In search of Mary Seacole : the making of a Black cultural icon and humanitarian
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-396) and index.

From New York Timesbestselling author Helen Rappaport comes asuperb and revealing biographyof Mary Seacole that is testament to her remarkable achievements andcorrective to the myths that have grown around her. Raised in Jamaica, Mary Seacole first came to England in the 1850s afterworking in Panama. She wanted tovolunteer as a nurse and aide during the Crimean War.When her services were rejected,she financed her own expedition to Balaclava, where her reputation for her nursing-and for her compassion-became almost legendary.Popularly known as 'Mother Seacole', she was the most famous Black celebrity of her generation-an extraordinary achievement in Victorian Britain. She regularly mixed with illustrious royal and military patrons and they, along with grateful war veterans, helped her recover financially when she faced bankruptcy. However, after her death in 1881, she was largely forgotten. More recently, her profile has been revived and her reputation lionized, with a statue of her standing outside St Thomas's Hospital in London and her portrait-rediscovered by the author-now on display in the National Portrait Gallery.In Search of Mary Seacoleis the fruit of almost twenty years of research and reveals the truth about Seacole's personal life, her "rivalry" with Florence Nightingale, and other misconceptions. Vivid and moving,In Search of Mary Seacole shows thatreality is oftenmore remarkable and more dramatic than thelegend.