Background
Robinson, Jewell Daughter of Maxie Cleveland and Doris Jones Robinson.
(The 'Greatest Black Briton in History' triumphed over the...)
The 'Greatest Black Briton in History' triumphed over the Crimea and Victorian England. "The Times" called her a heroine, Florence Nightingale called her a brothel-keeping quack, and Queen Victoria's nephew called her, simply, 'Mammy' - Mary Seacole was one of the most eccentric and charismatic women of her era. Born at her mother's hotel in Jamaica in 1805, she became an independent 'doctress' combining the herbal remedies of her African ancestry with sound surgical techniques. On the outbreak of the Crimean War, she arrived in London desperate to join Florence Nightingale at the Front, but the authorities refused to see her. Being black, nearly 50, rather stout, and gloriously loud in every way, she was obviously unsuitable. Undaunted, Mary travelled to Balaklava under her own steam to build the 'British Hotel', just behind the lines. It was an outrageous venture, and a huge success - she became known and loved by everyone from the rank and file to the royal family. For more than a century after her death this remarkable woman was all but forgotten. This, the first full-length biography of a Victorian celebrity recently voted the greatest black Briton in history, brings Mary Seacole centre stage at last.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845294971/?tag=2022091-20
( She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In a...)
She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In an age that put ladies in the parlor and preferred them to be seen and not heard, she was nursing the British wounded, not in hospital wards with Florence Nightingale but on the Crimean battlefields—and off them, she was running a restaurant and hotel. She purveyed homemade pickles in England; she mined for gold in Panama. For unabashed individuality, Mary Jane Grant Seacole knew no peer. Yet Punch, the Times, the Illustrated London News all ardently touted her, and Queen Victoria herself entertained her. Mary Seacole—childless widow of Horatio Nelson's godson and "good ole Mother Seacole" to the soldiers at Sebastopol—was Britain's first black heroine, and this robust, engaging biography by social historian Jane Robinson shows why. In a narrative driven by colorful adventure, Robinson charts Seacole's amazing odyssey from her native Kingston, Jamaica, to her adopted London, via Panama, where she lent her doctoring and nursing skills to catastrophic outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever, and the Crimea, where she founded the famous British Hotel. Seacole makes numerous other eventful stops along the way, and everywhere, even in the face of disappointment, disaster, and loss, her indomitable spirit prevails.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078671414X/?tag=2022091-20
( She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In a...)
She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In an age that put ladies in the parlor and preferred them to be seen and not heard, she was nursing the British wounded, not in hospital wards with Florence Nightingale but on the Crimean battlefields—and off them, she was running a restaurant and hotel. She purveyed homemade pickles in England; she mined for gold in Panama. For unabashed individuality, Mary Jane Grant Seacole knew no peer. Yet Punch, the Times, the Illustrated London News all ardently touted her, and Queen Victoria herself entertained her. Mary Seacole—childless widow of Horatio Nelson's godson and "good ole Mother Seacole" to the soldiers at Sebastopol—was Britain's first black heroine, and this robust, engaging biography by social historian Jane Robinson shows why. In a narrative driven by colorful adventure, Robinson charts Seacole's amazing odyssey from her native Kingston, Jamaica, to her adopted London, via Panama, where she lent her doctoring and nursing skills to catastrophic outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever, and the Crimea, where she founded the famous British Hotel. Seacole makes numerous other eventful stops along the way, and everywhere, even in the face of disappointment, disaster, and loss, her indomitable spirit prevails.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078671414X/?tag=2022091-20
Actor arts and education administrator
Robinson, Jewell Daughter of Maxie Cleveland and Doris Jones Robinson.
Bachelor, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 1959. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Goucher College, Towson, Maryland, 2003.
Executive assistant to director Washington Urban League. Staff associate to president National Council Negro Women, Washington. Division manager United Givers Fund (United Way).
Vice president TransCentury Corporation. Deputy director National Board The Young Men's Christian Association, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Congressional Affairs, Washington, 1978—1979. Executive director Ellington Fund (Ellington School of the Arts), 1978—1982.
Member board Washington Ballet, 1979—1981, Washington Stage Guild, since 1990.
(The 'Greatest Black Briton in History' triumphed over the...)
( She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In a...)
( She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In a...)
Author: (script) Mother Lange: The French Soul, 1998, Unforgettable: Nat King Cole, the Man and His Music, 2000, The Whole World in His Hands: the Life and Music of Paul Robeson, 2004, Rita Hayworth: Latin Love Goddess, 2001, What Made Sammy Run? The Life and Music of Sammy Davis, Junior, 1999, Black Mary, 1998, Alice, 1998, Miss Anderson's Music: The Life and Music of Marian Anderson, 2002, Blond Ambitianss: Marlene Dietrich, Mae West & Tallulah Bankhead, 2002. Co-author: Thomas Jefferson and His Slave, Betty Hemings, 1993. Actor: numerous theatre and television roles.
Member board Whitman Walker AIDS Clinic, Washington, 1992—2000. Volunteer AIDSWalk; Member of American Federation television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity Association.
Married James Douglass Shepperd (div.). Children: Randall Jeffrey Shepperd, Scott Douglass Shepperd.