth Ward: Lived two blocks west of the former Eighth Ward.
Family Members: Father: John P. Scott. Mother: Mary Anne (Jones) Scott. Husband: M1: John A. Williams (divorced 1926). M2: Howard Turner Warrick of New York (m. 1926). M3: Thomas L. Cannon (d. April 29, 1955). Children: Caroline (Warrick) Savage, Howard Scott Warrick, and Marian Lillian (Cannon) Dornell.
Education: Central High School, 1918 (graduated with honors). Freedmen’s Hospital (a teaching hospital for the Howard University Medical School), Washington D.C.
Occupations: Registered Nurse. State Nurse. Instructor of Red Cross home nursing classes for mothers/expectant mothers and home care of the sick. Visiting Nurses’ Association. Mother.
Church Membership: Second Baptist Church
Activism: Tuberculosis Association (member), Negro auxiliary committee of the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund Committee, and Education Committee — Phyllis Wheatley YWCA; YWCA (local speaker), Allison Parent-Teacher Association; local chapter of American Red Cross (instructor).
Connections: Dr. Morris Layton, Jr., Dr. Charles H. Crampton, and Maude Coleman.
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