The Black Florence Nightingale: Autobiography of a Mary Seacole, a Black Nurse, and the Vivid Account of Her Role in the Crimean and Other Wars

by Mary Seacole

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857) is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed-race woman. In her autobiography, Seacole records her bloodline thus: "I am a Creole, and have good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family." Legally, she was classified as a mulatto, a multiracial person with limited political rights. Seacole emphasises her personal vigour in her autobiography, distancing herself from the contemporary stereotype of the "lazy Creole", She was proud of her black ancestry, writing, "I have a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related – and I am proud of the relationship – to those poor mortals whom you once held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns." She also became widely known and respected, particularly among the European military visitors to Jamaica who often stayed at Blundell Hall. She treated patients in the cholera epidemic of 1850, which killed some 32,000 Jamaicans. However, the erection of a statue of her at St Thomas' Hospital, London, on 30 June 2016, describing her as a "pioneer nurse", has generated controversy and opposition from supporters of Florence Nightingale. Earlier controversy broke out in the United Kingdom late in 2012 over reports of a proposal to add her to the UK's National Curriculum.

Genres: History, Biography

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Mary Jane Seacole (1805 - 1881), née Grant, was a Jamaican-born woman of Scottish and Creole descent who set up a 'British Hotel' behind the lines during the Crimean War, which she described as "a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers," and provided succour for wounded servicemen on the battlefield. She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. In 2004 she was voted the greatest black Briton.

She acquired knowledge of herbal medicine in the Caribbean. When the Crimean War broke out, she applied to the War Office to assist but was refused. She travelled independently and set up her hotel and assisted battlefield wounded. She became extremely popular among service personnel who raised money for her when she faced destitution after the war.

After her death, she was forgotten for almost a century, but today is celebrated as a woman who successfully combatted racial prejudice.

Reviews

[Lawrence Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing woman who defied all the odds that worked against her because of the colour of her skin. It should be an essential GCSE book as it describes how great woman of colour were able turn disadvantages into advantages and prove to be inspirational to the entire human race. A long overdue big motion picture is needed to bring this book to a wider readership, and should be essential to anyone’s library. It also gives a different viewpoint from the wonderful 12 years a slave on the fight for equal rights and the beauty of the human spirit.

[Molly]

took me so long to read this for college

[Luke Stoltenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a slog but very insightful on the social machinations of the times, particularly the differences across different countries. Miss Seacole had quite the adventurous life!