Helen Rappaport, "In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Black Cultural Icon" (Pegasus Books, 2022)

Helen Rappaport, "In Search of Mary Seacole: ...

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Petal Kimberly Samuel, "The Quiet Zone: Caribbean Expressive Cultures and the Feminist Aesthetics of Disturbance" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

A serene beach. The classroom of an elite private school. The still nights in an upscale residential neighborhood. An acclaimed poet with a quiet, dignified mode of address. The sonic etiquette and experience of quiet is integral to each of these scenes. The Quiet Zone: Caribbea ...  Show more

Martin Munro and Eliana Vagalau eds., "Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader's Guide" (Liverpool UP, 2022)

Despite being a major figure of Haitian literature, Jean-Claude Charles (1949-2008) has received relatively little scholarly attention to date. Jean-Claude Charles: A Reader's Guide (Liverpool UP, 2022) seeks to serve as an introduction to the work and universe of this unique and ...  Show more

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Mary Seacole
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Greg Jenner is joined by Prof Gretchen Gerzina and comedian Nathan Caton to delve into the extraordinary life and adventures of the 19th-century celebrity, Mary Seacole. Mary was born and raised in Jamaica and rose to fame as a businesswoman and a volunteer nurse during the Crime ...  Show more

Adventurers: Mary Seacole
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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 talking about adventurers – women who refused to be confined. Th ...  Show more

Artist Althea McNish and history of the Met Gala
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Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Althea McNish, the Trinidadian artist who designed fabric for Queen Elizabeth II.

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Pocahontas
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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Pocahontas, the Native American woman who to English eyes became a symbol of the New World. During the colonisation of Virginia in the first years of the seventeenth century, Pocahontas famously saved the life of an English prisoner ...  Show more