Pink Collar Workers: Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole (1805-1881) was a 19th century healer who was ahead of her time. This self taught nurse used her own money to sail across the world and set up shelter for wounded Crimean War soldiers.

This month, we’re bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed! We’ll be talking about Pink Collar Workers: women who revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called "women's work." Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This August, we're bringing back some of our
favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. All month, we'll
be talking about pink collar workers. These women revolutionized jobs
that have traditionally been called women's work. Through their lives,
they created a more just and humane world for us today.

(00:22):
With that, here's one of our favorite episodes. Hello from
Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we're talking about adventurers, women who refuse to
be confined. They pushed the boundaries of where a woman
could go and how she could get there. Today we're
talking about a nineteenth century healer who was ahead of

(00:44):
her time. This self taught nurse used her own money
to sail across the world and set up shelter for
wounded Crimean War soldiers. Let's talk about Mary Sea Coal.
Mary was born on November twenty third, eighteen oh five,
in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Scottish Army officer and a

(01:06):
Jamaican healer. During this time, many black people born in
the Caribbean were enslaved, but since Mary's father was white,
she was not. Mary's mother was a doctress who used
traditional Caribbean and African medicine to treat people. The doctress
also ran a boarding house in Kingston where she treated

(01:27):
injured soldiers. It was there that Mary got first hand
experience practicing medicine. She practiced on her dolls and pets
before working alongside her mother. From a young age, Mary
yearned to travel. She first satisfied that urge when she
was around eighteen years old. She boarded a ship headed
to England, where she would stay with relatives. Mary used

(01:51):
her time in England to learn modern European medicine. From there,
she spent the next few years visiting Haiti, Cuba, and
the Bahamas before returning to Kingston in eighteen twenty six.
Mary worked with her mother for several years before marrying
Edwin Sekol in eighteen thirty six. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't

(02:12):
last long. Edwin became sick and Mary spent her time
nursing him until his death in eighteen forty four. Soon after,
Mary's mother also passed away. Both of these deaths affected
Mary deeply, and she decided to dedicate her life to
caring for the sick In the eighteen forties, the world

(02:32):
was hit by the third major cholera outbreak, which reached
Jamaica by the eighteen fifties. Mary treated those infected with
the disease in Kingston. After that she traveled to Panama,
only to find her skills were needed once again. After
one of her brother's friends died suddenly. Mary sprang into
action and diagnosed the cause as cholera. Because she traveled

(02:56):
everywhere with her medical kit, she was able to get
to work. The town where she was visiting had no doctor. Otherwise,
Mary used mustard emetics to induce vomiting, warm cloths to
combat chills, plasters on the stomach, in the back, and
doses of mercury chloride. In the end, she claimed she
was able to save her first cholera patient in Panama,

(03:20):
but there wasn't much time for rest back in Jamaica,
there were more patients to care for during the eighteen
fifty three yellow fever epidemic. Around that time, Russia invaded
Turkish principalities. French and British troops intervened to prevent Russian
expansion into a weakened Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean War

(03:40):
broke out. Mary heard news of the bloody fighting and
the poor medical facilities for the wounded. She wanted to help.
The first step was to travel to London to offer
her services to the British army. They turned her down,
but Mary was not deterred. It was back on a ship,
this time the Hollander, bound for the front lines of

(04:02):
the Crimean Peninsula. Without support from the British government, she
funded her own trip and set up a British hotel
with a relative of her late husband. The hotel took
inspiration from the boarding house she worked at with her mother,
and was a haven for wounded soldiers. Mary's hotel was
located near Balaklava, which was very close to the war zone.

(04:25):
She would visit the battlefield to nurse the wounded. Her
bedside manner was said to be so kind the soldier
gave her the nickname Mother Sekual. Mary's contemporary, Florence Nightingale's
military hospital was far from the front lines across the
water in Turkey. After the war, Mary moved back to
London with very little money. Her work on the battlefield, however,

(04:47):
was not forgotten. The surviving British soldiers praised Mary. They
wrote letters to the newspapers detailing what she'd done for them.
In eighteen fifty seven, a fundraising galap was held in
Mary's honor. That same year, she published a memoir, Wonderful
Adventures of Missus Sea Coal in Many Lands. The book,
which became a bestseller, details her work during the Crimean War,

(05:10):
becaves little detail about her early life. Mary spent the
remaining twenty years of her life between London and Kingston.
She died in London on May fourteenth, eighteen eighty one,
at the age of seventy five. Mary Sea Coal's life
was largely forgotten for nearly one hundred years. That is
until in nineteen seventy three a group of Jamaican nurses

(05:32):
found Mary's grave. The group was disappointed to see her
grave had not been cared for and had it reconsecrated.
They also fought to restore her legacy. In twenty sixteen,
a statue of Mary Sequal was unveiled on the grounds
of Saint Thomas's Hospital in London. Thanks for listening to

(05:54):
this best of episodeable Manica. For more information, find us
on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica pie Cast Special thanks
to Lose Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator, join
us tomorrow for another one of our favorite episodes, honoring
pink collar workers. Talk to you then,