RMC nurse shares traveling exhibit on black women in nursing history
Tuesday, September 15, 2009"Black Women in White," a traveling exhibit and pictorial essay of black women in nursing by Linda Howard, was recently on display at the Regional Medical Center.
This collection of memorabilia and historical information, described by Howard as her "labor of love," is the result of an independent study she conducted while pursuing her graduate degree to become a geriatric nurse practitioner.
A decade ago, when Howard learned that she needed three credits to complete her graduate nursing degree from Hunter-Bellevue Graduate School of Nursing in New York, her professor suggested an independent study to fulfill the credits. Howard chose to research and document the contribution of black women to nursing since slavery. Her presentation received the Creative and Scholarly Project Award at graduation in 1999.
"Since then, the collection has taken on a life of its own," Howard said. "It has grown over time; I began to embellish it with ceramic figurines of black nurses and background folklore music to make the exhibit more of an experience rather than simply a presentation to view.
"Over the years, it has been displayed at numerous events during Women's History and Health Month, Nurses Week and Black History Month, and it is my pleasure to share this with our RMC family."
Howard has served as a staff nurse on RMC's Third West nursing unit for more than three years and is also a clinical professor in the nursing program at South Carolina State University.
She holds an associate degree in applied science and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Medgar-Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y., and two master's degrees in nursing from Hunter-Bellevue Graduate School of Nursing -- one as clinical nurse specialist in medicine and surgery, and one as a geriatric nurse practitioner. She is credentialed in both areas of practice.
"The exhibition is my opportunity to pay homage to my ancestors; it is on their shoulders that we stand," Howard said. "I will never lose sight of the fact that without those trailblazers, there would be no me. No us. Now is the time to look back and reinforce the embrace of their wisdom, strength and perseverance in my continued pursuit of nursing excellence."
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