Category: Black History Month

Among his many titles, Andrew Watson was the first black man to play football internationally, the first black man to captain for Scotland, the first black man to win a major Cup competition, the first black man to be appointed as a football administrative, but above all Andrew Watson helped form football as we know it today.

How successful would you say you are in your job right now? Follow the ambition and determination of Dean Forbes who changed his life for the better.

Launched in 2020, Mawa Theatre Company is the first all-Black, all-female theatre company in the UK that focusses on presenting Shakespeare’s work through the eyes of Black British women.

Lilian broke boundaries, not just for women, but also for ethnic minorities across Britain.

The Windrush scandal shook the foundations of Britain. The legacy of trauma and discrimination it has left behind still needs to be addressed and combatted.

In the autumn of 1853, a major military conflict broke out in Europe and spread across the globe, claiming over 600,000 lives along the way.

Meet Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah, better known as Lady Phyll. Born in Islington, London in 1974, the British political activist’s story is one of determination and unity. Her work throughout the years has brought light to the prejudice against LGBTQ+ individuals of ethnic minorities, and she has worked tirelessly to liberate them.

Diane Abbott made history by becoming the first Black woman MP in 1987. Despite facing barriers throughout her career, she’s achieved a lot.

The BBVP (Black British Voices Project), commenced in 2020. It’s the largest ever survey to be conducted with over 10,000 Black Britons from across the UK contributing. This research was a collaborative effort between the University of Cambridge’s Department of Sociology, The Voice Online, and I-Cubed.

Vanessa Kingori MBE, Publishing Director of British Vogue, is the first female publisher in the magazine’s 103-year history.

Boxer Randolph Turpin was born to an English mother and black father in the 1920s in Leamington, UK.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence’s journey to becoming a key figure in the British Civil Rights Movement began with the brutal murder of her son, Stephen Lawrence, in 1993.

Claudia Jones, a journalist and political activist from Trinidad & Tobago, was born in 1915. She relocated to Harlem, New York, with her parents and three sisters when she was nine years old.

John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE was born in Jamaica in 1963 to a Trinidad and Tobago military officer and a Jamaican mother.

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah grew up in Handsworth, Birmingham

Karen Tracey Blackett OBE was raised in Reading and attended the University of Portsmouth as the daughter of first-generation Barbadian immigrants

Dame Sharon Michele White DBE is a British businesswoman. She is the current Chair of the John Lewis Partnership and previously held a variety of roles in the Civil Service.

William Manuel Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth, OJ, DL, widely known as Bill Morris. Is the first black leader of a major British trade union.

Mary Jane Seacole was born in 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica, to James Grant (a Scottish Lieutenant in the British Army and a member of Jamaica’s Free Black Community) and Mrs Grant (a healer who used traditional Caribbean and African herbal medicines).

Sir Steve Rodney McQueen KBE is a British filmmaker and video artist.

Stuart Henry McPhail Hall was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1932 to parents who were of mixed African, Indian, and British ancestry.

Steel pulse are a British reggae roots band from Handsworth, Birmingham

Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain.

Kadeena Cox, MBE, is a British parasport athlete and TV personality.

Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah, also known as ‘Lady Phyll’, is a British political activist and the co-founder of the UK Black Pride.

Rachel Elizabeth “Betty” Campbell MBE was Wales’ first black headteacher and a well-known community activist.

Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson is an actress, screenwriter, director, producer, and singer from East London.

Idrissa “Idris” Akuna Elba OBE is an actor, director, producer, and musician from Britain.

Olive Morris – Graduate, activist, founder and published writer.

Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., professionally known as ‘Stormzy’, is a British rapper from Croydon, London

David Thomas Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist. He was the longest-serving Black MP in the House of Commons.

Manchester United’s forward (Marcus Rashford) is single-handedly changing the nation both on and off the pitch.