Our History: The Founding of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty, Inc (ABNF)...
From a "Gem of an Idea" to a Reality
The “gem of an idea” for an organization of Black nursing faculty took root when Dr. Sallie Tucker-Allen was a doctoral student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her dissertation study, Commitment of Leaders of Nursing, gave her the opportunity to locate the 42 Black faculty members teaching in eighteen (18) National League for Nursing accredited baccalaureate schools of nursing in the state of Illinois. She invited the 42 Black faculty members to her home for brunch on September 6, 1986, to which 21 responded. These 21 foresighted women elected a Planning and Advisory Committee and charged them with the task of drawing up a constitution and by-laws for continuation of the group. On March 1, 1987, the by-laws were ratified and the Association of Black Nursing Faculty in Higher Education, Inc., the first name selected became an official organization. Later, the name was shortened to and remains, Association of Black Nursing Faculty, Inc. (ABNF).
Founding members of ABNF are those fifteen members from Illinois who worked to form the organization from that first meeting in September 1986 to September 19, 1987 when ABNF became a national organization. Portia Foster of Alabama was the first Black nursing faculty member to join ABNF after the organization became a national organization.
The First Annual Meeting with a theme of “Funded Nursing Research – A Critical Issue for Black Faculty” was held on August 6, 1988 at Loews L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. Dr. Hattie Bessent and Dr. Helen Grace received the Lifetime Achievement in Education and Research Awards. Dr. M. Elizabeth Carnegie was selected as the first Honorary Member. Dr. Ada Sue Hinshaw, then director of the National Center for Nursing Research was the first keynote speaker.
Founding Members of the ABNF
Dr. Sonia Baker
Dr. Sandra Barnes
Dr. Doris E. Bell
Dr. Lucille Davis - deceased
Dr. Bevelyn Edmonds
Dr. Barbara Haynes
Dr. Linda Hureston
Dr. Katie McKnight
Dr. Georgia Padonu
Dr. Meryl Price
Dr. Sandra Sayles
Dr. Iris Shannon
Dr. Eva D. Smith
Dr. Ruby Steele
Dr. Sallie Tucker-Allen
Dr. Sandra Underwood
Initial Leadership Slate for the ABNF
First ABNF Officers - 1986
President Sallie Tucker-Allen, PhD, RN Vice President Sonia Baker, MSN, CNA Secretary Barbara Haynes, PhD, RN Treasurer Katie McKnight, PhD, RN
First ABNF Board of Directors - 1986
Linda Hureston, ABD
Georgia Padonu, DrPH
Meryl H. Price, ABD
Ruby Steele, ABD
First Standing Committee Chairs - 1986
By-Laws Sonia Baker Finance Katie McKnight Program Ruby Steele Publications & Communications Eva D. Smith Public Policy Meryl H. Price and Bevelyn Edmonds Research Linda Hureston
Past Presidents of the ABNF
Since its inception in 1988, there have been seven presidents who have served the organization:
Linda K. Ballard
Sandra Barnes
Linda C. Beaty-Batiste
Clara E. Bell
Doris E. Bell
Ethel D. Bell
Daisy B. Best
Gloria Boseman
Marie J. Bourgeois
Eunice J. Burgess
Ruth Porter Caggins
Bernice W. Carmon
Michele Dacaney
Lucille Davis
Bevelyn Edmonds
Karethy Edwards
Gloria C. Essoka
Emma Felder
Doris E. Ferguson
Portia Foster*
Barbara A. Fowler
Marion F. Gooding
Barbara J. Guthrie
Dorothy Hawthorne-Burdine
Alice S. Hill
Barbara Haynes
Linda Hureston
Beryl B. Jackson
Margie N. Johnson
Fannie M. July
Delores Grant Kirkland
Vivian C. Foreman-Lilly
Barbara A, Lloyd
Earnesteen Long
Rose M. Mays
Katie McKnight
Eulee Mead-Bennett
Hazel B. Morgan
Catherine Muldrow
Joyce Johnson Neaves
Ngozi O. Nkongho
Georgia B. Padonu
Norma H. Pinkelton
Meryl H. Price
Barbara M. Reid
Mary Alice Saunders Robinson
Shirley Robinson
Stella P. Robinson
Beverly Joyce Ross
Sandra Sayles
Iris R. Shannon
Eva D. Smith
Dolores Smith-Patrinos
F. Louise Spencer-Strachan
Robert Staples
Ruby L. Steele
Bess Stewart
Myra S. Tillis
Helen C. Truss
Sallie Tucker-Allen
Sandra Millon Underwood
Wilma G. Watts
Dorothy D. Williams Margaret Lewis
