On 30 June 2016, a memorial statue of Mary Seacole (1805 – 1881) was unveiled by Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE in the gardens of St Thomas’s Hospital – the UK’s first in honour of a named black woman.
Central to the successful campaign was the role of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association, which is part of Unite the Union.
The Mary Seacole Awards provide an opportunity for individuals to be recognised for their outstanding work in the black and minority ethnic (BME) community.