Each One Teach One
Black History
In 1990 Justin Fashanu stunned the football world as the first professional footballer to come out as gay. At this time racism and homophobia were endemic in football. Justin’s early years Justinus Soni “Justin” Fashanu was born on 19 February 1961. He was raised in the London area of Hackney, where his Nigerian father was …
The Notting Hill Race riots were the result of a campaign of attacks on the Caribbean residents in a bid to drive them out of their homes and ultimately out of Britain. Much like the 1919 race riots, the growing Black presence in Britain was a major factor in these events. Although dubbed the Notting Hill race …
What is Black Lives Matter? The Black Lives Matter movement officially began in the United States in 2013 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida. The movement grew to protest not just the justice system in America but police brutality against Black people. In 2016 the movement went global …
What is the Windrush scandal? The Windrush scandal mainly affected UK citizens originally from the Caribbean. It came to light in 2018 after it emerged that hundreds of Commonwealth citizens, many of whom were from the Windrush Generation, had been wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights. Who are the Windrush generation? The Windrush Generation …
In February 1965 civil rights campaigner, Malcolm X was in Britain to speak at the London School of Economics. Avtar Singh Jouhl, general secretary of the Indian Workers Association, invited him to speak at Birmingham University and visit Smethwick, a small town in the West Midlands, UK. Smethwick was a hotbed of racial tension. Just …
On Sunday 18 January 1981 a fire broke out in a house in New Cross Road, Deptford, South East London, killing 13 young people and marking a massive change for black people in Britain. Thirteen people died in the New Cross fire and another, committed suicide 18 months later in July 1983, aged 20, having …
Sybil Phoenix is a community leader who has devoted her life to helping other people, especially in Lewisham, the town she made home. Early years She was born Sybil Theodora Marshall on 21 June 1927 in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana). Sybil’s mother died when she was nine, and, as her father worked in the …
Most people believe that black people came to Britain after the Second World War with the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948. But Black people have had a presence in Britain for as far back as Roman times. Even closer in history, there were Blacks in Britain during and after slavery. If white British …
Britain’s 1919 race riots started at the end of the First World War starting with an outbreak of violence in Glasgow in January, race riots happened around the United Kingdom until late in the summer, including in Liverpool, Hull, Cardiff, Salford, Newport and South Shields. There were several outbreaks in the East End of London, …
Charles Wotten was a 24-year-old ship’s fireman from Bermuda who was murdered by an angry white mob during the Liverpool race riots of 1919. What led to Charles Wotten’s murder? Since the 16th century, the Black presence in London and Liverpool had been noticeable but Liverpool’s Black population grew dramatically during the war as Black …
What is Notting Hill Carnival? Notting Hill Carnival is a 3-day annual event that takes place on the streets of Notting Hill during late August bank holiday weekend. It’s a huge tourist attraction and an opportunity for everyone to come together and enjoy music, parades, food and other aspects of black culture. The carnival follows …
Walter Tull was one of Britain’s first black footballers and a First World War hero. Walter Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent on 28 April 1888. His father Daniel Tull, the son of a slave had arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1876 and found work as a carpenter. Daniel Tull married Alice Elizabeth Palmer. …
After the riots in August 2011, David Starkey appeared on Newsnight and ranted about white people becoming black as they spoke the same language as black people. Back then we called him a clueless racist fart (you know how we do when we get tongue-tied). Luckily there are professional people like Paul Kerswill who can teach …
Sarah Forbes Bonetta was the princess, born into the Egbado royal family of south-western Nigeria, who became a favourite of Queen Victoria and a regular visitor to Windsor Castle. Sarah was captured in 1848 during a slave-hunt war by the infamous King Ghezo of Dahomey when she was just eight years old. Her tribe was …
This video details the “Remembering the New Cross Fire” Celebration gathering on the 14 January 2010, at the Albany Theatre in Deptford. On Sunday 18 January 1981 a fire broke out in a house in New Cross South East London killing 13 young people. Another teenager committed suicide shortly after, having been traumatised by the …
