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 …
Black in Europe
Remembering the 13 young people killed in a fire in New Cross
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 blaze and another, committed suicide 18 months later in July 1983, aged 20, having been traumatised …
Sybil Phoenix OBE – community leader
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 …
The life of Francis Barber
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 …
UK – 1919 race riots
The 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 UK 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, in …
UK race riots – The murder of Charles Wotten
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 …
History of Notting Hill Carnival
In August 2020, national treasure, Adele got herself into hot water when she posted a picture on her social media channels, in honour of Notting Hill Carnival. The hot water was thrown from Black American Twitter, who screamed cultural appropriation because Adele had styled her hair in Bantu knots (a traditional African hairstyle) and sported …
Walter Tull: First British-born black army officer
Walter Tull was one of Britain’s first black footballers and a First World War hero. Walter Tull was born in Folkestone on 28th April 1888. His father Daniel Tull, the son of a slave had arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1976 and found work as a carpenter. Daniel Tull married Alice Elizabeth Palmer. Over …
Princess Sara Forbes-Bonetta-Davies
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 …