Editor’s note: The text below is from the editorial by Shawn Kennedy published in the March 2015 issue of AJN, “Securing Our Place in History,” and the illustration is that month’s cover image. 

Henry Street Settlement Nurse, Lower East Side, New York City

In 1980, after realizing that women were largely missing from the history books, a group of women formed the National Women’s History Project.

They embarked on a campaign to “celebrate and recognize women’s role in history” and, in 1987, were successful in getting Congress to designate the month of March as Women’s History Month.

Each year, the NWHP chooses a theme and honors women who have made significant contributions to society yet have remained unknown.

The organization also provides educational materials and acts as a clearinghouse for multicultural women’s history information. This year’s theme, “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives,” reflects the NWHP’s tenet that “[k]nowing women’s achievements challenges stereotypes and upends social assumptions about who women are and what women can accomplish today.”

One might substitute the word nurses for women in this statement.

Most people still don’t understand all that nurses have done—and continue to do—to improve health care. Most would likely recognize the name of […]