Passive Voice, Active Prejudice: Mary Seacole in Children’s Literature and MediaPosted in Articles, Communications/Media Studies, History, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Media Archive, United Kingdom, Women on 2016-11-23 14:54Z by Steven |
Passive Voice, Active Prejudice: Mary Seacole in Children’s Literature and Media
theracetoread: Children’s Literature and Issues of Race
2016-10-20
Karen Sands-O’Connor, Professor
English Department
Buffalo State, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York
 [David] Harewood’s ITV programme celebrates the new statue of Mary Seacole in London–but not everyone is pleased |
This week, Britain’s ITV showed a programme on Mary Seacole entitled “In the Shadow of Mary Seacole.” In some ways, the programme could have been titled, “Mary Seacole in the Shadow of British Racism.” Many people who initially celebrated the fact that ITV was telling the story of the woman labeled “The Greatest Black Briton” in 2004 were dismayed to find that the programme was put on the schedule at 10:40 pm. Others complained that the programme focused on the opinions of white historians. Indeed, it seemed that most, though not all, of Seacole’s defenders in the programme were non-historians: actors, comedians, nurses. Unfortunately, none of this is new when it comes to Mary Seacole—and children’s books about the Jamaican Crimean War nurse are no exception…
Read the entire article here.