Mary Seacole: The Real Angel of the Crimea

Writer: Andrea Stuart

Intro | Who was Mary Seacole? | Mary Seacole's impact | Black British Contribution | Forgotten People of Colour

Forgotten People of Colour

• Hannibal (247-183BC): the legendary North African general.

• Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837): Russia's most revered poet was the son of an African prince.

• Alexandre Dumas (1802-70): author of The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, Dumas was the grandson of a slave.

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): Afro-British classical composer and musician.

• Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797): an ex-slave and ardent campaigner for the abolition of slavery.

• Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806): an ex-slave turned mathematician and astronomer who built America's first striking clock.

• Toussaint l'Overture (1743-1803): an ex-slave who liberated the island of Haiti and was the island's first governor.

• Jack Johnson (1878-1946): the first Black sports hero. He battled racism in order to be able to box in any of the professional tournaments and eventually became the first black Heavy Weight Champion of the World.

• Marcus Garvey (1887-1940): Jamaican-born Black rights activist.

• Jesse Owens (1913-1980): Record breaking African-American athlete who won four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics, refuting the Nazi theory of Aryan supremacy.

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