Jo Ann Ashley (b.1939-d.1980), nurse, author, and educator, was born and raised in Kentucky. She obtained a nursing diploma from Kentucky Baptist College in 1961, a B.S. degree from Catherine Spaulding College (Louisville, KY) in 1964, and a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York 1972. A highly regarded teacher and sought-after speaker, Ashley achieved national recognition with the publication of her book, Hospitals, Paternalism, and the Role of the Nurse (New York: Teachers College Press, 1976). This book, published at the height of the women's movement in the 1970s, created (and still engenders) controversy with its pointed condemnation of sexism towards and exploitation of nurses by hospital administrators and physicians.
Ashley remained, almost to her death, a prolific writer, public speaker and lecturer on a variety of topics germane to nursing but she was particularly interested in the role of nursing within the health field, power in nursing, and nursing's historical perspective. A woman of almost boundless energy, Ashley also composed nearly three hundred poems. Much of Ashley's poetry reflected her interest in social thought and ideas on woman's role in society. Cancer tragically brought an abrupt end to her exceptionally productive career.
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