Mary Seacole Was A Creole

Mary Jane Grant gave birth to Mary Seacole on November 23, 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her father was Scottish-born and of white race. He was a British army man serving in Jamaica at the time, which was still a British colony. Her mother was either Creole or of mixed European and African ancestry. Mary, who was born to one black parent and one white parent, was categorized in law as a mulatto. She had one bi-racial parent and one white parent, making her a quadroon in terms of genetic makeup. Mary took great pride in her African heritage.

In her memoirs, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole, she calls herself a Creole and expresses her pride in both her Scottish and Jamaican lineage "I'm a Creole with strong Scottish blood running through me. My father was a veteran from a distinguished Scottish family." Robinson hypothesizes that she might have actually been a quadroon. "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," Seacole wrote in her autobiography, separating herself from the modern stereotype of the "lazy Creole." She was proud of her black ancestry.