“Mrs. Seacole was a Jamaican healer or ‘doctress’ with expertise in tending victims of cholera and yellow fever epidemics. When the Crimean War began, Mrs. Seacole went to London and volunteered her services as a nurse to the War Office, other military agencies, and Florence Nightingale’s nursing group. She was told by all that her services were not needed. She went to the Crimea at her own expense and worked steadfastly to care for the sick and wounded, often going onto the battlefield to aid the fallen. She became quite well known in the Crimea and back in England. Her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, was published in 1857 and was very popular for a while. Then Mrs. Seacole faded from public attention for almost 100 years. In the 1970’s Mrs. Seacole was rediscovered and has become a symbol for Black nurses, civil rights groups, and the women’s liberation movement.”
—Mary Seacole at Victorian WebSee maryseacole.com for an interactive map of her travels and a feature on race in Victorian Britain.
Poet Claudia Rankine is busy now co-writing the script to a film about Seacole. I had the pleasure of hearing her read a monologue from it this past June.
