Seacole nursed at the British Army hospital and traveled around the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Republic of Haiti. In 1836, she married Edwin Hamilton Seacole in Kingston. They opened a store in Black River, which failed. 4/
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They returned to her family home. From 1843-44, her family home burned down in a fire, her husband died, and then her mother passed. She works through her grief, treating patients during the cholera epidemic of 1850 in Jamaica. She also traveled to Cruces, Panama, where her brother was. 5/
She also treated patients in Panama with cholera infections. She also acquired cholera and rested. Returning to Jamaica in 1852, medical officials asked her to provide care to patients of yellow fever. This task proved difficult. 6/
She traveled back to Panama for a time. It was from Panama that she learned of the Crimean War.Then Seacole traveled to England and tried to organize a second contingent to Crimea, but was refused. She applied for funding and was refused again. These rejections were due to racism. 7/
Florence Nightingale did not like Seacole, making the trip to Crimea difficult. So Seacole funded the trip herself, establishing the British Hotel. She was also not kind to Seacole in Crimea; she didn't want her nurses to associate with Seacole. 8/
At the British Hotel, she supported soldiers by supplying meals and care. She also traveled to the front to offer soldiers care and provisions. She was good for the morale and her nursing skills were appreciated. Her mother's training served her well in Crimea. 9/
Secole was a skilled healer. After the Crimean War, she returned to London in poor health and later declared bankruptcy. Upon learning of her difficulties, people pitched in to create the Seacole Fund, which skept her financially afloat. 10/
WOW. Sometimes I think *this* is why people are so afraid of Black history. It forces us to see some of our heroes (in Nightingale's case, a feminist hero) very differently.
I find it sad that Secole went bankrupt after serving in Crimea. Nightingale was deliberately horrible to her. But apparently, scholars found that she supported the Seacole Fund. So she came around and saw her as important.
Worth mentioning, too, that although she did use some of the mistaken cures of the era (e.g. mercury compounds) for cholera she also disagreed w/using ineffective things like opioids & prayer, and did do things (e.g hydration) that most doctors didn’t.
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