To honor BLM, I thought I would share the story of one of my heroes. A nurse pioneer who is often overlooked and even forgotten entirely, just because of the color of her skin. Her name was Mary Seacole.
Of course, everyone (or most people anyway) has heard of Florence Nightingale. She set up a medical clinic during the Crimean War to treat the wounded soldiers. After the war ended, she returned to London, where she established one of the first schools of nursing. Her methods and practices became the very foundation of modern day nursing, and she revolutionized the medical field.
Florence was able to accomplish all of this due largely to the fact that she had been born into privilege. Not to diminish what she accomplished, but she was able to use her families status to overcome many of the constraints put upon women during that age.
Not so Mary Seacole. She was born in Jamaica, her mother being Jamaican and her father being a Scottish soldier who was stationed there. Her mother was a local healer, so Mary lived a poor but comfortable life. As she grew up, however, her mixed race background denied her many opportunities. In Jamaica at that time, mixed race children were seen as being beneath even people of purely African descent.
Still, she was able to learn much from her mother’s community, and began to practice traditional healing methods as well. She worked at Blundell Hall, a local hotel/hospital. It is interesting to note that letters from some of the many traditional healers who worked at Blundell Hall show that they were advocating for many of the same practices (antiseptic techniques, etc.) that would make Florence Nightingale famous almost a century later.
When the Crimean War broke out, Mary wanted very much to do her part. Jamaica was involved as a British colony, of course. She volunteered to be part of the British nursing contingent (that included and was partially organized by Florence Nightingale) but was turned down. She was also turned down for funding to travel to the Crimea by the British Government.
Florence even wrote of Mary in her journal, stating, "I had the greatest difficulty in repelling Mrs Seacole's advances, and in preventing association between her and my nurses (absolutely out of the question!).”
Then, Mary did a remarkable thing. Rather than accept her exclusion, she made her own way to the war and set up her own clinic/hotel to heal the wounded. The clinic itself was built by Mary herself, out of scraps left behind by the armies.
Perhaps even more remarkable was the fact that she set up her hotel only a few miles from the front lines in Russia, as opposed to Florence who was based in Turkey, almost 550 kilometers away. In fact, despite Florence Nightingales later fame, it was Mary who treated many more wounded, and under much harsher conditions. Mary was much more well known to the troops themselves, many of whom had never even heard of Florence Nightingale.
After the war ended, of course, Florence returned to England to a heroes welcome. There she set up her famous school of nursing. Mary also returned to England, and she was also well received by the common people and soldiers. The establishment, however, largely ignored her.
Mary once again approached Florence, this time in an attempt to gain employment as a nursing instructor. She was again rebuffed.
Still, Mary did achieve some fame and notoriety later in life. For her exploits she became well known throughout the British Empire. After she died, however, she was largely forgotten, as opposed to Florence who people still speak of in a sort of reverence.
Recently, however, Mary’s memory is seeing a revival of sorts. In 1991, she was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit. In 2004, she was voted the greatest black Briton. In 2016, a statue of her was unveiled at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, though there is still a great deal of controversy about this.
Wikepedia.org, (2020). Mary Seacole. [online]. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole