Nanny and the Maroons!

Hey everyone. I am continuing on with more figures from Black History for Black History Month. Today's figure is Nanny of the Maroons


Nanny was born c. 1686 in Ghana, a member of the Ashanti tribe and brought to Jamaica as a slave. She was sold to a sugar plantation in Saint Thomas Parish. As a young girl, Nanny and her brothers, Accompong, Cudjoe, Johnny and Quao fled the plantations and hid in Blue Mountains. Eventually they split up to form Maroon communities across Jamaica.

The Maroons were a group of former Jamaican slaves who fled their oppressive existence to resist European colonialism, a lot of the former slaves were from West Africa, similar to Nanny. They were often very skilled and adept fighters who used their knowledge of the land to their advantage. Oftentimes, the Maroons were intermarry with native Islanders, the Arawak peoples.

In 1720, Nanny and Quao settled and controlled a parcel of land (500 acres), that gave them strategic advantage over the invading Brits. It was named Nanny Town. The members of the community raised cattle, crops, and invade and burn plantations for weapons and other goods. They'd rescue other slaves and bring them back to their community. Many raids by the British were done on this town to no avail.

In over 30 years, Nanny believed to have freed over 800 slaves. She would also serve as one of the community's healers and it would increase her esteem. 

It is uncertain about what year Nanny died, some believe it was as early as 1734 others as late as 1755. Either way, she is the only "Queen Nanny".

Sanité Bélair!

Born c. 1781 as a freewoman. She served as a sergeant in the army of Toussaint Louverture during the Haitian Revolution in 18th century. She was married to a great general Charles Belair. Eventually captured by General Charles Leclerc, she was sentenced to death by decapitation, after witnessing her husband die by firing squad. Reportedly, she walked to her death with bravery and defiance.

Mary Seacole

Hey everyone. I am falling a bit behind for Black History month, because I had no internet at home. I know, the shock and agony of it all! I am almost half way through my intensive course and I couldn't be happier for it, I am eager to finish it and start working again. My feet itching to travel more, and I need money to make it happen unfortunately.

Today's person is Mary Jane Seacole



Mary Seacole was born to a Scottish Officer and a free Jamaican Creole mother in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805.  Her mother was a healer, who used traditional Caribbean and African herbal remedies to heal the sick. Mary acquired her nursing and healing skills while helping the sick with her mother, who ran a hotel, Blundell Hall, where most of the guests were disabled European soldiers and sailors who often suffered from yellow fever.

Due to her ancestry, she was declared a mulatto and was given very little rights. She was proud of her Creole, Scottish and black heritage, declaring in her autobiography"I have a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related—and I am proud of the relationship—to those poor mortals whom you once held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns."

She received an education from a kind patroness, after living in her house for many years and treated as one of the family. She returned to this patroness to provide care until the woman's death.  After this, she went back to assisting her mother who was often called up to help with British Army Hospital. During this time, she traveled to London to visit family and around the Caribbean, even without the requisite chaperone.

She married Edwin Seacole in 1836, and after attempting to open a shop they returned to Blundell Hall. Unfortunately for Mary, she lost her husband and mother in 1844 and the hotel had burned down in a fire. Blundell Hall was rebuilt as New Blundell Hall and Mary absorbed herself in her work. She became a very well respected member of the community and amidst the cholera epidemic proved to be an asset in Jamaica, because she believe that it was spread through other people and took this knowledge to benefit others.

In 1851, she traveled to Cruces, Panama to visit a brother, where they were hit with a cholera outbreak. After the first patient she treated survived, she earned a well deserved reputation for healing, although many patients did not survive.  This was part in due to the fact, that she was the only experienced medical practitioner in the area. She would charge the rich, but not the poor. The remarkable thing is that unlike most medical practitioners of the day, she did not use opium in her ministering. She preferred mustard rubs, cinnamon water, lead acetate and poultices.  After one of the children that she had cared for died, she performed an autopsy and learned more about the disease. She herself became sickened but thankfully survived.

I am going to skip some of the intervening years between then and the Crimean War for it is too much to discuss at this current juncture.

The Crimean War rings a bell for most of us as the war where Florence Nightingale flourished in her aiding the sick. However, Mary Seacole was there as well.

The outbreak of the Crimean War was a medical disaster. Cholera ravaged through the troops and killed off many soldiers, as the medical hospitals were grossly inadequate. Mary knowing that her experiences in Panama and Jamaica would make her asset sailed to England to apply for a nursing position, however it was to no avail as she was rejected at every turn. It is believed the other black nurses were having as much difficulty.  She even applied to the Crimea Fund for traveling expenses so that she may travel there and help the sick, but that was rejected as well.

Finally she decided to use her own funds to start up the British Hotel in Crimea for sick and convalescent British officers. As she was in London, so was an old acquaintance, Thomas Davy. They formed a partnership and bought enough supplies to send Mary to Crimea. On her boat trip to Crimea, she met a doctor who was at Florence Nightingales hospital and wrote a letter of introduction on Mary's behalf to Florence. However, as Mary arrived with the letter to Florence, her help was refused. She went on to Balaclava, and from debris and rubbish built her British Hotel. The hotel was more than a home for sick, she sold goods to British soldiers and sightseers (Yeah, I know). She would often go out of the hotel and visit casualties every day, except for Sundays.

Florence Nightingale would accuse Mary of being nothing more than a brothel, for daring to sell alcohol and charge for its services. Nightingale would refuse to have any association with Mary, whatsoever, even making sure her nurses would be careful to avoid her. Although later, Nightingale would made an anonymous donation after Seacole faced bankruptcy, after realizing perhaps that Mary was healing many of the wounded and was very well respected and affectionately called, "Mother Seacole".

After the war, Mary was unfortunately destitute from her business and unlike Nightingale received no awards and honours for her hard and outstanding work.  Her creditors pursued her back to London, where Queen Victoria's nephew took up fundraising efforts on her behalf.

Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, was published in 1857, the first written by a black woman in Britain.

There is much more to be said about her later life, but I figured you guys should just find out for yourself!

The Birth of a New Era!

The past week has been rather lax. Maxing and relaxing. Chilling and willing. I have been getting some of my marks back, and I am doing better in school than I had ever done before. Something both puzzling and shocking, but I feel satisfied. Sigh. I feel like perhaps, I had found something that I am interested in. A new era has commenced.....and so did the Elizabethan era on this day 454 years ago in 1558.

Elizabeth was born on September 7,1533 to Henry VIII and his second wife, the Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, Elizabeth was not the desired boy that Henry VIII fought tooth and nail to divorce his aging wife, the formidable Catherine of Aragon, to conceive. But she was every bit a Tudor, and Henry's daughter. She was a red haired, fiery tempered, pompous and vain woman, exactly like Henry.

But like I said, she wasn't born with the desired appendage. After the execution of her mother when she was not quite three years ago, she fell out of favour and bastardized by her own father. Though, he still maintained that he loved his little princess, hard to believe but true enough. Henry almost immediately married the blonde, demure Jane Seymour after Anne's execution. Jane Seymour died of childbed fever after giving Henry the desired boy, Edward VI. 

Elizabeth and Mary both cared for their brother, but had some resentment between each other. The family didn't really reunite until Henry married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr and through her gentle guidance, Elizabeth and Mary were added to the line of succession should Edward die young. It would be Mary first, followed by Elizabeth.

Henry died in 1547, leaving Edward VI to take the throne at the tender age of nine. His council/Lord Protector effectively ruled the kingdom on behalf, and would do so until the age of majority. However, Edward VI died at the age of fifteen in 1553 and changed the line of succession to disbar his sisters and include his cousin Lady Jane Grey, a granddaughter of Henry's sister Mary. Jane was literally dragged kicking and screaming to the throne, as she did not want any part of it, but through the machinations of her greedy in-laws, the Dudleys, she was forced to claim the throne. Her "reign" lasted a total of nine days, when Mary triumphantly entered London and claimed the throne in her name and Elizabeth was at her side.

Much to the chagrin of Elizabeth, and Edwards fears founded, Mary attempted to turn the newly turned Protestant kingdom back to the old Catholic ways. She did in such a way, that earned her the unfair cognomen of Bloody Mary. A purported 300 heretics died from as a result of her religious edicts, but to be fair Henry and Elizabeth were no angels in this regard, it was almost de rigueur to root out heresy in one's kingdom. Mary became Queen in 1553, and after a series of phantom pregnancies and disappointing infertility, she did not reproduce an heir and died in 1558, declaring Elizabeth I, the Queen of England and one of the most well-known queens in history and thus beginning an era of the flourishing of art, literature, and science.

She is no Beta.

The weather is starting to cool down, and I am anticipating a rather stormy winter. An adequate punishment for leaving for two years, and not having to deal with it. Bad weather seems to follow me like a shadow. My classes are quite interesting, although stressful and I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that I must absorb to do tests and exams well. My nerves usually get the better of me during exams and I persistently doubt myself in the middle and oft go with the second answer/wrong one. But my trials and tribulations do not come close to this historical figure of the day.

Queen Gudit/Judith of Damot (a region of modern Ethiopia)

There is no certainty about her dates of birth and death, but she was to be queen of Ethiopia at around 960 CE. The information about her have been largely gathered through oral tradition of story telling. 
It is believed that Judith was a Beta Israel (an African Jewish person) or  even possibly pagan Hebraic. Though, most scholars believe that she was an African Jewish woman.

Either way, she was believed to have seized the capital city/throne of Axum and proclaimed herself the Queen, and sought to end Christianity in her land. Therefore, many Christian churches, monasteries and lives in the process. Due to her uprisings, Beta Israel enjoyed many years of prosperity and independent rule from neighboring Christian Kingdoms. 

A fascinating thing about Ethiopian Jews is that there were the most isolated Jewish diaspora, and therefore have many different traditions from a lot of other Jewish communities. There are many different theories as to how there came to be a major Jewish community in Ethiopia, there is a belief that the Agau tribe converted to Judaism early on, or Yemeni Jews traveled to Ethiopia and intermarried with the Agau tribe in the First Temple Period. So the community has been in Ethiopia for over 2400 years, for many reasons there are few left in Ethiopia and many now live in Israel citing the Law of Return.

Some things are better left inbred!

It hath been a long time since my previous post. I have been in a flurry of activity since that time, between traveling, working, and schooling. Now I feel as though I can release my breath and write again. The past several months have been a definite wild ride. Ending my life in England was but an easy one, though much to my own chagrin I had become accustomed to some of the English idiosyncrasies and vernacular. Something my friends definitely poke fun at me for and are trying to exorcise out of me. Now I am back in school, something at my age that I had hoped would be done. I am happy to be back in a way, however, the stress of school and midterms have overwhelmed me, such that I had neglected many aspects of my life. Midterms are finally over. Thank goodness, as I feel human again and take care of the neglected ares of my life.

On this day in history about 312 years ago, the death of Charles II of Spain had started the War of the Spanish Succession.


Charles II was born on November 6, 1661, a very long awaited male heir to the throne of Spain. His parents were uncle and niece, Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria. Charles II was unfortunately a very intellectually limited and suffering from many undesirable traits, as a result of centuries of inbreeding, something that Spanish Habsburgs are well-known for. Instead of having 8 great-grandparents, he had 6, instead of 16 great-great grandparents, he had 10, and even worse, instead of having 32 great-great-great grandparents, he had only 10. So much for keeping it in the family.

As a result, poor Charles (contemporarily known as Charles II the Hexed/Bewitched) was very limited and prone to fits of aggression. His jaw was much longer than his teeth giving him an exaggerated piranha look (look up Habsburg jaw, a problem found in Marie Antoinette as well), an extremely long tongue which made it difficult for him to talk and it was hard for him to walk.  He was treated as a babe in arms, until the age of 10, and his tutors did not want to overtax him with schooling or education affairs, so he was largely left uneducated. His mother acted as his regent for much of his reign. Due to Charles' limitations, he was never an effective leader of his country, his mother served as regent for many years, as had his capable illegitimate half-brother John of Austria. Though few had any expectations of him, he was still expected to marry and reproduce.

His first wife, a particularly beautiful French princess, was Marie-Louise of Orleans, a niece of Louis XIV. Charles married her in 1679 in a glittering ceremony. It is very likely that Charles was impotent and could not reproduce, much to Marie Louise's sadness, she died at the age of 26 in 1689.

His second wife,  Maria Anne of Neuberg, was chosen for her family's history of fertility, but she too remained childless.

As the American historians Will and Ariel Durant put it, Charles II was "short, lame, epileptic, senile, and completely bald before 35, he was always on the verge of death, but repeatedly baffled Christendom by continuing to live." (Will and Ariel Durant, The Age of Louis XIV (1963))

Charles II died at the age of 38 on November 1, 1700, thus igniting the War of Spanish Succession (which I will continue in the next blog post) 

Give him an Oscar!

Oscar Peterson

Peterson was born to West Indian Immigrants in Montreal, Quebec on August 15, 1925. At the age of five, he was beginning to learn the trumpet and piano, but after a bout with tuberculosis he could no longer play the trumpet and focused upon the piano. His earlier studies focused upon classical piano, but he was interested in jazz music. For many years he would practice the piano about four to six hours a day. In 1940, he won a nationwide music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation at the age of fourteen. After which he dropped out of school and played in music halls, concerts and weekly radio shows.
Peterson’s career took off when Norman Granz took him under his label. Apparently Granz was in a cab and listening to a radio show, and they were playing a recording of Peterson’s concert. Granz would remain Peterson’s manager for most of his career, and they formed a close friendship. Granz, one of the first music organizers to attempt to desegregate jazz concerts. Peterson also credits Granz with standing up for him and other black musicians against the segregation south.
Peterson soon started the Oscar Peterson trio, which included Ray Brown, Charlie Smith, Herb Ellis, Irving Ashby, Barney Kessel.  But the definitive trio was Ray Brown and Herb Ellis. Herb Ellis, a white musician,  was controversial in the segregationist times. From the late 1950s, he was recognized as one of the most influential jazz pianists of the time.
Over the years, Oscar garnered eight Grammys, many lifetime achievements, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Juno Music Hall of Fame, an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Peterson died of kidney at his home in Mississauga, Ontario at the age of 82.