Mary Seacole, the daughter of a white Scottish officer and a colored "doctoress," was born free in 1805 in Jamaica.
Mary trained as a healer under her mother's tutelage and became a nurse whose healing work was as important to her era as the work of Florence Nightingale.
Mary married in 1836 but was widowed eight years later. Her life was dedicated to doing healing work. She treated patients of the cholera outbreak that killed tens of thousands of Jamaicans; and in 1853 during the Crimean War, Mary joined the English forces to treat sick and injured soliders. In 1857, Seacole published a memoir, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands which was popular for a time. However, after her death in 1881, Mary was lost to history until the early 1970s when she became a symbol for black nurses, the civil rights movement, and women's liberation.
More information on Mary Seacole: wikipedia; Mary Seacole website; essay about Florence Nigtingale and Mary Seacole.
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