Rising to the Challenge of Change : History of Black Nursing in South Africa

This text gives an account of the course charted by black nurses in South Africa as they rose to the challenge of a foreign, Western system of nurse education and training.

It records the professional and academic advances made by an indigenous people in this field within a relatively short time.

Against a backdrop of a poor system of education for blacks, cultural constraints, ostracism by white fellow nurses, and the segregationist policy of the government, black nurses started out as an unknown quantity at the beginning of the 20th century.

Although initially their education was regarded as an experiment, some attained doctorates and government posts before the end of the century.