Author Jim Kristofic will speak about his book, Medicine Women: The Story of the First Native American Nursing School, during Women's History Month as part of the State of Arizona Research Library's 2022 Arizona Author Series. The talk is on Wednesday, March 30 at 1pm, and will be held virtually on Zoom. Attendees are encouraged to register at https://azsos.libcal.com/calendar/starl/march2022(link is external) to receive the link to the presentation. After the talk, there will be time for questions from the audience.
The publisher, University of New Mexico Press, provides this summary:
"After the Indian wars, many Americans still believed that the only good Indian was a dead Indian. But at Ganado Mission in the Navajo country of Northern Arizona, a group of missionaries and doctors - who cared less about saving souls and more about saving lives - chose a different way and persuaded the local parents and medicine men to allow them to educate their daughters as nurses. The young women struggled to step into the world of modern medicine, but they knew they might become nurses who could build a bridge between the old ways and the new.
"In this detailed history, Jim Kristofic traces the story of Ganado Mission on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Kristofic's personal connection with the community creates a nuanced historical understanding that blends engaging narrative with careful scholarship to share the stories of the people and their commitment to this place."
Medicine Women: The Story of the First Native American Nursing School won the 2019 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association and the 2020 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for History-Arizona. You can read it and other titles from Jim Kristofic, on ReadingArizona.org(link is external)
Jim Kristofic grew up on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona. He has written for The Navajo Times, Arizona Highways, Native Peoples Magazine, High Country News, and Parabola. He is the author of Medicine Women: The Story of the First Native American Nursing School, Navajos Wear Nikes: A Reservation Life, and Send a Runner: A Navajo Honors the Long Walk. He lives in Taos, New Mexico.
Original source can be found here.
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