Black History Month 2023

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole's reputation after the Crimean War (1853-1856) rivalled Florence Nightingale's. Unlike Nightingale, Seacole also had the challenge to have her skills put to proper use in spite of her being black. A born healer and a woman of driving energy, she overcame official indifference and prejudice. She got herself out to the war by her own efforts and at her own expense; risked her life to bring comfort to the wounded and dying soldiers; and became the first black woman to make her mark on British public life. But while Florence Nightingale has gone down in history and become a legend, Mary Seacole was relegated to obscurity until recently.

Queen Nzinga Mbande

A C16 member of the royal family in what is today Angola. Nzinga rose to power in order to combat the Portuguese, one of the first strategic European incursions into Africa with a view to colonise and enslave. She pledged to do what the male members of her household could not. She fought many wars with the Portuguese and had many successes showing both great military and political prowess. She helped to free slaves who flocked to join her forces. However, in later years she developed relationships with the Dutch which involved the exchange of slaves. It has to be understood that slavery existed in Africa but generally as a punishment for captives in war or criminals and although they were slaves, they weren’t chattel and had rights. It was only in later years that African leaders learned of what happened to those slaves sold to Europeans and many became remorseful, with countries such as Ghana and Ethiopia offering land and other resources to help people return to Africa.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet bore the nickname Moses, was responsible for liberating well over 100 slaves, either personally or through advice and guidance, from plantations in North America. She made many journeys between plantations in the Southern states to safe places in the Northern states and Canada. She would make these long journeys alone, helped by various people along the way on what was known as the underground railroad, a collection of safe houses and hideouts leading away from the plantations. Tubman achieved this in spite of suffering for most of her life from dizziness and crippling headaches brought on by a head injury received from an overseer when she was a slave.