On July 25, 2025, Janet Allan sent me the sad news of Bev’s death – her partner of 45 years.
Bev had been on home hospice/palliative care for about a year and a half dealing with 5/years of Long Covid. The efforts of the hospice nurses greatly helped to mitigate many of her symptoms which were mainly shortness of breath, tachycardia and extreme fatigue. She spent only 3 days in an inpatient Hospice facility . . . and had a very peaceful death. I am both very sad and also relieved because she is no longer suffering. We have been together for over 45 years and it’s hard to imagine a life without her.
Bev and Janet were among the women who”founded” Cassandra: Radical Feminist Nurses Network at the ANA convention in 1982. Their relationship was brand new at the time, and the group of about a dozen nurses gathered in a hotel room to brainstorm what we could do to counter two shocking things happening in and around the convention. First was the fact that over the same weekend of June 30, 1982, women from all over the United States were gathering to mark the death of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. constitution, which simply stated: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”. There was no mention or even a hint at the ANA convention that this was happening – despite the fact that DC was teaming with women and week-end long concerts, events and protests marking the occasion.
The second event that we observed and that shocked us to the core, was the fact that the Maternal-Health section of the ANA had as their keynote speaker Orrin Hatch – Republican Senator from Utah who was a vocal opponent of equal rights, specifically women’s reproductive rights. Several of us watched Mr. Hatch get out of his limosine and be escorted into the hotel, accompanied by a group of nurses representing the ANA.
It’s 1982,, and the ERA is dead. Well, not dead, says the National Organization for Women. The ERA has just suffered a small setback, that’s all. Oh, okay, if that’s all it is.
It’s 1982 and the San Francisco Chronicle said, Feminism is out among younger women surveyed. I have never been discriminated against. Feminists are such unhappy people. We do not need feminists.
It’s 1982 and long skirts are in. High heeled shoes, too. Feminism is out. Do you understand that, woman?
It’s 1982 and Nightingale is dead. Has been for 72 years. We hardly remember her anymore. Wasn’t she the one who never got married? Died an invalid.
It’s 1982 and feminism is dead. But, listen, we don’t have to be nice about it. Malvina Reynolds said, The ones that bleed you like to see you nice. So, you and I, let’s don’t be nice, okay?
Beverly A. Hall
We made a plan to meet for our first “gathering” in San Francisco, and Bev volunteered to set up the arrangements with the Women’s Building (which did occur in 1983). Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was not able to participate in the gathering. Sue Dibble, who at the time was a doctoral student at UCSF, stepped in to help. The physicians predicted that Bev’s form of cancer meant about a 5-year survival trajectory. Bev went through a round of the typical chemotherapy ordeal, which she determined she would never engage in again, and instead created her own healing pathway and survived and thrived to the age of 90! She spent many years working closely with people who were living with HIV/AIDS, guiding their experience using the healing approaches she had learned to know during her own healing journey. She documented her journey in her book “Surviving and Thriving After a Life-Threatening Diagnosis“.
So here’s to fond memories of our dear colleague and friend Bev Hall! Her spirit and influence lives on!
Members of the NurseManifest team have issued a call for nurses to join together in signing a 2025 Nurses Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance, indicating our commitment to stand together, act to resist that which harms health and well-being, protect those who are harmed, and build coalitions that move toward the ideals we seek. Nurses stand on a long and strong legacy of political activism that arises from our moral imperative to actively promote public policy that assures social/health equity. Nursing’s extensive theoretical foundation, and our knowledge derived from ethical, aesthetic, personal and emancipatory knowing leads us to take action, and provides the substance that constitutes our purpose in taking action. Nurses worldwide are invited to join with other nurses to engage in determined action to protect health and justice for all, regardless of age, social/economic circumstance, ability, religion, skin color, race, country of origin, sexual orientation or gender identity. To join this movement, add your signature to the 2025 Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance! For inspiration about actions to take, see our “Resources for Action,”
The 2025 Declaration builds on the 2017 Declaration, issued during the early days of the first Trump administration. Within a few weeks, 2,215 nurses had signed on to the 2017 Declaration. Now it is 2025, and we have new avenues and resources for dealing with health crises, some of which emerged during the 2020-22 COVID-19 pandemic. Having lived through the first Trump term, and the pandemic, nurses are prepared for almost anything that comes along. And now, many nurses are even more deeply concerned, even horrified, that not only are we re-experiencing the health-damaging traumas of 2017, we are witnessing even more dreadful and devastating effects of government action. But as Sally Thorne explains in her March 2025 Nursing Inquiry editorial, “We were made for these times.”
We will not be mandated to engage in hateful acts, acts of division and furthering disadvantage, policies that expand the privilege of the few and cause pain and distress in the many. As we showed so clearly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be cowed by fear or self-interest, rather we will continue to do what nurses have always strived to do in optimizing health and health equity in the fullest sense of those terms for all. We are a force for good in this world, and we have always understood that as our mission and our privilege. (Thorne, 2025)
Take a few moments today to read more about the 2025 Declaration, and join the many nurses who share a passion to take action, and join with others in a strong coalition to resist the harms, protect others at risk, and create a foundation for a future in which this sort of erosion of human health and well-being can never happen again.
For all nurse activists, this virtual gathering is an opportunity to re-affirm the values and ideals of our rich tradition that is expressed on this site in the Nursing Manifesto: A Call to Conscience and Action! The theme of the conference is “Nursology Theory Think Tanks for the Future” building from the tradition started in the 1980’s by Margaret Newman.
This year’s conference is all set to be among the best ever! The program features three plenary panels on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. The 30-minute “knowledge sessions” each day feature speakers from over the world who submitted abstracts focusing on the development of nursing knowledge. Here is just a sample from the 35 knowledge session titles:
“A ch’ixi Nursing is possible. Towards situated epistemologies”
“Your Truth Meter: A Paradigm Shift in Nurse Self-Care”
“Application of the Middle-Range Theory of Nurses’ Psychological Trauma to Nurse Practitioners”
“Understanding Gun Violence via Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior”
“The Theory of Impeded Academic Perseverance: An Emerging Theory in Nursing Education”
“Whiteness in Nursing Theorizing”
“A Theory-Informed Conceptual Model of Nurse Powerlessness”
“How scientific is nursing? Answers from a new characterization of science”
Each day concludes with an hour-long “Daily Discussion” during which presenters and attendees can interact informally to discuss topics and issues that were presented during the day!
Register nowto have access to all conference events and access to the digital conference “Guidebook.” The registration fee is a flat $180 USD. Scholarships are available – or you can donate a scholarship to help make this conference accessible to everone. The Guidebook will be available about a week before the conference begins, and will contain all presenter bios (with photo) and the slides to be used during their presentation.
We are delighted to announce that Nanette D. Massey is joining us again to lead a workshop and discussion over three Saturdays in January – the 13th, 20th and 27th from 2 to 4 pm Eastern! And she has two important guests who will each join the discussion on one of the Saturdays – Dr. Robin DiAngelo, author of the book White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism, and Dr. Willie Underwood, Chairman of the AMA. Registrations are open until the start of the second session on Saturday the 20th. After that, registration will be closed. Participants are encouraged to commit to all three sessions. See details below.
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Dr. Willie Underwood, AMA Chairman
Saturday January 27 –
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Nanette D. Massey
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Q&A
Nanette’s Description of the Workshop
The American Medical Association has declared racism “a public health threat.”
“But I’m not racist,” you say as a white nurse. Still, you work in an industry where appallingly unequal outcomes for white people and others are happening–and normalized. WHO ARE YOU BEING beyond “it didn’t happen on my floor/shift/watch so my hands are clean”? Further, who could you be to make a difference in the dire statistics of our unequal outcomes? To make a difference in the experience of your non-white colleagues?
This seminar takes place in two hour sessions over three Saturdays; January 13, 20, and 27. Registration will be cut off at the start of the second session, January 20th.
Dr. Robin DiAngelo, whose book White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racismspent over three years on the New York Times Bestseller list, will join us on Saturday 1/13 and will be taking your questions.
Dr. Willie Underwood, Chairman of the AMA, will be our guest speaker Saturday 1/20 and taking your questions.
The book “White Fragility” has become a cultural touchstone for our time. Most U.S. white people, though, report having no regular contact with non-white people and can only discuss race in an “echo chamber” of other white frames of reference.
With black workshop facilitator Nanette D. Massey of Buffalo, N.Y., this is your chance to contextualize race from an unfiltered, real world experience rather than theory. With Nanette’s hallmark frankness and practicality, you’ll be left with self-clarity and the ability to act on racism within your own personal spheres of influence with genuine confidence, humor, and humility.
We’re taking registrations until the start of the second session on Saturday the 20th. After that, registration will be closed. Participants are encouraged to commit to all three sessions. The material is progressive.
Participants are also urged to read Robin DiAngelo’s book “White Fragility” before joining the seminar. Audience familiarity with its ideas and terms is crucial to the pace of the discussion.
Our traditional “Overdue” zoom gathering is happening on Thursday, October 12th, 7-8:30 pm Eastern! We will be focusing on the voices of students – so encourage any and all students and recent graduates you know to join us!
The 4-week Saturday series focusing on action for white nurses is happening on October 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th, from 3 to 4:30 pm Eastern. These discussions will be informed by two books (not required reading but highly recommended now or later!)
