The legend of Nurse Mary Jane Seacole

[Anxious Patient]

i found this so interesting. didn't know which forum to post this in, hope this is ok here.

florence nightingale strongly disapproved of mary jane seacole, but that did not stop either of them. the former invented the profession of nursing and became famous for her work on the battlefields of the crimean war. the latter grew up in jamaica, knew native remedies learned from her jamaican mother, had light skin because of her scottish father, married a man named edwin horatio hamilton seacole (said to be the godson, or possibly the illegitimate son, of admiral nelson), supported herself by selling jams, pickles, and spices after her husband's death, travelled widely, and offered to nurse soldiers in the crimean war with nightingale.

turned down, mary seacole went to the crimea anyway. she paid her own expenses, tended the wounded on both sides, constructed a hotel-clinic from scrap, and handed out wine and hot tea to the soldiers. they loved her. nightingale wished she would go elsewhere.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/04/25/110425ta_talk_frazier

http://hubpages.com/hub/mary-seacole-the-other-florence-nightingale

[2011NursingStudent]

Why did Florence Nightingale disapprove? She was one of the first to practice sterilization and the article said that Mary Jane Seacole practiced "traditional medicine" - so I'm guessing if she didn't believe in sterilization that had something to do with F.N.'s dislike.

[Bizaleth]

Perhaps it had more to do with racial attitudes of the time as well as social status differences.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Wow, so even from the beginning, nurses were eating their young....

KIDDING! :)

[2011NursingStudent]

Could be. I guess there's no way of really knowing, but she seemed extraordinarily intelligent and not afraid to go against the grain. Her focus in live seemed to be sort of practicing and spreading the sterilization knowledge and how to prevent "childbirth fever" and such (from physicians delivering babies after handling dead bodies, not washing their hands in between) - so I'm thinking it could very well be a distaste for nurses/doctors that practiced 'traditional medicine' and not race.

[nursetiffany.]

hmm interesting...

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Wow, so even from the beginning, nurses were eating their young....

KIDDING! :)

Now That's funny!!!!!:hhmth::hhmth:

[BluegrassRN]

Her book is, or at least was, available for free download on Kindle and Kindle apps. I downloaded it some time ago, skimmed through it, and then forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder!

[greenfiremajick]

Wow, so even from the beginning, nurses were eating their young....

KIDDING! :)

OOOOh, you stepped in it, now!!

[2011NursingStudent]

Wait just a minute here...I'm so confused. Are there two Florence Nightengales??? One born in Italy known for statistics and sterilization procedures, and the second, a Canadian by the same name who later changed her name to Elizabeth Arden and was known for all the Elizabeth Arden spas?? I had no idea there were two.

[UpstateNyDollCna]

Thank you so much for posting this, or I would have never known who she was.

[BluegrassRN]

Mary Seacole's autobiography is available online for free through the Guttenberg Project. You can also download it for free for your eReader. I'm about a quarter of the way through it; for being written in the 1850s it is an easy read. She has a wonderful sense of humor, and an obvious love for and appreciation of the human condition.

I suspect Flo didn't like her because she was Black, and because she didn't believe that nurses should be quiet handmaidens to physicians. Mary Seacole practiced on her own, occasionally collaborating with physicians but typically teaching them as much as they would teach her. Flo liked her nurses to be quiet, submissive, and of high moral character: unmarried, no drinking, frequently in church, and living together secluded from the evils of the world, like nuns. Mary ran boarding houses that doubled as homes for ill and disabled soldiers and their wives. She didn't feel that drinking was a sin. She dressed in colorful clothes. She was an expert on tropical disease treatment at the time. Flo was opposed to her methods, and in letters to home and her patrons, she painted Mary as running a house of ill repute and as a woman of low moral character. It looks like back stabbing in nursing isn't exclusive to nurses practicing today; Flo knew how to do it well.