racebending:

I was at the Getty museum yesterday, which houses European artwork, and was really not expecting any artwork of people or color or women of color. There were actually some pieces, including this bust of Mary Seacole, who was half Scottish and half Jamaican.

Seacole was a brave and energetic nurse who lived more than 100 years ago. She was skilled at treating such deadly diseases as yellow fever and cholera. Her name became famous in England in the 1850s because of her fearless medical service to British soldiers who were fighting in a war.

The Crimean War is the same war that Florence Nightingale is known for; but until recently and perhaps even still today people have heard of Nightingale but not of Seacole. Nightingale’s hospital was several miles from the frontline. Seacole took a more…proactive approach, treating soldiers on the battlefield from both sides of the war!