Lesson plans help educators teach the history of Black nurses

Lesson plans developed by the UIC College of Nursing about the history of Black nurses are publicly available for educators to use at the middle school, high school and college levels.

Led by Gwyneth Franck, UIC Nursing clinical associate professor, the Teaching Care curriculum addresses a longstanding gap in nursing education by featuring the histories and contributions of Black nurses.

"Curricula focusing on the history of Black nurses are largely nonexistent," Franck said. "The Teaching Care curricular library is freely accessible and provides educators with structured, high-quality resources to support the integration of inclusive nursing history into curricula."

A pilot study found that the lessons increased student understanding of health inequities and historical injustices at the middle school, high school and college levels.

The project was funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. It builds on the work of the Mapping Care project, a digital exhibit and website highlighting the contributions of Black nurses in Chicago, led by Franck and Karen Flynn, director of the Midwest Nursing History Research Center.

"The lessons emphasize critical engagement with Black nursing history and connect historical inquiry to contemporary issues in health equity, leadership and advocacy," Franck said.

Franck's team included Leora Mincer, who earned her master's at UIC in teaching history; Candice Mason, a PhD student in education; and Yu-Nah Lee, DNP '25.

Piloting the curriculum

Franck and her team recruited six "mentor scholars" to help develop lesson plans based on primary archival resources and oral narratives collected during the Mapping Care project, resulting in 23 lesson plans, each scaled to a learning level (seven for middle school and eight each for high school and college). Thirteen educators piloted the lesson plans in the classroom.

The middle and high school lessons are based on Common Core standards, while the nursing school lessons are based on the required nursing curriculum, including history competencies under the new AACN Essentials.

"We really wanted to be able to use history to not only meet the historical competencies, but also other competencies about social determinants of health, nurses and policy, and nurses and activism," Franck said.

Franck and her team asked the 322 students involved in the pilot study to complete an evaluation of the lessons. The majority of students at all three levels said that the lesson was engaging and well-organized and facilitated learning. Students also said it increased their knowledge of Black history and Chicago history.

Of the 266 college-level nursing students, 81.2% expressed a desire for additional lessons of this nature in their coursework, and 91.7% believed instructors should incorporate the lesson in future courses.

"The goal was to inspire future health care workers of color, and nurses of color, and introduce them to role models who look like them," Franck said, adding her hope that the lessons will also help "diversify nursing in the future."

Crystal Earp, clinical assistant professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington School of Nursing, incorporated one of the Teaching Care lessons into the final clinical course for her Family Nurse Practitioner students.

Earp said the lesson, "The Future of Care: Building a Diverse Nursing Workforce and the Role of Nurses in Policy & Activism," was especially relevant because her students are preparing to transition into clinical practice and will soon enter a diverse workforce where an understanding of cultural dynamics and professional support systems is essential.

"The discussion prompts in this assignment encouraged students to reflect on mentorship, professional support, educational pathways, and the role of various nursing organizations and the advancement that has occurred throughout the years," she said. "This type of structured reflection fosters meaningful dialogue among peers and supports their development as culturally aware and professionally engaged nurses."

- Deborah Ziff Soriano, UIC College of Nursing