Black History Month
For Black History Month we will be talking about some black medical pioneers in the UK that made a real difference and changed Briton.
Mary Seacole 1805-1881
Mary Seacole started as a healer and female doctor in Jamacia in the 1800s then she worked in Central America. During the Crimean War she requested to be an army nurse but was refused so she funded herself and set up the British Hotel behind the front line to help injured soldiers. Mary provided food and supplies and cared for the injured and recovering soldiers. She also often went to the battlefield to help the injured on the front line. Her work was widely celebrated like Florence Nightingale. However, after her death in 1881 her story was forgotten. It wasn’t until the 21st Century that Briton began to recognise her achievements, in 2003 she was voted the Greatest Black Briton and in 2016 a memorial statue of Mary was created at St Thomas Hospital in London. And most significantly her story is now part of the National Curriculum.
Annie Brewster 1858- 1902
Annie Brewster was born in the Caribbean in 1858, she then moved to South London with her family in the 1860s. She worked at the London Hospital (now the Royal London Hospital) as a nurse for 20 years. She started as a probationer nurse in 1881 and became nursing staff in 1884 then went on to being in charge of the Ophthalmic ward in 1888. She became known as ‘Nurse Ophthalmic ‘due to her skills and kindness in treating patients with eye conditions. Annie is one of the first known Afro-Caribbean nurses to work in Briton during the 19th Century. In 2018 she received public recognition for her work when her photograph was projected onto the side on the old Royal London Hospital during the celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of the NHS.
Dr Charles Drew 1904- 1950
Dr Charles Drew grew up in Washington DC he was an African American scientist who pioneered the science and politics behind blood transfusions his work helped save thousands of lives during World War II and beyond. Drew was an amazing physician and surgeon and he finally gained international attention from his doctoral research which found new information on blood collection and storage. On request he came to England in 1939 to establish blood banks for the war effort the programme ended in 1941 and there had been over 5,000 litres of plasma sent. In 1942 Drew resigned after the armed forces rules that African Americans blood would be accepted but it needed to be stored separately from that of whites. Dr Drew went on to become Head of Department of Surgery and Chief of Surgery at Freemen’s Hospital. He was passionate about training the next generation of students in medicine and campaigning for the inclusion of black doctors. His work in medicine and to correct racial injustices earned him numerous awards.
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu 1947-
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu was born in Birmingham in 1947. She wanted to be a nurse from the age of 4 when her eczema was treated by a ‘wonderful nursing nun’. She started work in the NHS as a school nurse assistant at 16. She then became a nurse, heath visitor and tutor working with black and other ethnic minority communities in London. In the 1970s Elizabeth travelled to America to study counselling for sickle-cell and thalassemia centres, after this she worked with Dr Milica Brozovic to create the UK’s first sickle-cell and thalassemia counselling centre which was in Brent and opened in 1979. She became a professor and dean of the nursing school at the University of West London, then to try to address racial inequalities in the profession, established the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice in 1998. Elizabeth was honoured with a Damehood (DBE) in 2017 for her services to nursing and the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal. In July 2018, as part of the celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of the National Health Service, Elizabeth was included in the list of the 70 most influential nurses and midwives in the history of the NHS.
All these people and countless more have helped shape our future and the society of today. These people should be remembered and not forgotten.