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Black People’s Contributions To The UK: A Very Small Sample

Women

Phillis Wheatley

From West Africa.Sold as a slave to a family called the Wheatleys. Named after the family to whom she was sold and the vessel that transported her to America–‘the Phillis’.Wrote her first poem at 14 years old.First volume of poetry published in 1773.Moved to England at 20. Contributed to the anti-slavery movement. Read: Poems by Phillis Wheatley

Mary Seacole

From Jamaica.Traveled to England in 1854 with the intention of an onward journey to Balaclava, Ukraineto assist the soldiers fighting in the Crimean War (1853-1856). War Office denied her request. Made her own way and established a boarding houseto successfullylook after the wounded British soldiers using traditional medicines.She then traveled relentlessly.Returned to England and is now buried at Saint Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, London.

Fanny Eaton

From Jamaica. A model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their circle between 1859–1867.Public debut was in Simeon Solomon's painting ‘The Mother of Moses’, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860.

The Mother of Moses - Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

1860 Oil on canvas

Lilian Bader

From Liverpool.The first black woman to join the British Armed Forces where she was: Canteen Assistant, Instrument repairer, Leading aircraft woman, and a Corporal. On receiving her degree from the University of London, she became a teacher.

olive Morris

From Jamaica.A member of the Black Panther Movement.Campaigned for rights of black people in Manchester and South London.Whilst at university expanded her activism to an international stage, visiting China and publishing an article from that visit. Founding member of Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and,the Brixton Black Women's Group.

Margaret Busby

From Ghana. Youngest and first black female book publisher.Founded the publishing company Allison& Busby in 1967, alongside Clive Allison.A campaigner for diversity in publishing –co-founded Greater Access to Publishing (GAP).

Malorie Blackman

From London of Barbadian parents.Qualified as a computer scientist. Writer of children and young adult novels.Author of the Noughts&Crosses series.Eight Children’s Laureate–first black person in that role.Awarded an OBE in 2008.

Dr. Shirley Thompson

From London of Jamaican parents.Professor of Music at the University of Westminster.Recently named "one of the most inspirational Black British women" by the newspaper Metro.The first woman in Europe to conduct and compose a symphony within the last 40 years,composed to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, -New Nation Rising.A 21st Century Symphony.Named on the Evening Standard's Power List of Britain's Top 100 Most Influential Black People in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

From Jamaica. Barbara Blake-Hannah was the first ever black person to appear in a news role on British television in 1968. She paved the way for Moira Stuart, Trevor McDonald, and others.She was an on-camera reporter and interviewer on Thames Television’s Today programme. Since returning to Jamaica she has had a career in film making and written five books, including one in 1982 about the Rastafarian religion, which is her faith.

Dr. Youmna Mouhammed

From Mayotte, a small island off the coast of Southeast Africa. Dr Mouhamad has a PhD in polymer physics and is currently a Technology Transfer Fellow at SPECIFIC in Swansea University and is working on industrial coatings.She is pushing to improve the representation of black women within STEM, the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.She is the leader of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students in Engineering Network, formed in 2019. This network aims to progress racial equality by raising awareness of the challenges that BAME students and staff experience, then suggest interventions or strategies that investigate how to overcome the challenges.

Men

Ignatius Sancho

Born on a slave ship. Ignatius Sancho was an influential figure in the arts and is the first known black British voter. He is known for his plays, poetry,and music, and had a shop in London, where other creative people like him would meet up. He spoke out against the slave trade. Read: Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho: An African

Oluada Equiano

From Southern Nigeria. He was a slave but managed to buy his freedom and moved to London.Became very involved in the abolition movement. His book about slavery is one of the earliest accounts about what it was like to be a slave and it is one of the best-selling books on the topic. His autobiography (1789) ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African’ was a seminal piece to those working to abolish slavery and its sales made him a wealthy man.

George Bridgetower

From Biala Podlaska, Poland-Lived in England for much of his life. Virtuoso Violinist Year of birth vary between 1778, 1779 or 1780.The son of an African father and a Polish mother. Said to be the older of two brothers, with his younger brother being a cellist. George was a student of composer Joseph Haydn and (once) a friend of Beethoven. Whilst friends, Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata to him, which was so hard to play many gave up.

Ira Aldridge

From New York – moved to the UK. Believed he stood a better chance of accomplishing his ambitions to become a brilliant and recognised actor.He became an important actor in plays at the theatre and was one of the highest paid actors in the world.He also became well known across Europe as a brilliant Shakespearean actor. Aldridge first toured to continental Europe in 1852, with successes in Germany, where he was presented to the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and performed for Frederick William IV of Prussia; he also performed in Budapest. An 1858 tour took him to Serbia and to Imperial Russia, where he became acquainted with Count Fyodor Tolstoy, Mikhail Shchepkin and the Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, who did his portrait in pastel.

John Edmonstone

From British Guiana. He was born into slavery but gained his freedom. Becoming skilled in taxidermy John Edmonstone was a very important figure in the world of scientific research.He taught at Edinburgh University in the 19th century with Charles Darwin as one of his students. It is said that Darwin’s theories on how humans have developed throughout time resulted from the teaching of John Edmonstone.

Samuel Coleridge Taylor

From London. Studied at the Royal College of Music in London.He partnered with several talented musicians, worked across continents and wrote many beautiful pieces of music enjoyed all over the world and still being enjoyed today. He died at the age of 37 from pneumonia. Compositions included: The Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha Overture, Violin Concerto in G Minor. Read:The complete poems of Samuel Coleridge Taylor

Sir Learie Constantine

From Trinidad.A member of West Indian Cricket team who settled in Lancashire. Became England’s first black peer due to his political work which included relentlessly fighting for racial equality. Described as a cricketer, statesman and advocate of racial equality. Read: Colour Bar (1954) and, Learie Constantine and Race Relations in Britain and the Empire By Jeffrey Hill (Author)

From Grenada.The second peer of African descent to sit in the House of Lords, He was the longest serving Black Parliamentarian. He was described as a revolutionary politician. He was a medical practitioner in Trinidad on completion of his studies (Edinburgh University). His involvement in politics was twinned with his medical practice. He was a funding member and leader of the West Indian National Party. He returned to the UK and lived in London. As a member of the House of Lords, he played a leading role in campaigning for the Race Relations Act 1976. He was outspoken on issues such as immigration policy, and in a debate on 24 June 1976 he noted, in part: "...it is a myth, that the fewer the numbers [of black immigrants] the better the quality of race relations. That is a myth, and it is a myth that has inspired the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act, the Immigration White Paper of August 1965 and the Immigration Acts of 1968 and 1971. It is designed to placate the racialists, but it is a fallacy; for to the racialist or the anti-semite the only acceptable number is nought....(Immigration Policy debate, Hansard, vol. 372, 24 June 1976.)

Stuart Hall

From Jamaica. One of the Windrush generation and an Oxford graduate he was responsible for pioneering theories of multiculturalism and the first cultural studies course in Britain, which was offered by the University of Birmingham. The Observer referred to him as “one of the country's leading cultural theorists". His ideas and books, which included The Hard Road to Renewal: Thatcherism and the Crisis of the Left (1988), Formations of Modernity (1992), Questions of Cultural Identity (1996), and Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (1997), inspired a whole new generation of multicultural academics and advocates.

Paul Stephenson

From Essex. Paul was Bristol’s first black social worker. As an equal rights campaigner he worked for the Commission for Racial Equality and the Press Council to ensure minorities were both working in newspapers and being covered fairly by them.He spent his life leading campaigns to change the way black people were being treated and it is said that his work played a part in Britain’s first Race Relations Act in 1965.

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