It's Black History Month, and I'm excited to share some of the real-life heroes who make an appearance in my upcoming middle-grade book, The Four Seasons of Florence Wallace.

Sarah Parker Remond

When students learn about abolitionists, the same names often appear—but Sarah Parker Remond deserves the spotlight, for her voice was just as powerful as the others.

Sarah Parker Remond was born in 1826 in Salem, Massachusetts. Although she was born free, she wasn't spared the indignities of racism and segregation. An education was of utmost importance to Sarah and her family, but the politics of the day forbade such.

“Again and again, Mother would have endeavored to have us placed in some private school, but being colored, we were refused. The most bitter and indignant feelings were cherished by me against those who deprived me of the opportunity of gaining knowledge. Eventually, my siblings and I were admitted into a public primary school. … But soon, a committee expelled us based on the color of our skin. Thus ended my schooldays.”

Ms. Remond traveled extensively to the eastern coast and throughout the United Kingdom, delivering anti-slavery lectures to the masses. She often did so in tandem with her brother, Charles Lenox Remond. In The Four Seasons of Florence Wallace, it is at an anti-slavery lecture that Florence sees and hears this remarkable woman for the first time.

After the Civil War, Ms. Remond moved to Florence, Italy, where she attended the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital for medicine. She practiced medicine for more than 20 years in Italy, something that would have been impossible for her in the United States.

She died in 1894.

The Liberator newspaper articles about Ms. Remond, dated 1858.

To learn more about Sarah Parker Remond, visit here.