Lavinia Lloyd Dock (1858-1956)


Inspiration for activism! 

  • “Compassionate, and unconventional, soon becoming an ardent pacifist and then a militant suffragist” from AJPH
  • Despite objections from other nurses who believed nurses should not be involved politically, Dock organized and engaged in picketing and

    Lavinia Dock

    protesting on behalf of the vote for women in the United States, organizing protests and campaigns for suffrage; she was arrested at least 3 times for attempting to vote.

  • Devoted to a wide range of issues in addition to women’s suffrage, including better housing for immigrants, safe working conditions, state and national legislation to regulate child labor, pensions and health insurance.
  • Worked tirelessly for better standards and practices for nursing education; she wrote, financed and published Materia Medica for Nurses, a nursing textbook of pharmacology.
  • Served as a visiting nurse with the House on Henry Street in New York City, contributing to standards for public health nursing world-wide.
  • Co-authored, with Adelaide Nutting, “A History of Nursing,” believing that nursing would not be fully accepted until its history had been fully documented. This work has been recognized as “culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.”

More information here and here.

Lavinia Dock papers here.

Diana J. Mason


Inspiration for Activism!

  • Senior Policy Service Professor and Co-Director of a new Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University

    Diana Mason

    School of Nursing.

  • Co-Director of the Center for Health, Media, and Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York.
  • Past president of the American Academy of Nursing.
  • Former editor-in- chief of the American Journal of Nursing.
  • Co-producer and moderator of a weekly radio program on health care issues since 1985.
  • Lead editor of the award-winning book, Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, now in its 7th edition.
  • Her scholarship focuses on health policy and what can be learned from nurse-designed models of care.
  • Co-Founder (with Barbara Glickstein) of HealthCetera, the voice of GW Nursing Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement. “Let’s talk health is our motto and we mean it.”

More information here, here and here.

Also see report of the follow-up Woodhull Study, reported at the National Press Club May 8, 2018, also available here

 

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)


Inspiration for Activism!

  • Vision of nurses as agents of societal and individual reform.
  • Coupled care with political activism directed at laws and social conditions

    Florence Nightingale

    contributing to ill health.

  • Not only reduced mortality rates in the Crimea but influenced subsequent army reforms related to medical training and sanitation; advised foreign governments on such matters.
  • Credited for inspiring both the founding of the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention.
  • Advocated for workhouse reforms, including the provision of trained nursing care and drafting administrative framework for the Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867, which led eventually to the National Health Services Act of 1946.
  • Laid the foundation for professional nursing by establishing the world’s first secular training school for nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London

More information here.

Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, available for download at no cost

Mary Seacole (1805 – 1881)


Inspiration for Activism!

  •  British-Jamaican business woman and nurse who set up the British Hotel behind the lines during the Crimean War
  • inveterate traveller, and before her marriage visited other parts of the

    Mary Seacole

    Caribbean, including Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas, as well as Central America and Britain. On these trips she complimented her knowledge of traditional medicine with European medical ideas.

  • Funded her own trip to the Crimea where she established the British Hotel near Balaclava to provide ‘a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers’. She also visited the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to nurse the wounded, and became known as ‘Mother Seacole’.
  • Her reputation rivaled that of Florence Nightingale.

More information here and here

Joanne Banks (1958 – )


Inspiration for Activism!

  • Fervent advocate on behalf of Black women.
  • Introduced womanist ways of knowing, raising awareness of the value of African-American women’s experience and perspectives.
  • Developed storytelling as a crucial tool for self-discovery, liberation and

    Joanne Banks

    well-being.

  • Uses storytelling as a means of developing comprehension and analytic skills in 3 to 5 year olds enrolled in a Head Start program.
  • Mentor and advocate for African-American nurse scholars, engaging as co-authors on scholarly publications.
  • “I have been called to be a griot. In traditional African societies, the griot was an oral histonan and educator. Griots were charged with maintaining the cultural links between the past and present, sharing ancestral wisdom with current generations. Storytelling has been more than a means for
    me to promote liberation for Black women. It has been the foundation for me to not only survive but thrive in the academy and the world beyond. Storytelling allows me to facilitate the well-being of Black women in research settings and through teaching.” (Banks, 2014, p. 201)

More information here and here

“With my favorite beings on the planet, my son and trees”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key publications:

Banks, J. (2014). And That’s Going to Help Black Women How? Storytelling and Striving to Stay True to the Task of Liberation in the Academy. In P. Kagan, M. Smith, & P. Chinn (Eds.), Philosophies and Practices of Emancipatory Nursing: Social Justice as Praxis (pp. 188–204). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Banks-Wallace, J. (2008). Eureka! I finally get IT: journaling as a tool for promoting praxis in research. The ABNF Journal: Official Journal of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty in Higher Education, Inc, 19, 24–27.

Banks-Wallace, J., Barnes, A., Swanegan, D., Lewis, S. (2007). Listen, just listen: Professional storytelling and interactive learning as strategies for prompting reflection on the importance of taking time for self. Storytelling, Self, and Society, 3(3), 161-182.

Banks-Wallace, J., & Parks, L. (2001). “So that our souls don’t get damaged”: The impact of racism on maternal thinking and practice related to the protection of daughters. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 22, 77–98.

Banks-Wallace, J. (2000). Womanist ways of knowing: theoretical considerations for research with African American women. ANS. Advances in Nursing Science, 22(3), 33–45. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10711803

Banks-Wallace, J. (1998). Emancipatory potential of storytelling in a group. Image – The Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 30, 17–21.