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Week 4 Quiz

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What does "white anti-racist" mean? How can guilt get in the way? And what's all this talk about being "colorblind"? Learning for Justice, then Teaching Tolerance, asked community activists to share their thoughts on these questions, and others. Their answers shine light on the concepts of comfort, power, privilege and identity.

Perspective:

This Q & A delves into the "finer lines" of white anti-racism and should be used with older students and adults.

The Participants:

Diane Flinn, a white woman and managing partner of Diversity Matters.

Georgette Norman, an African American woman and director of the Rosa Parks Library and Museum

Sejal Patel, a South Asian American woman and community organizer in South Asian immigrant communities

Yvette Robles, a Chicana and Community Relations Manager in Los Angeles

What does "white anti-racist" mean to you?

Diane: I associate this terminology with action and behavior more than an identity or subject position. Anti-racist, for me, is more indicative of a process of coming to a healthy and functioning sense of a white racial identity.

One of the functions and privileges of racism is that white people don't, as a whole, carry race as an identity -- you get to be individual, you get to be "yourself," you get to be the norm, you get to be whole and not partial or hyphenated. You do not have to make "adjustments" or "modifications" to know or name yourself.

I also think my discomfort [with the term anti-racist] is fueled by it being based on what I am not. It is the proverbial "I'm not a racist" disclaimer used by whites to separate themselves from the realities of racism and race-based privilege.

What are common mistakes white activists make when trying to be allies to people of color?

Yvette: Not acknowledging that they have power and privilege by the mere fact that they are white. That is not to say that other parts of their identity can't lead them to feel powerless, for example, being white and gay, or being white and working class. Another mistake I see is when white activists try to emulate a different culture by changing how they act, their speech or style of dress. It's one thing to appreciate someone else's culture; it's quite another to adopt it.

Georgette: The most common mistakes white activists make are 1) setting an agenda with the illusion of inclusion, and 2) having to have a franchise on comfort. God forbid a person of color says or does anything to make white activists feel uncomfortable. That means there can be no discussion of race and no challenge to their privilege, which means no challenge to their power.

Sejal: White anti-racists make a mistake when they shut out the poor and uneducated and keep in those "in the know" to decide what's good for people of color. No movement can work where there is divisiveness.

Also, if people of color want to have their own space and place in certain aspects of society -- say for a weekend or a month -- they shouldn't have to feel like they are being exclusive for doing this. White activists need to understand that society is their space and place every single day, and they shouldn't feel threatened or left out.

When attempting to be allies to people of color, is there a point when white people "get it" (and what does "getting it" mean)?

Sejal: "Getting it" is the biggest point, I feel. Getting it means many things: the ability for white activists to understand that they have a space and place of privilege. It really is up to white people to give up their privilege and be okay with that. Giving it up will make white people truly sensitive to the issues of racism, classism, sexism and homophobia.

White activists need to understand that they can't completely understand or "get" the experience of a person of color. They should trust that their allies, people of color, are not being too sensitive or complaining. Everyone, especially U.S. citizens, has some sort of privilege in their lives, and, as a person of color, I make sure that people have space to express themselves in a way they feel is right. I need to trust that my white allies will do the same for me when I need it.

Diane: I believe that white allies can "get it" if we define "getting it" as becoming attuned to the subtle effects of racial bias in everyday interactions and environments. We can "get it" if we recognize the systemic presence of racism and how race-based oppression is allowed to continue. If we identify and own racial privilege and, as white people, have our own experiences of exclusion so we can authentically empathize, then we are "getting it." We "get it" when we value equity, human rights and social justice.

How would you describe the stages of becoming a white anti-racist/ally?

Sejal: 1) Realize the meanings behind privilege, racism and whiteness. 2) Look within before you look outward. How do you relate to the definitions? Pinpoint the ways in which you experience privilege as a white person. 3) Look outward, find out the historical, global and social patterns of the effects of racism and other forms of oppression. 4) Act. Realize that you want to do something about this system, and come at it with a sensitivity and understanding that you come from a privileged background whether you like it or not.

How does guilt affect white anti-racism?

Diane: Guilt allows white people to maintain the status quo. Guilt creates paralysis. Guilt transfers the responsibility to people of color. Guilt continues the aspect of racism wherein white people put people of color in a situation of taking care of us.

By saying, "I feel so guilty, so bad," it puts the other person in a position of comforting. The other person is then silenced, must reposition or restate their truth. Or worse -- maintain their truth and risk being viewed as mean, insensitive and angry.

Guilt is where most white people get stuck. Guilt is the ultimate obstacle in the personal journey to being a white ally.

How can white privilege get in the way?

Georgette: Privilege and power perpetuate and maintain the hierarchy in our society. It defines 'being' by virtue of skin color. It also defines the kind of relationship you have or are allowed to have and with whom. While many white activists won't admit it, a black person would only have to call them on any issue, and they will promptly remind you of your place and your guest status at the table.

The question, then, becomes how does one get knowledge and access to that power? How does one rise above powerlessness and dependency? Self-determination is one component, but equally important is for white people to yield access to power.

Diane: It is challenging to recognize how my way of doing things and the rules of conduct that I understand are informed by privilege.

Privilege, by its very nature, will "get in the way" as white people move toward and work as allies.

Unfortunately, the more a white person works through his or her whiteness and toward being an ally, the more difficult it becomes to self-identify privilege. You usually can't see it when you are in it; in other words, do fish know they're wet?

What do you think of the concept of being "colorblind"?

Yvette: I hate it. While I think I get the "intention" behind the comment, the reality, when applied, is that a whole segment of the community -- people of color -- are disregarded. When I hear that we should strive for a colorblind society, I hear that we should all adopt to one norm, which may be the most familiar or comfortable for American culture. American culture in the U.S., in my opinion, translates directly to white mainstream culture.

There is no room for diversity in that statement. As a person of color, a Latina, a woman, it means that I need to let go of all that makes me who I am in order to blend into what is acceptable. A colorblind society reminds me of the melting pot theory. I would rather be a part of a "tossed salad," where all different types of people can coexist and live together while maintaining their own personal identities.

Diane: To be "colorblind" implies the invisibility of race, something we all know to not be invisible. My experience of the world is informed by being white; other people experience and interact with me informed by my whiteness so, for me, colorblindness feels like an erasure. To be colorblind is to not see my family, where we come from, our history, and our ways of being. "Colorblind" avoids difference rather than recognizing and valuing it. I do not see how a white activist can be an ally from a position of colorblindness. I understand that many people use this term to challenge racial stereotyping, to not see people "as" their color and the associated racial stereotypes, but it functions as assimilation. If we become "colorblind," than to which worlds and ways of being are we being blinded? What are we not "seeing?" And in which "hue" will we be operating?

Georgette: I personally find it offensive. The largest organ I have is skin, which happens to be brown and rather than accept it, some who call themselves allies want to be blind to it.

Sejal: Of course we have differences and its okay. Let's be realistic -- as much as it would be nice to have a colorblind society, that's not the way it is given our historical landscape. That's not the way we are socialized to think.

Discussion Questions

Diane says: "Anti-racist, for me, is more indicative of a process of coming to a healthy and functioning sense of a white racial identity." Why is the word "functioning" important?

Sejal says: "If people of color want to have their own space and place in certain aspects of society -- say for a weekend or a month -- they shouldn't have to feel like they are being exclusive for doing this." Why might people of color sometimes want their "own" spaces? Are there ever instances when white people should do anti-racist work in isolation? Why?

Guilt and white privilege, these activists say, can sometimes get in the way of white people being effective allies in the struggle against racism. What qualities or actions can help white people be effective allies?

The activists all reject the idea of "colorblindness." Many people contribute the "goal" of colorblindness to a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Was Dr. King advocating that people ignore color? Ignore racism? Why?

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What does "white anti-racist" mean? How can guilt get in the way? And what's all this talk about being "colorblind"? Learning for Justice, then Teaching Tolerance, asked community activists to share their thoughts on these questions, and others. Their answers shine light on the concepts of comfort, power, privilege and identity.

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Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist

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Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist

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So what is a racist idea? A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way. Racist ideas argue that the inferiorities and superiorities of racial groups explain racial inequities in society. As Thomas Jefferson suspected a decade after declaring White American independence: "The blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind."

An antiracist idea is any idea that suggests the racial groups are equals in all their apparent differences-that there is nothing right or wrong with any racial group. Antiracist ideas argue that racist policies are the cause of racial inequities.

Understanding the differences between racist policies and antiracist policies, between racist ideas and antiracist ideas, allows us to return to our fundamental definitions. Racism is a powerful collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity and are substantiated by racist ideas. Antiracism is a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas.

Once we have a solid definition of racism and antiracism, we can start to make sense of the racialized world around us, before us. My maternal grandparents, Mary Ann and Alvin, moved their family to New York City in the 1950s on the final leg of the Great Migration, happy to get their children away from violent Georgia segregationists and the work of picking cotton under the increasingly hot Georgia sun.

To think, they were also moving their family away from the effects of climate change. Do-nothing climate policy is racist policy, since the predominantly non-White global south is being victimized by climate change more than the Whiter global north, even as the Whiter global north is contributing more to its acceleration.

Land is sinking and temperatures are rising from Florida to Bangladesh. Droughts and food scarcity are ravishing bodies in Eastern and Southern Africa, a region already containing 25 percent of the world's malnourished population. Human-made environmental catastrophes disproportionately harming bodies of color are not unusual; for instance, nearly four thousand U.S. areas-mostly poor and non-White-have higher lead poisoning rates than Flint, Michigan.

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Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist

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So what is a racist idea? A racist idea is any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way. Racist ideas argue that the inferiorities and superiorities of racial groups explain racial inequities in society.

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Anti-racism requires more than passive sympathy

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Anti-racism requires more than passive sympathy

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"To be neutral, to be passive in a situation," the historian Howard Zinn tells us, "is to collaborate with whatever is going on." If the history of black political struggle in the US - something Zinn, a white ex-soldier, actively participated in - teaches us one thing, it is that meaningful political change happens not just when black and brown people take a stand against racism, but when the wider society moves from being neutral to becoming actively anti-racist.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the most formidable organisations in the fight for civil rights. It understood that change occurs when people are moved to action. Students in northern US universities, although sympathetic to the plight of black southerners, remained passive supporters, so the SNCC organised "freedom buses" for students to come and act as observers.

These students witnessed lynchings, attack dogs mauling protesters and fire hoses dislocating bones, and they transformed into active anti-racists. Enraged by what they had witnessed, these students wrote home to their parents, often passive opponents of the "riotous" civil rights protesters. On hearing of the injustices first-hand and in their children's voices, many thousands became aligned to the cause, and the entire political climate shifted in relation to the demands of southern freedom movements.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, we have statements of solidarity from politicians, corporations and even police forces, but these are mere gestures. To be anti-racist means to involve yourself directly in the movement to end racism, to take action. The first step toward becoming an anti-racist is reckoning with the fact that racism is systemic. As the scholar and activist Angela Davis remarks: "There is an unbroken line of police violence in the US that takes us all the way back to the days of slavery." Race, as the Australian scholar Patrick Wolfe put it, is a "trace of history", a tradition travelling through several hundred years and in part facilitating the birthing of the global north and global south.

The categorisations of race facilitated colonial conquests, enslavement and exploitative labour regimes - all engines of capitalism. Today, the political-economic setup of the global economy rests on the availability of a cheap, informal labour force, imperialist warfare, extractivism, the mass incarceration of racialised people and mind-blowing inequalities in educational attainment, wages, housing and healthcare. This deep entanglement of accumulation, dispossession and violence is what is meant by the term "racial capitalism". For example, in 2016 the Byron burger chain was happily employing migrant staff, some of whom worked 50 hours a week on minimum wage, until it facilitated a Home Office raid to have them deported. Staff reported that Byron entrapped them in a fake-meeting-cum-sting-operation. Racism and capitalism are inseparable.

For these reasons, nearly all anti-racist mass movements worth their salt have recited tirelessly: ending racism, root and branch, would mean ending a global economic order predicated upon it. Anti-racism is anti-capitalist, and vice versa. There are no two ways around it. To be an anti-racist must demand a complete rejection of business as usual. An end to racism demands transformation of the global political-economic setup. This would mean paying workers fair wages across supply chains and ending the ethnicity pay gap, which flies in the face of the primary corporate objective of profit.

So how can you go from being a passive non-racist to an active anti-racist? Anti-racism is the fight to build a mass-participating anti-racist movement in the workplace, the street and the community. Beyond a protest, a donation, a social media post and a difficult conversation, there's work to be done in tackling the many day-to-day issues underscored by racism. Learning is an essential part of this journey, so make a reading/listening/watching list and include the autobiography of Assata Shakur, of Malcolm X, of Claudia Jones, of Rosa Luxemburg, of Audre Lorde. Explore not just the imperial legacy of Britain and the US, but also the leaders who fought back, from Maurice Bishop to Amilcar Cabral to Thomas Sankara.

Tackling racism requires material changes in the lives of poor black and brown people. Material changes require us to make movements from moments: this is a huge political moment, now we must build a huge political movement. We must all become anti-racist activists, black, white, brown - all of us. As activists we need to work together, outside the state agencies, which are some of the principal purveyors of systemic racism, to meet the needs of black and brown communities in Britain.

Black and brown people are four times more likely to die from coronavirus than white people. Being an anti-racist activist means first of all taking up the fight for improved healthcare provisions and protective work equipment in these communities. Black and brown people are massively overrepresented in coronavirus-related searches, arrests and fines. To be an anti-racist means to fight against the sweeping new range of policing powers being used disproportionately against working-class racialised communities.

Criminalisation, gentrification, the "hostile environment", the closing of local public services: these are all arenas of anti-racist activism. So, find your local anti-racist organisation; if it doesn't exist then set it up. Every youth club, every school staying in the local authority, every saved estate, every anti-deportation and anti-raids group, every local police-monitoring group, will make concrete differences in improving the lives of racialised communities. When enough of these groups exist, are connected and can show solidarity with each other across cities and towns, then, and only then, will we begin to make inroads into tackling systemic racism.

Joshua Virasami is an organiser and artist whose book How To Change It is published on 3 September
Topics

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Anti-racism requires more than passive sympathy | Joshua Virasami

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"To be neutral, to be passive in a situation," the historian Howard Zinn tells us, "is to collaborate with whatever is going on."

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Not-racist v anti-racist: what’s the difference?

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Not-racist v anti-racist: what’s the difference?

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John Amaechi is a psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author and a former NBA basketball player. In the wake of the George Floyd killing and the Black Lives Matter protests, and at a time when many people want to learn how they can be better allies for black people, we asked John what it means to be anti-racist.

There's a big difference between being not-racist and being anti-racist. I know it doesn't seem like it. I know that both of these things seem equally good, but they're not.

Video Transcript Video Transcript

John: There's a big difference between being not-racist and being anti-racist. I know it doesn't seem like it. I know that both of these things seem equally good, but they're not. Think of an interaction. I'm afraid you've probably had one right? With somebody, maybe even somebody you respect, maybe even someone you love, who says something that's racist, does something that's racist, behaves in a way that's racist. Someone who's not-racist: they won't say or do anything in that moment. They want to not rock the boat. They don't want to be upstanding. Instead, not-racists: they tend to be bystanders. But afterwards, after the event, they'll find other people who are also not-racist and they'll talk to each other about, well, that was terrible, that thing that happened the other day. I would never say anything like that. Anti-racists are different and they come in all shapes and sizes. They come in all ages. Anti-racists are constantly looking around to say, what tools do I have available to make it clear that this is not acceptable? And this, this is what anti-racists do. It's not that they stand up at the dinner table when their uncle's a little bit racist and kick the turkey off. That's not it. But what they do is they say, I'm sorry uncle John. That's not acceptable. That's racist. Quietly and respectfully. What they do is they make sure that they never miss an opportunity to let the world know where they stand, even if they can t change everything. You're probably in a position where other people have a lot more power around you. I know how that feels. Sometimes, we sit and we look around us and we think, how can I possibly change all this? And sometimes you can't. But what you can do is make sure wherever you go, people know where you stand. They know that you're an anti-racist. You become a beacon of light that way. You become someone who makes other people want to be anti-racist too. You've got tools at your disposal. Learn. Read. And make everybody clear where you stand.

Sometimes, we sit and we look around us and we think, 'how can I possibly change all this?' And sometimes you can't. But what you can do is make sure wherever you go, people know where you stand. They know that you're an anti-racist. You become a beacon of light that way. You become someone who makes other people want to be anti-racist too. You've got tools at your disposal. Learn. Read. And make everybody clear where you stand.

If you need support

You should always tell someone about the things you're worried about. You can tell a friend, parent, guardian, teacher, or another trusted adult. If you're struggling with your mental health, going to your GP can be a good place to start to find help. Your GP can let you know what support is available to you, suggest different types of treatment and offer regular check-ups to see how you're doing.

If you're in need of in-the-moment support you can contact Childline, where you can speak to a counsellor. Their lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There are more links to helpful organisations on BBC Action Line.

It's important that you keep yourself safe when confronting racism. For support and advice, see the articles below.

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Not-racist v anti-racist: what's the difference?

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John Amaechi describes the difference between being not-racist and anti-racist.

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Week 3 Quiz

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Alison Hammond travels across the country and back in time on an historical journey to discover some of the black figures who have been hidden from Britain's history.

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Alison Hammond: Back to School - Tuesday 6 Oct 9pm

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Alison Hammond discovers some of the black figures hidden from Britain's history. ITV Hub - the home of ITV on demand and live TV.

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UK passport photo checker shows bias against dark-skinned women

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UK passport photo checker shows bias against dark-skinned women

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UK passport photo checker shows bias against dark-skinned women

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Website flagged twice as many dark-skinned women’s photos as those from light-skinned men in BBC test.

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MHFA England - Guidance on supporting People of Colour and Black colleagues

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MHFA England - Guidance on supporting People of Colour and Black colleagues

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To recognise World Mental Health Day (10th October) this document provides guidance on supporting Black colleagues

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The challenges faced by Black LBGTQ+ individuals can have an adverse effect on their mental health. MIND provides some insights into how we can support (Black) LGBTQ+ colleagues

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Week 2 quiz

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Detective Sergeant Janet Hills     London Police Force

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Michael is a former Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was responsible for the inspection of the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office, reporting directly to the Attorney General.

He is a former police officer and served as the Chief Constable of Kent Police from January 2004 until March 2010. When he retired, Kent Police was designated by the Police Inspectorate as 1 of 5 most improved police forces within England and Wales.

He was instrumental in setting up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force and drew up the Metropolitan Police action plan in response to criticism arising from the Macpherson Inquiry. Michael set up and commanded Operation Trident which successfully reduced gun crime in London. He also supervised numerous murder investigations whilst in command of the Met's West Area Serious Crime Group.

Michael retired from the police in April 2010 after 34 years to take up the position as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service. He is the holder of the Queens Police Medal (QPM) for distinguished police service. Michael qualified as a barrister whilst serving as a chief constable and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in July 2007.

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Michael is a former Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was responsible for the inspection of the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office, reporting directly to the Attorney General. He is a former police officer and served as the Chief Constable of Kent Police from January 2004 until March 2010.

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Jacky joined HMRC in October 2017 from a private sector background. Jacky is well known in the industry as a senior executive who is a transformational global leader and innovative technologist. She is passionate about the impact innovation can have in truly transforming services for people and businesses in a positive way and is proud to represent women and BAME in technology.

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Jacky joined HMRC in October 2017 from a private sector background. Jacky is well known in the industry as a senior executive who is a transformational global leader and innovative technologist. She is passionate about the impact innovation can have in truly transforming services for people and businesses in a positive way and is proud to represent women and BAME in technology.

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The prospect of interviewing the formidable Martin Forde QC, the Independent Adviser to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, an expert in health law and a Recorder in the Crown court, leaves me with slight anxiety. As I wait in chambers, I can't help but reflect on my engrained deference to elders and how it might affect my interactions with senior black barristers. But when Martin arrives, in a flat cap, jeans and a black wool coat with leather sleeves, I realise I needn't have worried. His warm smile immediately puts me at ease.

People came to rebuild the Mother Country and were prepared to do the jobs that the British people would not do. They didn't come as competition; they came because they [had] a feeling of connection.

Martin grew up in Langley, Berkshire to a Barbadian father and St Lucian mother, both of whom moved to the UK from the Caribbean in the 1950s. His father had set his heart on coming to England at a young age. 'They were told in no uncertain terms that they were very much part of the British Empire. My father was born in a place called Spooner's Hill in Barbados but was brought up to think he was as British as if he'd been born in Forest Hill [in London],' explains Martin.

He recalls that his father, as a printer's apprentice in Barbados, was paid in pounds, shillings and pence. His grandfather used to bet on the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race which was annually broadcast there. '[People were] rattling tins to contribute to the British Second World War effort... Poor as they were, the West Indian countries raised today's equivalent of about £43 million... [They were] completely and utterly brainwashed into feeling that they were British.'

However, the reality upon arrival to the UK was a rude awakening. They were greeted with hostile comments on the street, unnecessary stop and searches and were unable to rent rooms. Why was this? As part of his research into Windrush, Martin discovered through Parliamentary debates that, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the political classes were keen to alienate the working-class white public from the migrant public by making them feel fearful and economically challenged. He believes that the welcoming population were not told why people had migrated: 'People came to rebuild the Mother Country and were prepared to do the jobs that the British people would not do. They didn't come as competition; they came because they [had] a feeling of connection.'

The Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex in June 1948, bringing one of the first large groups of post-war West-Indian migrants to the UK. They had answered the call to help rebuild the economy and work in sectors including manufacturing, public transport and the NHS. 802 of the 1,027 passengers aboard gave their last place of residence as a country in the Caribbean. The British Nationality Act 1948 conferred the status of British citizen on all Commonwealth subjects and recognised their right to work and settle in the UK.

He reads out a letter dated July 1973, when his parents had applied to UK passport facilities. The letter stated that they had ceased to be citizens of the UK when Barbados had obtained independence on 30 November 1966 and that, consequently, they were no longer entitled to UK passports. 'I mean, that's just outrageous. By that time, [my father had] been here for 20 years, done two years' national service and paid national insurance and tax for 20 years. My mum had worked for about five years before I was born and then went back to teaching the year before that letter was written. They were told they were no longer citizens of this country and that, in a sense, is what lies behind the whole Windrush controversy.'

'One of the things that's horrified me in the Windrush scandal has been the lack of obligation this country feels to those citizens. I feel this quite strongly, given that we were enslaved, taken from Africa to the Caribbean and basically provided free labour for hundreds of years which enabled the industrial revolution, and the building of most stately homes and magnificent buildings in this country. No special obligation is felt to their generation because of what happened to our ancestors.'

Why does he think this is the case? 'I think it's possibly because of the way in which British colonial history is written. It's all about the achievements of the British; their civilising influence; their creation of infrastructure and civil service. What's rather swept under the carpet is the downside of colonialism; the cheap labour; the fact that it's cost the British taxpayer so much money to repay the slave owners through the Abolition of Slavery Bill, which was finally paid off in 2015.'

I've been particularly struck by the number of NHS staff who have died as a result of coronavirus, including so many from migrant backgrounds.

Martin suggests that there needs to be a change in attitude to migration, pointing out that migrants are net contributors to the economy in fiscal terms and how the NHS would grind to a halt without their labour. The UK is still recruiting nurses from overseas due to shortages and there are a large number of African, Caribbean and Eastern European women working in care homes. 'There isn't sufficient appreciation of the roles of these people. And then there's almost a resentment when they settle and have families. It feels a little bit like: ' 'We want your labour, but we don't really want you and we certainly don't want your extended families going forward. '''

A group of protesters mark the first official Windrush Day on 22 June 2019.

Given that our interview took place before coronavirus took hold and the lockdown began, I contact Martin again to ask about the effects of COVID-19 on NHS staff: 'I've been particularly struck by the number of NHS staff who have died as a result of coronavirus, including so many from migrant backgrounds,' he says. 'This is hardly surprising when something like 18% of our nurses and 29% of our doctors are foreign nationals according to figures released last year by the Office for National Statistics and of course many also work in the private sector including care homes and social care.' The gov.uk website shows the number of non-white medical staff in the NHS amounts to 44.3%, many of whom are likely to have some form of migration in their ancestry. These points reinforce the need to change the attitude to migration.

He also blames the UK media for its role in the depiction of immigration: 'I think the other difficulty we face is that the press seems obsessed with presenting only the negative side of a black presence in this country. There's lots about knife crime. It's okay if you're an entertainer, a singer, rapper or athlete. Then you're very British, very much absorbed.' He sees no such focus on black intellect and academic achievement. Therefore, those who do not interact with migrant communities get their understanding of the black community from the media, which is a very distorted view.

I ask how he feels this negative portrayal plays out at the Bar and whether it has affected his own practice: 'I do think there is a little bit of stereotyping going on around how we are perceived as pure intellectuals. I don't think we benefit from those from conventional backgrounds crediting us with any, or even equal, intellectual ability. In my very early days when I did crime, and once I managed to persuade people that I wasn't a well-dressed defendant, they would sometimes take me seriously. As an advocate generally, I have been reticent about telling a judge from a conventional background that they're wrong. But I've noticed that my white counterpart has no such qualms. It just feels as if, coming from me, it would sound more challenging. So I try to be more persuasive rather than confrontational, in the way that I think some of my peers might get away with.'

Before my interview, she warned the panel: 'Mr Forde is black, but he's very nice.'

He states that there have been instances where his white counterparts were surprised when the judge seemed to like him and not them. 'That can sometimes be because if one is conspicuous, the judges remember you. They remember you if you've done a competent job as well. Sometimes I feel I'm being given greater credit than perhaps I deserve - but that might be because the initial expectations when I started were lower than they should have been.'

This prejudice was also apparent upon his graduation when he began the interview rounds: '[My name] is very white sounding on paper. I went to a grammar school, I got a place at Brasenose College Oxford... I had references from the Principal of my college who wrote the leading Roman Law textbook [and other prominent lawyers]. And there was genuine shock when I walked through the door for the interview. At one of my interviews, the receptionist asked me if I wanted a coffee. I offered to make her one as she was quite busy. Apparently, before my interview she warned the panel: "Mr Forde is black, but he's very nice.' ''

I ask Martin if, as a minority, he feels like he is representing all black barristers when he is doing his job. 'I think I have a responsibility which includes that. And I don't think it changes the way I practise but I try to observe the highest ethical standards. I try to be absolutely transparent on disclosure. I am very conscious of performing well and preparing conscientiously. I would like to think that there are many of us of my generation who feel or have felt a similar obligation.'

I want to know whether he thinks that there are any particular traits that make ethnic minority barristers particularly good at their work. He cites a couple of examples: having an appreciation of what it is like not to be believed; and recognising assumptions made about you. 'I still get followed around certain types of shops. If I'm going Christmas shopping for a Tiffany bracelet or charm for my daughter, I'll visit Sloane Square. If I'm not in a suit, quite often I'll be followed around by the - ironically - black security guard.' Knowing what it's like to be underestimated is another example: 'It gives you humility when you are doubted or questioned. The upside may be that it raises your own personal standards and empathy is important.'

Martin currently sits as a Recorder in crime and suggests that being a black judge can assist in cases. 'I had an assault in a petrol station involving three, as they call us, IC3s. There was a huge complexion variation between the three young men involved. Nobody was dealing with it. And it struck me that the description that the aggrieved had given was of somebody who was probably mixed heritage or very fair skinned Afro-Caribbean and the defendant was much, much darker and shorter. By asking him to contrast his skin tone and height with mine in front of the jury, we established that it was arguable that the description of the perpetrator did not match the defendant. The defendant was acquitted. Nobody else in the case was prepared to go there as there was a sensitivity about it, which I do understand. But it struck me as being very important where the issue was identification.'

Martin Forde QC, Independent Adviser to the Windrush Compensation Scheme and a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row, is pictured at a Windrush event. Martin has recently been appointed by Labour's National Executive Committee to head the inquiry investigating the leak of a report to the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding alleged anti-Semitism in the Party.

In 2018, Martin began advising on the Windrush Compensation Scheme set up by the Home Office to provide compensation to those who had suffered loss because they could not demonstrate their right to lawfully live in the UK.

I ask how the Windrush Scandal happened. 'Some people felt it was a deliberate tactic to reduce black migration because it affected the black Commonwealth more than the white Commonwealth,' he says. 'I think that the intention was to make life difficult for illegal immigrants. However, I haven't uncovered anything that suggests it was deliberately targeted at the African and Afro-Caribbean populations.'

Martin suggests that the difficulties in proving status, the burden on the individual to provide evidence, and a lack of questioning by the Home Office were important issues surrounding Windrush: 'There was a tendency to be very formulaic in the approach to people who couldn't prove their status... The onus should have been put on the government to prove they had no right to stay. There's a cultural shift needed - if in doubt they remain, rather than if in doubt they get deported... One of the first things I asked when I was approached about helping design the compensation scheme was: what kind of person walks into the home of a 75-year-old black grandmother and says, because you're on my list and despite the protestations of your children who were born here, and your grandchildren who were born here, you're going to be put on a plane or put in detention with no questions asked. I think that's where things went very badly wrong.'

Checks of documents in other government departments could have proved an individual's longstanding stay: GP records; National Insurance and tax records; birth, marriage and death certificates; benefits records and even criminal records. 'Just the paraphernalia of life which could have demonstrated that these individuals had not magically at the age of 65 or 70 decided they were going to come here and overstay.'

Through the consultation, the Scheme identified around 12-13 themes emerging on the types of loss suffered, such as deportation and detention, loss of employment, housing, benefits, bank accounts and lack of access to university as a UK student. He points out that individuals could be entitled to multiple heads of loss which makes it a hybrid scheme. 'If you were deported for five years, in addition to claiming money for the deportation itself, you would also be able to claim for five years' loss of earnings, five years' loss of benefits and housing. If you returned to this country, you could also claim for payments for the time it takes for you to regain social housing.'

There is a lower threshold for payments through the scheme as a result of political promises. That's the kind of thing I would like publicised.

Martin's background helped him to recognise the inter-generational dependence people have. 'The scheme is designed for claims to be inherited where people have unfortunately passed away.' He believes that certain areas of the scheme are more generous than a court would award, using the award for distress and anxiety as an example. 'Those aren't claims known to the law - you have to have a recognised psychological or psychiatric damage - so there is a lower threshold for payments through the scheme as a result of political promises. That's the kind of thing I would like publicised.' He also highlights that there is an appeal process, with two rights of review.

I ask Martin whether he thinks that the fact that the scheme was set up by the Home Office puts people off from bringing claims. 'It's something I raised right at the beginning; whether the Home Office should be administering the scheme at all because people see them as marking their own homework. Secondly, if you're responsible for border control and deportation, that can discourage people from coming forward because the community are concerned that if they come for compensation, their details could then be passed on to border enforcement.' He was assured that it is all ringfenced. 'That's another message that needs to be made, as I think there is genuine fear still within the affected community.'

An advantage in the Home Office being in charge is the avoidance of delay in creating the scheme. 'This is a big logistical operation... I'm sure no other government department would want to take on that cost. Apparently, it's cost about £3 million to set up a dedicated service.' He believes that changes to legal aid would have been ideal as they would have allowed claimants to go to a solicitor. However, he notes that the caseworkers have been creative in their approach; by asking claimants questions about themselves and their family to ensure they can access multiple heads of claim. They have also helped over 1,000 people to get their benefits reinstated.

I note that the Scheme is not restricted to those from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, which pleases me as my grandmother came to the UK from Kenya in 1963. 'It is much more widespread than the Afro-Caribbean population... and I'd quite like a bit more of a publicity drive to emphasise that.' He also noted that Windrush was a convenient term used by the media and that it has caused some confusion, even within the Afro-Caribbean population. 'I've had people ask me if you had to be on the Windrush in 1948 to make a claim, which would probably mean you are in your early 90s.'

Windrush was a convenient term used by the media and that has caused some confusion, even within the Afro-Caribbean population.

I ask Martin for his views on citizenship; whether he sees it as a right or a privilege. 'I'm veering towards a right,' he says. He uses the deportation of those with criminal records as an example. 'I think that if you came here at five and you commit a crime at 35 and you have three children under the age of 10, you're a British criminal. I don't think you're a Jamaican or Nigerian criminal. You have no memory of that place. You've got no connections. You weren't at school there. You've built your family and your relationships here. I'm not proud of you as you've got a criminal record. But I think it's disastrous to repatriate you away from your family, friends and support network with no source of income and no properly established welfare state... You'll stick out like a sore thumb. You will not integrate... What's the most likely thing for them to do? To be destitute?' He also believes that 'exporting our criminality to other countries is not a fair or proper thing to do'.

What does it mean to feel British? 'I never feel more British than when I'm in the Caribbean.' He lists his accent, ignorance of local customs and 'absolute insistence that I get fried plantain for breakfast every morning' as reasons. 'I sometimes feel in a state of limbo: am I Caribbean or am I British?' He feels the British sense of fairness and fair play. However, he sometimes gets reminders that he looks different, including in court. 'I once had court staff ask, "Can I help you?" and I've said, "I'd like to go to Chamber 14." They asked, "Well, what do you want to know that for, mate?" And I said, "Because I'm the judge.'' '

From time to time, he is treated differently from white people. 'I know that my white British counterpart would not be called "mate" by a security guard. It doesn't bother me that I'm not called "sir". But it would be nice to feel an equal status in their eyes.' He recalls dining at Middle Temple in his early days at the Bar. 'I was dying for the toilet. I hadn't appreciated that you had to wait for the Loyal Toast for the Queen so I got up, went to the loo, came back and found my entrance barred by one of the Middle Temple stewards. He said, "You're not supposed to leave the table before the Loyal Toast." I apologised and explained the situation. He looked at me and he said, "Well she might not be your Queen but she's our Queen." And I said, "I think you'll find she's the Queen of Slough!'' '
On 6 February 2020 Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that the Scheme, launched on 3 April 2019, would be extended by a further two years to April 2023 to allow more time to make a claim. Statistics published on 27 February 2020 showed that 1,108 claims had been received; and £67,723 paid out for 36 claims (Q2-4 2019). These paid claims in fact fall into two categories: repayment of wrongly charged fees; and interim payments of fees pending calculation of more valuable heads of loss, and should not be taken as an indication of an average pay-out figure. At the time of writing, one six figure claim had been offered and accepted. The two-stage appeals process comprises a first tier internal review and if still dissatisfied the claimant can ask for a review by the Independent Adjudicator who is entirely independent of the Home Office.

So, does Martin feel British? 'Some of the time, I think is probably the answer.'

*

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Righting wrongs: interview with Martin Forde QC

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The prospect of interviewing the formidable Martin Forde QC, the Independent Adviser to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, an expert in health law and a Recorder in the Crown court, leaves me with slight anxiety. As I wait in chambers, I can't help but reflect on my engrained deference to elders and how it might affect my interactions with senior black barristers.

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New Year Honours: Former Ofcom head Sharon White becomes dame

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Sharon White is recognised on the honours list for her public service at the telecoms regulator Ofcom.

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Diversity and Inclusion Leaders Race at Work Summit 2020

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Position:

Head of Embedding Culture Change
Company:
Department for Education

Bio:

Rob was born in Paddington, London and grew up in the London Borough of Brent. He joined the Ministry of Justice [then Lord Chancellors Department] in Oct 1983 - starting at Willesden County Court in North London.
Rob progressed to Deputy Court Manager before joining the South Eastern Circuit I.T. Team. In 1998 Rob landed his dream job with Corporate HR as a Development Trainer. Rob studied at the Civil Service College for two years, gaining a Certificate in Training Practice [CTP] and is now a member of CIPD.

Rob was a founding member of the MoJ's BAME Staff network in 2001, namely P.R.O.U.D. Later in that same year, Rob became the first elected Chair of the Civil Service Race Equality Network [CSREN] - known today as CSRF - the Civil Service Race Forum.

Over the past fifteen years Rob has continued his MoJ career in HR. As an original member of the MoJ's Employee Engagement Team, Rob led the design, recruitment and launch of the Engagement Champions Network in 2008. As MoJ's Head of Engagement Networks Rob was responsible for the development of Employee Engagement Champions [EECs] across the MoJ. This pioneering network now boasts over x1000 people across the entire MoJ Family - including; Courts, Tribunals, Prisons and the Legal Aid Agency.|

In the summer of 2015 Rob was invited to lead the MoJ's Diversity & Inclusion Team over the summer as temporary cover for four months. During this period Rob led the delivery of key priorities, including the Department's response to the Civil Service Talent Action Plan and renegotiating contracts with all Diversity Staff Networks.

In April 2016 Rob was included in the 'New View 50' which recognises influential Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals in the public sector https://issuu.com/elevationetworks/docs/nv_final_list
In May 2016 Rob was chosen to lead the MoJ's Race Project - an inward facing programme of work aimed at supporting the MoJ's published Diversity & Inclusion objectives and turning the dial on race equality.
In September 2016 Rob was elected Chair of the Civil Service Race Forum. The Civil Service Race Forum [CSRF] is an umbrella network of BAME Staff Networks across the civil service made up of over 30 Government departments, reaching over 6,000 BAME civil servants working at all levels. Rob ended his one year tenure as Chair of CSRF in January 2018 and continued to support the CSRF Executive Committee as Non-Executive Director [NED] until January 2019. Rob then chaired the MoJ's Diverse Leaders Taskforce in support of the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy until March 2019. After 35yrs at the MoJ, Rob moved to the Department for Education [DfE] in April 2019 to lead the Embedding Culture Change Team on the DfE's Transformation & Digital Directorate.

Rob has been a Trustee with RELATE for eleven years and also volunteers as the Social Media Director with the Reach Society also on Twitter @ReachSociety10.

Rob was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year's Honours list for 'Services to Race Equality in the workplace and the community' and received his gong from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in May 2018. Later in the same year Rob became the inaugural winner of Investing in Ethnicity's Workplace Hero Award in November 2018 before successfully graduating from the Civil Service Future Leaders Scheme in January 2019.
Rob lives with his wife and their two children in Harrow.

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Rob Neil OBE | Diversity and Inclusion Leaders Race at Work Summit 2020

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Rob was born in Paddington, London and grew up in the London Borough of Brent. He joined the Ministry of Justice [then Lord Chancellors Department] in Oct 1983 - starting at Willesden County Court in North London. Rob progressed to Deputy Court Manager before joining the South Eastern Circuit I.T.

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The discrimination and challenges people from BAME backgrounds face has been widely covered. Last year David Lammy MP published his report, concluding that BAME individuals still face bias, including overt discrimination, in parts of the justice system.

Last week, the Prime Minister launched a series of measures to tackle barriers faced by ethnic minorities, after her pioneering Ethnicity Facts and Figures website showed some worrying statistics relating to ethnic minority progression in the workplace. As we approach the 50-year anniversary of the Race Relations Act in a few weeks, these are some very sobering reads.

I'm often asked how I have progressed from an office junior, who didn't go from school to University (I subsequently studied three degrees part-time), to sitting on the Health and Safety Executive's Board, considering the challenges people from my background can encounter.

I joined the Civil Service in January 1991 and my first role at the Cabinet Office was filing. It felt like I had joined a family. I was taken under the wing of colleagues, particularly my first line manger Ian Dougal, who helped me to see the opportunities available to me.

I've been privileged to work with, learn from and be mentored by some of the best minds within the Civil Service. I love the Civil Service and our people.

Nonetheless, I've had to learn how to navigate Whitehall, and our stakeholders, as well as develop skills in different functions. Some will say my progress has been luck - in the most offensive cases, some may even say tokenism - but they would be wrong. I've had knocks like most, but I've used adversity to build resilience, almost adapting my DNA as I go.

Three approaches helped bring out my talents.

Firstly, I ensure I know my subject matter. This is not always easy when one moves from pensions policy to health and safety. I have worked on a personalised methodology, which helps me get up to speed on policies within 90 days.
Secondly, I've kept my options open. I led the Government's national tackling of race inequalities in 2008 and later took on a senior communications role at Department of Work and Pensions. One of the benefits of the Civil Service is the ability to move around departments and roles.

Finally, I try to be myself irrespective of whomever I am dealing with. My background is a hugely important part of who I am and I believe it makes me more successful. I am proud to be of dual heritage: my mother is of Irish immigrant heritage, while my father is part of the Windrush generation, having been born in Jamaica and arrived in the UK in 1954 to attend Boarding school. I've been raised in two villages - Wimbledon village (where I grew up) and the Westminster village, where I became a reluctant BAME public sector leader.

I didn't set out to be in this position, but unwittingly I have. I feel proud and humbled that last year I was named as one of top 50 BAME public sector leaders in the New View 50. In 2009 I was named Civil Servant of the year, my proudest achievement, along with being a trustee at the Stephen Lawrence Centre (where I helped Doreen and Stuart Lawrence raise the funding to build the Centre).

Today, I'm the Civil Service Deputy Race Champion. It's a privilege to have been asked to take on this challenge, but one that I don't take lightly. It is a position of real responsibility, and I'm determined to make a lasting difference. I support Richard Heaton, the Civil Service Race Champion and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice - challenging and pushing departments and networks to raise their game - and sponsor and champion the Civil Service Ethnic Diversity Programme (EDP).

The EDP was established to improve the representation of ethnic minority staff at the most senior levels across the Civil Service and create a sustainable talent pipeline. If we succeed in our ambitions, representation of ethnic minority and disabled staff will be approximately double what it is now by 2025.

I am not complacent and know that this is not an easy challenge when only 12.0% of Civil Servants are from an ethnic minority background, with only 5.2% at Senior Civil Service level.

It is reassuring that the percentage of ethnic minority representation in every grade has increased since 2010, but the current levels are not good enough, and the Civil Service would like to - and needs to - do more to increase levels of diversity, particularly in senior roles.

The EDP focuses on supporting this ambition through a series of activities such as mentoring, providing positive role models, identifying and eliminating barriers and raising awareness of the business benefits of diversity to all.

Looking ahead, the Civil Service faces the triple challenge of attracting talented leaders from an ethnic minority background, retaining our excellent ethnic minority Civil Servants in a competitive market place for talent and developing our current ethnic minority colleagues to progress throughout the talent pipeline. I am fortunate to be part of a cross-government cadre of senior leaders from all races who are committed to increasing ethnic diversity across the Civil Service. I expect that one day when I reflect over my career, this period will have been one of the most challenging but also one of the most rewarding.

I passionately believe that the Civil Service can only truly be at its best when it reflects the diverse communities that it serves. I hope that one of my legacies will be to have been helping to lead its transformation.

Selvin Brown MBE
Director, Engagement and Policy, Health and Safety Executive
Civil Service Deputy Race Champion
Non-Executive Director, the Civil Service Charity

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Selvin Brown - My Civil Service career journey: From Office Filer to Executive Board member - Black History Month 2020

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The discrimination and challenges people from BAME backgrounds face has been widely covered. Last year David Lammy MP published his report, concluding that BAME individuals still face bias, including overt discrimination, in parts of the justice system.

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Police.

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George Lee was a policeman in the 80s and 90s - a Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police. Until a week ago he was a senior partner at Mercer Oliver Wyman, managing their telecom, media and technology division. Encouraged to join the party by Lord Strathclyde and Hon Nicholas Soames MP he has now given up his corporate career to concentrate on his campaign to become Britain's first Chinese MP.

The changing cultural makeup of the Conservatives is what Lees says attracted him to the party. 'It has moved on, in a way that is more open to all minorities and classes. The Conservative Party that David Cameron calls compassionate conservatism is something I believe in strongly,' he explains. Lee points out that the reason he is standing is in part to show that Chinese communities are committed British citizens 'who want to make a valuable contribution to this great country of ours.'

Getting to know an ethnically diverse Holborn & St. Pancras community, coming into contact with some of its more deprived constituents and young people Lee says also played a major part in his decision to stand. It confirmed his determination to do what he could to bring practical, positive change to the area. And he is confident that with his life experiences and that of managing complex organisations, he has the skills to do it.

George Lee is no traditional Tory. He was born in a poor village in rural Hong Kong in the 1960s, and when his parents moved abroad to seek employment in the UK, George was left there with his siblings. At five, unknown to his parents, the lady trusted with their care sent them all to work in a toy factory rather than to school. Five years later they finally made it to the UK, where by this time, his parents had set up a takeaway in Portsmouth.

It might not have been child labour in a toy factory but it was a tough time for George. Revealingly, the only English word he could say when he arrived to join his parents was 'tomorrow'.

He helped his parents in the takeaway after school, but George was adamant that he did not want to grow up and run the shop with them, nor follow the youngsters in his school into manual labour on the dockside.

'What I really wanted was to show that as Chinese we need not be confined by a certain set of stereotypes: quiet, studious types, who don't speak out on issues. I recognised I needed to do something to show it.'

At 17, he was an MoD industrial relations officer at Portsmouth Dockyard. But he knew if he was going to make a real difference he had to join an organisation that could allow him to make an impact: the Metropolitan Police.

He spent 17 years in the police service, starting on the beat; he was selected for the fast track and won a police scholarship to Cambridge University to study Chinese and Social Political Sciences; ultimately rising to Chief Inspector. He was one of the founding members of the Black Police Association and played a major role in suppressing the Triads.

Even though Lee was on route to probably becoming the first Chinese Chief Constable, he left the force when he believed that he had achieved everything that the organisation could help him do, and was proud to have raised the profiles of Chinese in the UK and broken the glass ceiling for other Chinese in the public sector to follow.

Looking to be challenged in a different way, he left his successful police career to test himself in the business world. He took a job as management consultant for Gemini Consulting responsible for driving change in complex companies like Prudential and Tesco. He launched the first mobile multi-media services as programme director for Vodafone, and Executive Vice President International Marketing for T-Mobile. In his extensive span of work has travelled widely and worked on every continent.

As MP, Lee believes he would bring his energy and experience of complex businesses and management to bear in shaping well thought out legislation at Westminster. At a local level in Holborn and St Pancras he would like to get to grips with the blight of gangs, develop a student mentoring programme for youngsters, and help the unemployed back into work.

His dynamism is obvious. 'I am all about the promise of Britain, about helping people realise that promise for themselves, and helping them to be their own success story.' He concluded.

Visit George at http://www.mygeorgelee.com/

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George Lee was a policeman in the 80s and 90s - a Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police. Until a week ago he was a senior partner at Mercer Oliver Wyman, managing their telecom, media and technology division.

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Retired Detective Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard.

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Dr. Michael has been awarded an honorary Master of Laws degree by the University of Greenwich, Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Westminster and an Honorary Master of Arts degree by London Metropolitan University.

After retirement from the Met, Dr. Michael worked in a wide range of community, voluntary and charitable projects. This included community groups and organisations in Lewisham, cancer awareness organisations and organisations honouring police officers killed in the line of duty.

He was chairman of Lewisham Community Police Consultative Group for several years and was instrumental with others in adapting the group to become the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board. He represented Lewisham in the London-Wide Chairs forum of Community Police Engagement Groups and worked with Lewisham council, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and other partners.

Dr. Michael served as a Lewisham Councillor for a four-year term representing Evelyn ward in Deptford. He was a member of and one time chairman of the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee and Vice Chairman of the Licensing Committee.

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Dr. David Michael MBE Dr. David Michael MBE Ret. Detective Chief Inspector, Scotland Yard Ret. Det. Chief Inspector, Scotland Yard Dr. Michael joined the Met in December 1972, and was posted to Lewisham borough in 1973 to serve at Ladywell police station.

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Executive Team Section

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Grace Ononiwu, CBE, Chief Crown Prosecutor

Grace has served as the Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) for the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) region since June 2014 - the first woman to hold this post. She is ultimately responsible for all prosecution decisions and conduct of cases by CPS staff throughout the region. She has a personal involvement in many of those cases and on occasion meets victims of crime and/or their families to explain the decisions taken in cases that involve them.

Grace qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and originally joined a private firm of solicitors in High Wycombe practising criminal law. She joined the CPS as a Crown Prosecutor and held a number of positions in the service, which led to her ultimate appointment as Northamptonshire CCP in April 2005, making her the first African Caribbean to be appointed to that position in the history of the CPS. In April 2009 Grace was appointed Legal Director for North Region, CPS London, before becoming Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the London Districts. In 2012, she became the CCP for the East of England Area.

Grace has made a significant contribution to the CPS Equality and Diversity agenda and was previously the Chair of the National Black Crown Prosecution Association (NBCPA). She has a national profile within the CPS, which includes membership of strategic boards dealing with issues affecting the service across England and Wales. She is the National Lead and joint Chair of the Crown Court Business Board, responsible for developing and embedding the CPS strategy for the handling of crown court casework across the country and has been chosen as the CPS' first Community Engagement and Inclusion Champion.

Grace was awarded the OBE in 2008 in recognition for her work with the CPS and received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Hertfordshire in 2017, in recognition for her contribution to justice and the legal system, including her ongoing work to promote legal education. In the 2019 Birthday Honours, Grace was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Law and Order.

Grace has been included in the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Powerlist, which features 100 of the UK's most influential men and women of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage.

Sarah Hammond, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor

Sarah is the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor with strategic responsibility for our Magistrates' Court Unit and our RASSO unit which handles the most complex rape and serious sexual offences across the region. She is the lead for all British Transport Police prosecutions nationally.

Sarah qualified as a solicitor in 1996 and joined CPS in 1998 having previously worked as a Magistrates' Legal Adviser. During her time at CPS, she obtained her higher rights, and has undertaken advocacy in both magistrates' and Crown Courts across the region.

She is the Area's Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) lead and has enjoyed being involved in this area of work for many years representing the CPS at conferences and community forums to share the work of CPS in tackling these offences. Sarah was involved in implementing the Violence Against Women and Girls Scrutiny Panel and Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts locally and is currently chair of the VAWG Local Scrutiny and Improvement Panel.

Sarah became a District Crown Prosecutor in 2013, initially managing a Crown Court team before moving to lead the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team. In 2016, Sarah became a Senior District Crown Prosecutor with responsibility for Crown Court work before being promoted to Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in 2019.

Suzanne Llewellyn, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor

Suzanne started her career in law by studying the undergraduate LLB (Hons) degree at Wolverhampton University, followed by the postgraduate Law Society finals course, qualifying as a solicitor in 1991. She started at the Crown Prosecution Service in the same year.

In that time, she has developed a passion for practising criminal law, securing justice and serving communities. Suzanne says it is really important to her to provide an excellent service to victims and witnesses and provide a safe society.

Suzanne qualified as a Crown Advocate, gaining Higher Court Rights to practice at Crown Court early in her career, as such Suzanne has a depth of experience and knowledge in all aspects of magistrates' and Crown Court work.

Suzanne has been a Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor serving the West Midlands CPS Area - the largest CPS Area in the country - since August 2014. Suzanne has responsibility for the Area's Crown Court team and the Area's Complex Casework Unit, which handles the most complex and sensitive cases across the region's crown courts. The team serves a population of over five million and deals with over 10,000 of the most serious cases each year, including murder, fraud, firearms, drug supply, robbery and rape. These fall into the Area's nine Crown Court centres in West Midlands, West Mercia, Warwickshire and Staffordshire, which sit a total of 44 courts daily. The team also serves all courts in England and Wales in respect of work generated by the British Transport Police.

Tristan Bradshaw, Area Business Manager

Tristan has worked for the CPS for most of his career across a range of Operational Delivery Roles.

In 2009 he was part of a national project team working across the service to standardise systems and deliver new ways of working through the Optimum Business Model. In 2011 as the service progressed towards digital working he was the CPS North East lead on a cross Criminal Justice System project to implement streamlined digital working across the area.

In 2013 Tristan played a major role in the development and deployment of resource and efficiency measures across the Service. Tristan moved to CPS London in 2015 as a Senior Business Manager for the Complex Casework Unit, a unit which dealt with Specialist Casework, Homicide and RASSO work for London. In 2016 he returned to the North East as Head of Business Centre leading a unit which provides business support services for the Area including Finance, Performance, Change, Facilities, Communications, Inclusion and Community Engagement and HR.

In June 2017 he was appointed as Area Business Manager for CPS West Midlands taking responsibility for the Operational Delivery and Business Operations for the West Midlands Area.

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Grace has served as the Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) for the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) region since June 2014 - the first woman to hold this post. She is ultimately responsible for all prosecution decisions and conduct of cases by CPS staff throughout the region.

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"Organisations," as former MiP Chair Zoeta Manning told us, "should represent the population they serve." The leadership of our public sector should represent the British public.

Progress has been made, but there are still blocks preventing BAME individuals from accessing roles in the senior civil service and top management of the NHS. This Black History Month, we looked to both the past and the future to find out how to tackle these blocks. We spoke to our activist members about what they've done to tackle recruitment discrimination - and what needs to be done to help achieve true representation at the top.

Tolu Oyelola

Tolu Oyelola originally came to the UK to study for a postgraduate degree in law: the plan was to finish his studies and return to Nigeria, where he would become a lecturer. But he needed money to fund both his studies and living expenses, so he applied for a job at the Inland Revenue. 29 years later, he's "still here", a member of HMRC's SCS.

Oyelola was drawn to the department because it was clear from its publicity materials that "someone like me could get ahead in the Inland Revenue." That being said, his rise could not be described as meteoric. It was halted for some time due to an unforeseen culture clash.

When Oyelola first joined Inland Revenue, it seemed to him that you "waited your turn" for progression. Then the process changed to a competency-based system - one where you had to sell yourself to get a better role.

"I shouldn't over-generalise, but certainly in my part of Africa and my family it was considered bad taste to boast about your achievements," Oyelola tells us. Modesty was a key value. He accordingly saw this new system as "ridiculous" and thought it wouldn't last long, so "the best thing to do was to sit it out. In time the designers of this process would come to their senses." It took "quite a few years", he admits, for him to realise this wasn't going to happen. Oyelola believes this difference in cultural norms continues to be a problem for some civil servants. If you are competing with people brought up to sell their achievements, "it's not even a competition at all." Oyelola believes we need to provide support to people with his kind of experience, to make sure they are comfortable putting themselves forward for promotion.

Oyelola joined the FDA at the same time he joined the civil service, but only engaged with Black History Month for the first time a few years ago, where he was the panel for an event. From this, he was asked by the union to chair its London BAME into Leadership conference.

Run by the FDA and Dods, the BAME into Leadership events focus on helping civil servants from ethnic minority backgrounds build networks, overcome barriers and realise their leadership aspirations. Oyelola has now chaired two of these conferences and was part of the committee looking into the event programme for the 2019 event. "On the day," he tells us, being a Chair is about "being inspiring and making sure that [things] run to order."

How does he inspire? "I try to lead by example," Oyelola says. "Although I am not particularly keen to talk very much about myself, I did start this year's event by talking about my role in HMRC and how the fact that I'm playing a very small role in funding our public service inspires me, and gets me out of bed in the morning." Oyelola cites Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama as leaders who have inspired him. They were "people who, on the face of things, were fairly measured in their words, chose their words carefully, and weren't prone to extreme reactions to things."

Asked why he believes these events are important, Tolu says it's the "networking" effect, "the opportunity to see so many senior leaders - BAME leaders - in one place at a time," which is "something that is very unusual." For these people to then speak about their experiences, and how they got to where they are, "is very inspiring to junior colleagues."

Visibility, Oyelola argues, is also important when it comes to tackling discrimination. By being in a leadership position, he feels able to discredit the stereotypes which are still "alive and well" within the civil service.

Oyelola tells us "there are things that need to be done in terms of positive action that the civil service is still reluctant to do." He points to the example of the Rooney Rule in the states, a National Football League policy that requires ethnic minority candidates be interviewed for coaching positions. African-American coaches, it was found, were less likely to be hired and more likely to be fired than their white counter-parts, and this rule sought to address this imbalance. "The idea wasn't to give them preference in any way, they would still have to go through the same process," Oyelola elaborates. Ahead of the Rooney Rule, only 6% of coaches were black. By 2006 - three years after it was instated - this percentage grew to 22%.

"I think the civil service really has to start thinking of doing things like that," Oyelola says. Though he is "very, very, very uncomfortable about positive discrimination" ("things are hard enough as it is, I wouldn't want anyone thinking I got my job just because of the colour of my skin"), the senior civil servant believes "we need to start thinking outside the box."

Zoeta Manning

Zoeta Manning's mother wanted her daughter to be a nurse. Why? "Because I was always looking after everybody, that's just my nature." Not wanting to pursue a clinical role (Manning was not a fan of blood), she still wanted to support her community, and joined the NHS in a non-clinical capacity. Starting as a medical secretary in a GP's office, Manning rose through the ranks, and is now a Senior Integration Manager for frailty. She went to night school to obtain her Bachelor's, and is now studying for a MSc in Healthcare Leadership. "That's why I really support my admin staff to develop," she explains, "because I've been there. And I can see their capabilities, when perhaps other people don't see their capabilities."

Compassion is a value Manning holds in the greatest esteem, which becomes doubly clear when she describes Melanie Nicolaou, the leader she most admires. "If I want to be like anybody," she says, "I want to be like her. She inspired all her staff, made them stretch themselves, made them do things they didn't think they could do. Her door was always open, she would stop what she was doing to listen to people, and she got things done. The NHS is a caring organisation, and she fully embodied that."

Manning's belief in helping people makes her a natural trade unionist. In one of her previous roles, she had an incident with a manager which led to taking out a grievance. She received the backing of her union, and was helped by MiP National Officer Pete Lowe. "It was so good to have somebody to support me," she says, as she was feeling "quite vulnerable." Lowe then went on to suggest Manning get more involved in the union herself. Though initially hesitant, Manning thought that she would like to support someone who went through what she had "and have the choice to have somebody who looks like me represent me." Soon, she was representing the West Midlands on MiP's National Committee, then became the organisation's Vice Chair, before being elected its chair in 2013.

"I'm passionate about representative leadership," Manning tells us. "Unless people can see that we can get to these levels, they'll think they can't because they've never seen anybody at this level." Manning has also represented the FDA and MiP five times at the TUC's Black Workers' Conference, and spoke three times on motions advocating for increased racial diversity at senior levels of organisations.

When asked about unconscious bias within public sector organisations, Manning says that she believes the phrase is "quite politically correct - I would say there's conscious bias. We're not where we are by accident, some people want to keep the status quo - keep things as they are. Better at disguising their prejudice than they have been in the past, more subtle now, but it's still there."

"When governments realised the situation with women not being on boards, they gave them targets. We're still not there yet, but it did make them pull their finger out, didn't it? But when you mention it about BAME people, everybody throws their hands up in the air and says 'oh, we can't give them targets!' I don't see what the difference is. If you can see a gap, and you can see that you need some positive action - that's all it is, not a new concept - why can they do that for one group and not another?"

Hakim Din

When asked which leaders inspire him, Din - like Oyelola - names Nelson Mandela, but also Che Guevara. "Because of his principles," he elaborates. "He never budged from his principles." It is easy to see how Din has been influenced by these two men, as he has spent his career standing by his principles and fighting discrimination, in schools and the civil service.

Din has a thorough understanding of Scotland's school system: he has been a regional staff tutor in multicultural education working in local government, a biology teacher, a deputy head teacher and an HM Inspector of Education for the Scottish Government.

Din wanted to make a difference, and education "was the obvious place to go." He especially wanted to help BAME kids, and argued if people like him "don't get into the system and try and change it, nobody will."

Schools were not the only place where Din fought discrimination. He was part of a group that established a Black Members' Committee within the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC), which led to Black Members' Conferences. When he became a member of the FDA, he continued to work with his new trade union to promote race equality.

Din and FDA colleagues joined up with activists in Prospect and PCS to create a Race Equality Network, which received the full support of the Scottish Government Permanent Secretary. In fact, he opened the first meeting, and informed all other departments of the Scottish Government of what he had heard during it, and encouraged them to get involved. Having this buy-in, Din explains, "closes the loop" - it is one thing to make equality policy, but quite another to know the most powerful civil servant in the government is actually supporting it.

Now representing the FDA, Din continued to raise motions at the STUC and work with other anti-racist organisations, including Show Racism the Red Card. In addition to this, he was a member of the group that founded our BAME into Leadership conferences. People have told him they've become SCS as a result of "coming to these conferences, networking, hearing what people are saying" and securing mentoring through these events. "One of the women who came to this event is now a Deputy in her department in the House of Commons," he tells us.

Though proud of his achievements, Din knows there is more that needs to be done to achieve true racial equality within the civil service. "We've got processes, we've got policies," he says, "but who's actually monitoring the policies, monitoring the changes that are needed to take place?" Change has to be constantly embedded throughout recruitment practices, to make sure there is a consistent approach to tackling discrimination.

While believing it's good to have a BAME person on an interview panel, for example, who can "look at the cultural nuances in answers, and intonations", Din doesn't believe the onus to fight racism should be on a single person. It is more important, he argues, to ensure "everyone on the panel is more aware", as these are issues that everyone needs to know about. "White people need to be part of the change, he says, "and there are a few who truly are!"

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BAME representation at the top: how do we get there?

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"Organisations," as former MiP Chair Zoeta Manning told us, "should represent the population they serve." The leadership of our public sector should represent the British public. Progress has been made, but there are still blocks preventing BAME individuals from accessing roles in the senior civil service and top management of the NHS.

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Ajmer Singh Matharu had been a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Uganda, when he became the first turban wearing Sikh in England when he joined Leicester and Rutland Constabulary in 1970.
Ajmer retired from the Leicester Police Constabulary in 1989.

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It was in January 2014 that the new US military guidelines opened the way for service members to wear religious clothing, such as turbans, on duty. These guidelines also allowed for facial hair (read beard), body art and other expressions of religious belief. However it was not a blanket permission and requests for dispensation from stated uniform policy were to be reviewed on a case-to-case basis.

For Sikhs, the battle for the right to keep their articles of faith in army & police has been a success in many countries
JALANDHAR: It was in January 2014 that the new US military guidelines opened the way for service members to wear religious clothing, such as turbans, on duty. These guidelines also allowed for facial hair (read beard), body art and other expressions of religious belief. However it was not a blanket permission and requests for dispensation from stated uniform policy were to be reviewed on a case-to-case basis.

However, the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF) director Jasjit Singh had said that the rules did not go far enough as this was an expansion of the waiver policy that was decided person to person. "It does not open the door and say you can apply as a Sikh American and serve your country fully".
Though it was in 1918 that the first turbaned Sikh, Dr Bhagat Singh Thind, served in US Army and, later other Sikhs too, but due to a new policy put in place in 1980s the armed forces stopped allowing turbans or beards except for those who started their service in the military before 1986.
According to The Sikh Coalition which collects the stories of Sikhs who had won the right to wear turban on duty, Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, a doctor and Afghanistan combat veteran, was granted a religious accommodation by the US army in October 2009, followed by a few other Sikhs.
Capt Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a 31-year-old dentist, graduated from Fort Sam Houston in 2010 after the Army made an exemption to a uniform policy that had effectively prevented Sikhs from enlisting since 1984.Corporal Simran preet Lamba, another Sikh to join the US army, had said after his graduation ceremony from basic combat training, "When the bullets begin flying, it doesn't concern anyone what religion you are I bleed the same colour."
The US Army on March 31 granted religious accommodation to a Sikh American, Captain Simratpal Singh, allowing him to serve on active duty with his articles of faith intact, the first accommodation given to a serving Sikh officer. Lamba, Rattan and Kalsi were granted accommodation before they began to serve.
The US Army is somewhat more accommodating of Sikh requests than other service other service branches. The US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps offer no such opportunity, and no observant Sikh man is serving in any of those branches.
Sikhs wanting to join police forces too had to fight the turban battle. In 2012, the police of Washington DC was the first in US to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans and beards as well as metal bracelets and decorative daggers. In February 2015, the county sheriff of Greater Houston announced that a serving Sikh officer would be allowed to wear his turban and keep a beard while on patrol. This Sikh officer was Sandeep Dhaliwal. "With this policy, one of the largest sheriff 's offices in the country has affirmed that a person does not have to choose between their faith and a career of service," SALDEF had said. In Canada, the first turbaned Sikh to join RCMP in 1990 was Baltej Singh Dhillon. While the RCMP policy did not allow turban and Dhillon's request led to a major controversy, during which 1.5 lakh people signed petitions to retain the traditional RCMP dress code. However, Sikhs pointed out that turbaned Sikhs served in British Indian Army in two World Wars. It was on March 16, 1990, that Federal Solicitor General Pierre Cadieux announced in the House of Commons the amended RCMP policy to permit Sikhs to wear the turban while on active duty in the RCMP. Amitoj Singh's name entered in Australian history as he became the first turbaned Sikh in March 2011, rather to wear an official police-issued turban. It was in September 2010 that Uniform Appearance and Advisory Committee agreed to design a Victoria Police turban bearing the official insignia.
UK was one of the first countries where Sikhs cops were allowed with turbans by the end of sixties in the police without much ado. Ajmer Singh Matharu became the first turban-wearing police officer when he joined the Leicester and Rutland Constabulary in 1970. He retired in 1989. When Sikhs in other countries couldn't even think of getting into police uniform with turban, the Parliament in the UK passed an Act, in 1976, exempting the turban-wearing Sikhs from sporting crash helmets on motorcycles. Diljit Singh Bahra, who served in the Metropolitan Police Service from 1975 to 2007 in an article said, "The history of Sikh turban in the British Police Services", in 2014 in police magazine Peeler, noted that there were now fully integrated turbaned Sikhs in Britain's police.

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It was in January 2014 that the new US military guidelines opened the way for service members to wear religious clothing, such as turbans, on duty. These guidelines also allowed for facial hair (read beard), body art and other expressions of religious belief.

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Watch TV programmes from the Black & British collection on BBC iPlayer.

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Watch and embed this video on your website. Simply play and click on the embed icon upper right to copy the embed code. "It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV
Black culture is brought brightly into focus from today on ITV as viewers will see brand new on air trails along with channel idents marking and celebrating Black History Month.

The creative work will complement newly commissioned programmes and content showing across ITV channels and platforms throughout October.

The campaign by ITV Creative (ITVs in-house creative team), who conceived and produced the layered animation, draws on the rich contribution to British life of black figures and culture across a wide range of areas from literature, history and science to music, food and fashion to deliver a visually vibrant, upbeat and thought-provoking palette.

The concept "It's all about" sees icons from Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Amma Asante, Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE and Dame Linda Dobbs to Arthur Wharton, Alison Hammond, Craig Charles, Fuse ODG and David Olusoga appear in vision amid a kaleidoscope of cultural imagery and textures as narrators Ashley Banjo, Noel Clarke, Maya Jama and Angela Griffin tell us "It's all about" everything from "the music... the style...the literature... the arts... the discovery... people coming together" to "... It's all about the past....the future...it's all about the culture."

Creatives Adie Headley and Anthony Dziworshie, who led the project for ITV Creative, said in a joint statement: "The inspiration behind our spot was to celebrate Black culture and all its many facets. We wanted to create a piece of work that showed the vast range of skills, talents and professions that Black people have thrived within across Britain, for many generations. Too often Black people are portrayed as being monolithic, so from shining a light on staple-holds such as Mary Seacole to modern day writers like David Olusoga, we wanted to show the breadth of how Black culture has influenced Britain."

The core team at ITV that worked on the trails also includes producer Angela Lyttle and production assistant Ttwarna Cordwell. The team worked in tandem with freelance design director Ogo Okpue and collaborated with music producer Khwezi on the bespoke and distinctive soundtrack, with sound design by Alex Bingham at Machine Sound.

Throughout Black History Month, ITV's on air branding will be designed by Black artists, who have created artwork for the channel idents as part of ITV Creates. This is a project that has seen artwork by individual and community group artists feature in channel idents since 2019.

Artists include: Hamed Maiye, Neequaye Dreph Dsane, King Owusu, Alfie Kungu and Carleen De Sözer.

Ade Rawcliffe, ITV Director of Diversity & Inclusion, said: "ITV has never marked Black History Month in quite this way before. In our Diversity Acceleration Plan, which we launched in July, we committed to ensuring that ITV commissioning better represents contemporary British life on screen within the next 12 months. As well as commissioning programmes showcasing Black British talent, both onscreen and behind the camera, we have also organised a range of talks from amongst others David Lammy, Munroe Bergdorf and David Olusoga and events for all ITV staff, led by our staff network ITV Embrace.

"Our ambition is that the legacy of Black History Month remains across our output, on screen and off and all year round."

The new ITV shows coming up in October are: IRL with Team Charlene; Alison Hammond: Back To School; Sorry I Didn't Know Craig & Danny Funny, Black and on TV. These will be shown along with updated programmes including David Harewood-presented film In the Shadow of Mary Seacole and Martin Luther King by Trevor McDonald, alongside acclaimed documentary First Among Equals: The Laurie Cunningham Story.

And ITV's flagship daytime shows will be supporting Black History Month with a range of on air activity throughout the month of October.

ITV's flagship daytime shows will be supporting Black History Month with a range of on air activity throughout the month of October.

Today, (October 1st) Good Morning Britain launched it's series of 'Black History Icons' short films to run throughout the month, which will recognise and celebrate the black figures and events that have changed history, all voiced by The Chase's Shaun Wallace.

Lorraine's award-winning 'Change And Check' campaign returns featuring the show's Dr Amir and his mother, Mama Khan, who discuss the importance of routine breast screenings for BAME women following her breast cancer diagnosis during a mammogram. Plus Lorraine's fashion expert Candice Brathwaite will look at what growing up as a British black woman means to her.

On This Morning Alison Hammond will take on the special role of Guest Editor, plus there will be regular health features - Black Health Matters - throughout the month that will focus on the issues affecting the BAME community. The programme will also deliver hair and beauty advice, musical performances and exclusive case studies to get everybody talking.

And as part of their Inspirational Women strand, Loose Women will be honouring black British women who have changed the world we live in today, featuring empowering interviews with guests such as Baroness Doreen Lawrence. Loose Women will also continue to tackle important taboo subjects close to our panellists' hearts. Kelle Bryan, Judi Love and Brenda Edwards will be leading the debate on issues such as why magazines are still not embracing black cover stars, exploring that little-discussed issue of secondary trauma and why black mums face discrimination in the labour ward.

BritBox is also showing the Black History Month Collection - details further below.

All Black History Month content will be available on ITV Hub, which will also feature an exclusive collection of drama, documentary and comedy content to mark Black History Month. Viewers will have a second chance to watch the pioneering true crime film The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, a well as Stephen Lawrence: Has Britain Changed?, a special programme examining how equal Britain really is. Comedy comes courtesy of Timewasters series one and two, Kate and Koji, Comedy Basement, panel show Don't Hate The Playaz series one and two and sketch shows The Ty and Ky Show, Pranksterz and All About the Bants. Unsaid Stories, a four part collection of short films inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, is also available on the platform.

The new ITV programmes are:
IRL with Team Charlene - TX 3 October on ITV and CITV
IRL with Team Charlene is a new show that aims to break down and explain major issues for children. In this special, ITV News Presenter Charlene White is joined by her team of celebrity friends, experts and young people from across the UK. They'll talk about everything from what racism is and the Black Lives Matter movement to why we have different skin colours. Through a mix of animation, musical performances and personal stories the team takes an engaging and accessible approach to serious events.

The programme will transmit simultaneously on CITV and ITV. Charlene White is the co-producer with Jessica Symons as Executive Producer for ITN Productions.

IRL with Team Charlene is commissioned for ITV by Paul Mortimer, Head of Digital Channels and Acquisitions, Michael Jermey, Director of News and Current Affairs and Gemma John-Lewis, Assistant Commissioner, Entertainment
Alison Hammond: Back To School - TX 6 October at 9pm on ITV
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Alison Hammond goes on the ultimate school history trip with a twist. In her own unique and inimitable style, Alison will be travelling the length and breadth of Britain to key historical sites - from Hadrian's Wall to Hampton Court looking at the history we're all taught in schools, but from a different angle. Revelatory and personal, the journey will uncover black figures throughout the ages who have been overlooked from the pages of British history and school textbooks. Alison will be given an insight into the significance of black people in Britain's history by experts who open her eyes to a new perspective on our country's past and will explore our current teaching of history in schools. Directed by Ryan Samuda and Mariam Hussain and Series produced by Anna Manton. Sue Walton and Noleen Golding are executive producers for ITV Studios Daytime.

Alison Hammond: Back To School is commissioned for ITV by Satmohan Panesar, Factual Commissioning Editor.
Sorry I Didn't Know - TX 6 October at 10.30pm on ITV
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Sorry, I Didn't Know is a brand new panel show with a twist that will start airing on ITV during week 41 (3-9 October).

Airing during Black History Month and part of specially commissioned shows on the channel the show will be bold and tongue-in-cheek viewing.

Sorry, I Didn't Know will be hosted by Jimmy Akingbola (star of hit ITV sitcom, Kate & Koji) and he'll preside over two raucous teams headed up by Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love.

Each episode will see the two teams (of three) battle it out over four rounds, unveiling interesting Black history facts along the way.

The show will be a riotous showcase of some of the hottest comedians from diverse backgrounds as they have their knowledge tested of untold stories and unsung heroes.

Guests appearing throughout the four episode run include Angie Le Mar, Humza Arshad, Verona Rose, Toby Williams and Shaun Wallace.

Sorry I Didn't Know is commissioned for ITV by Joe Mace, Entertainment Commissioning Editor and Gemma John-Lewis, Entertainment Assistant Commissioner and is produced by TriForce Productions.
Craig & Danny Funny, Black and on TV - TX TBC October
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In celebration of this year's Black History Month, We take a look back on some of Britain's greatest comedy legends. Through a combination of archive footage and star interviews, we'll travel through the comedy years, from Britain's first black comic star, the iconic Charlie Williams, to rising stars of today. We will celebrate genre-defining shows from Desmond's to The Real McCoy and tell the story of Black Comedy Legends that brought laughter to a nation.

This celebration of the work of pioneering stars will draw our focus from their work to the present day to offer an insight into the legacy of decades of comedy talent that has touched the new generation of black comedians who are now shaping the future.

Craig & Danny: Funny, Black and on TV i s commissioned for ITV by Satmohan Panesar, Factual Commissioning Editor. and is produced by Big Deal Films. Series Producer is Marina Warsama and executive producers are Dhanny Joshi, Thomas Stogdon and Maxine Watson.
BritBox Black History Month Collection
Black History Month will be marked with a collection of documentaries, television series and films celebrating Black British voices. Documentaries in the collection include Mo Farah: Race of His Life, Shirley: The Shirley Bassey Story, Africa and Britain: A Forgotten History and the series Africa presented by Ade Adepitan. TV series featured include all six seasons of Desmonds (1989); the classic sitcom set in a Peckham barber shop, and the second season of super sharp sketch show Famalam (2019). Films including Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies (1996) starring Marianne Jean-Baptist and Playing Away (1986), a comedy of manners from Horace Ové starring Norman Beaton complete the collection.

Satmohan Panesar, who has overseen commissioning for Black History Month, said: "These programmes span Factual, Entertainment, and Children's in an effort to reach out to viewers across the board at all levels. We hope viewers will enjoy the incredible stories, wonderful entertainment and fascinating people they focus on as we look at Britain from a vital and different perspective and celebrate the contribution of black people to Britain's story, our culture and our lives."

Two of the original main channel commissions are being made by BAME-led indies and off-screen BAME producers will take on development opportunities as they progress their careers in line with ITV's Step Up 60 initiative.

Panesar added: "Diversity on-screen must be accompanied by a commitment to diversity off-screen, with first time ITV primetime directing credits for Samuda and Hussain and Manton taking the reigns as a new series producer. We look forward to watching their progress in the industry."

Note to Editors: ITV recently ran a series of short films under the banner "Black Voices", which was shown across ITV and STV's promotional airtime, social feeds, as well as a dedicated campaign site at itv.com/blackvoices.

The series offered black voices a platform to share stories of racism and their vision of changes they believe should happen.

Aiming to promote understanding and discussion around a cause of profound importance and to contribute towards inspiring long term change, Black Voices featured a range of people discussing their experiences of racism, including MPs Helen Grant and David Lammy, founder of Operation Black Vote Simon Woolley, journalist Charlene White, actor Jay Kontzle and other colleagues from across ITV.

Also shown in August was Drama series, Unsaid Stories, a series of short films inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Each of the drama shorts featured powerful and impactful stories illustrating the importance of black perspectives.

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"It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV

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Watch and embed this video on your website. Simply play and click on the embed icon upper right to copy the embed code. "It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV Black culture is brought brightly into focus from today on ITV as viewers will see brand new on air trails along with channel idents marking and celebrating Black History Month.

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Philip Emeagwali is a Nigerian computer scientist. He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for price-performance in high-performance computing applications, in an oil reservoir modeling calculation using a novel mathematical formulation and implementation.

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SuperPower: Digital Giants - Philip Emeagwali - Nigerian born internet scientist - BBC

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Pasihapaori Chidziva known as Pasi William Sachiti is a Zimbabwean born British serial entrepreneur and inventor. He is founder and CEO of the driverless car manufacturer, Kar-go, which is known for being the UK startup competing with multinational incumbents such as Google and Tesla, Inc.

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William Sachiti - Kar-go TV Interview on LondonLive

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Black Scientists & Inventors In The UK: Millenniums Of Inventions & Innovations

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Black Scientists & Inventors In The UK: Millenniums Of Inventions & Innovations

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Black Scientists & Inventors in the UK: Millenniums of Inventions & Innovations is the first comprehensive study of the black (African) contribution in science and technology in particular and other contributions in general to Britain (UK).

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Black Scientists & Inventors in the UK: Millenniums of Inventions & Innovations is the fi rst comprehensive study of the black (African) contribution in science and technology in particular and other contributions in general to Britain (UK). It's an epic story that starts in Africa, the cradle of civilization and later moves directly to Britain (and also to Britain via the Caribbean diaspora). Williams and Amalemba uncover one of the world's ?best-kept His-storical secrets, ? that Africans were inventing and building civilizations across Europe and the British isles from as early as 8000 BCE., and they continue to do so to this present day.

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Black Scientists & Inventors in the UK: Millenniums of Inventions & Innovations is the fi rst comprehensive study of the black (African) contribution in science and technology in particular and other contributions in general to Britain (UK). It's an epic story that starts in Africa, the cradle of civilization and later moves directly to Britain (and also to Britain via the Caribbean diaspora).

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 5 - Fighting Talk

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 5 - Fighting Talk

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Black British filmmakers explore the impact of George Floyd's killing by the police and the protest it has sparked in the UK.
Comedians Nabil Abdulrashid and Daliso Chaponda take inspiration from Muhammad Ali's witty Parkinson interview from 1971

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck -Episode 4 - Respect Me, I'm a Doctor

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck -Episode 4 - Respect Me, I'm a Doctor

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Black British filmmakers explore the impact of George Floyd's killing by the police and the protest it has sparked in the UK.
Doctors working on the frontline of the Covid-19 epidemic reveal the treatment they have received from some White people, and explain why they support Black Lives Matter

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck -Episode 3 - The Next Step with George the Poet

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck -Episode 3 - The Next Step with George the Poet

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Black British filmmakers explore the impact of George Floyd's killing by the police and the protest it has sparked in the UK.
George the Poet invites us to re-imagine a potent future where Black people are united and strong, fighting the forces of oppression

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck: Take Your Knee Off My Neck - On Demand

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Black British filmmakers explore George Floyd's killing and the protests it sparked here

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 2 - The Shadow of Slavery

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 2 - The Shadow of Slavery

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Black British filmmakers explore the impact of George Floyd's killing by the police and the protest it has sparked in the UK.
Western Europe's first Black mayor and protestors from Bristol discuss the impact of the toppling of Edward Colston's statue

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck: Take Your Knee Off My Neck - On Demand

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Black British filmmakers explore George Floyd's killing and the protests it sparked here

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 1 - My First Time

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck - Episode 1 - My First Time

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Black British filmmakers explore the impact of George Floyd's killing by the police and the protest it has sparked in the UK.

This episode features powerful testimony from people who recall the first time they were racially abused

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Take Your Knee Off My Neck: Take Your Knee Off My Neck - On Demand

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Black British filmmakers explore George Floyd's killing and the protests it sparked here

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Steve McQueen: 'I experience racism every day'

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Steve McQueen: 'I experience racism every day'

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Thank you.
You first watched Lynda La Plante's ITV series Widows as a 13-year-old in 1983. Do you think it's harder for people to overcome stereotypes - as the women in the series and your film do - in Brexit Britain than in Thatcher's Britain? Have you personally experienced more racism since Brexit?
No. Nothing much has changed at all. I don't know what has happened but we have taken two steps backwards. Nationalism absolutely has a part to play. The day after Brexit, my mother went to her favourite high-street shop. She had a new credit card with her and was struggling to remember the pin. The guy behind the till said: "It's four digits in this country." My daughter was with her at the time and said: "Granny, why didn't you say anything?" She replied: "When they go low, we go high." But the day before Brexit you wouldn't have even thought about saying that. Apparently, you're allowed to now.
You've spoken about how audiences watching Widows seem to welcome the chance for some catharsis; that they seem paralysed in the current political situation. How can they seize agency?
Every day, mate. Yes, of course! Wolves come in sheep's clothing. You deal with it. You have to or you go mad. So long as you put one foot in front of the other, you're good.
Do you think Widows is getting the acclaim it deserves?
We really do have the power. As individuals we don't, but as a collective, absolutely we do. We can change the course of events. Sometimes we just need a reminder - and cinema is one of those tools that can actually do that.
You've said you think it might be being misunderstood by some male film critics ...
I don't know. I don't expect it anyway. If it comes: fantastic. If it doesn't: whatever. It is what it is.

It depends if you're sensitive enough to understand what other people go through, if you're a male white critic. It's one of those things that's kind of obvious to me, maybe not to others.
Is a lot of the conversation about progress hot air?
A friend of my wife said to her husband: "Let's go see Widows." And he said: 'Oh, is it only women who are starring in it?" And she said: "It's got Liam Neeson." And he said: "Oh, OK, I'll go then." So we're still fighting against nonsense. I mean, how often, as a woman, did you project yourself on to heroes such as John Wayne or Sean Connery? That men struggle to even think about doing that is incredible.

Look, if I were brought up differently I would think differently. It's about putting these debates into the mainstream and then being absolutely open and honest. Truth will always prevail - if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be on the phone to you now. And that's why we need good journalism rather than journalism that's only for certain people. I went to CNN the other day, I looked around the desk: where were all the black people? If a scientist were trying to carry out a fair and logical experiment, they wouldn't just use a part of the population. The conclusions would be quasi. You have to take on all possibilities and then come to a conclusion, and that's the only way we can have a logical debate. How anyone would think we could have that without everything on the table seems impossible - but we do so gladly. Because the people with positions of influence do that.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association - wh ich runs the Golden Globes - completely ignored Widows in its nominations. Does that speak to you of a certain blindness? Was the Academy overeager to demonstrate their racial inclusivity by picking Kevin Hart to host - and ignoring his record of homophobia?
Viola Davis in Widows. Photograph: Allstar/FILM4

Well, yes. As an artist you have your path and that's fine. And sometimes the world won't agree with you and that's fine. I'm here hopefully for a little while and will do my work. I'm just telling a story about four women trying to get their shit together, about the environment in which we're living, in a way that's not high heels and handbags, that's about human beings and full-on conversations.

Yet I can't remember if there has ever been a movie about a gay person who is a detective or the lead in a romantic comedy who doesn't have a problem with their sexuality. How is that possible? Certain people of power and influence in the industry are gay yet would never think about making a movie like that. What does it say about the worldview they're helping maintain? I'm not pointing fingers - I'm just saying that if we see two men or women walking down the street holding hands, we're not even gonna blink. But if it's on the screen, apparently it becomes thunderous.

Well, that's all to do with popularity and their needing viewing figures. But obviously someone made a mistake.

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Steve McQueen: 'I experience racism every day'

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Thank you. You first watched Lynda La Plante's ITV series Widows as a 13-year-old in 1983. Do you think it's harder for people to overcome stereotypes - as the women in the series and your film do - in Brexit Britain than in Thatcher's Britain? Have you personally experienced more racism since Brexit?

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A businessman who invented the

Ice Cream Scoop.

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ALFRED CRALLE (Ice Cream Scoop Inventor) - Black History Month

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The Complete List of Genius Black American (African American) Inventors, Scientists and Engineers with Their Revolutionary Inventions That Changed the World and Impacted the History.

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Many Black Americans have overcome hardship and extraordinary tragedies; led stellar careers as inventors, scientists, and engineers; and helped make the world a better place to live. Their accomplishments range from groundbreaking research into cancer treatment to the invention of the humble ice cream scoop.

But sadly, discrimination, corruption, and other painful socio-cultural factors have caused many Black inventions, and the names of their inventors, to be lost and forgotten.

Here is a list of genius, Black American Inventors and their remarkable discoveries that forever transformed the world.

1. Jane C. Wright - Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Jane C. Wright was a pioneering cancer research scientist and surgeon. She is noted for her contributions to the field of chemotherapy.

She is particularly well known for her role in the transformation of chemotherapy from a largely experimental drug to a well-established and effective pillar of cancer treatment.

Wright would also pioneer the drug methotrexate for the treatment of breast and skin cancer.

Biography (Life) of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Born in Manhattan on the 30th of November 1919, Jane C. Wright was born to a medical family. Her paternal grandfather had been born into slavery but later graduated from Bencake Medical College and became a doctor. Her father, Louis Wright, was one of the first Black students to attend Harvard and was the first African American doctor to work on staff at a public hospital in New York City. Wright's mother was a public school teacher.

Wright would marry David D. Jones in July of 1947 and the couple would go on to have two daughters. Jones was an attorney and later founded anti-poverty and job training organizations for young Black Americans.

Education of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Jane C. Wright graduated with honors from New York Medical College in 1945 and interned at Bellevue Hospital from 1945 to 1946, before completing her training at Harlem Hospital as chief resident.

The career of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Jane Wright eventually joined her father at the Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Center, which her father and founded. She succeeded him as Director when he died in 1952.

In 1955, Dr. Wright accepted the position of Associate Professor of Surgical Research and Director of Cancer Research at New York University. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Dr. Wright to the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke. The Commission's report was instrumental in establishing, a national network of treatment centers for these diseases.

In 1967, she became the professor of surgery, head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Department, and Associate Dean at New York Medical College.

She would go on to have a very prolific research career until her retirement in 1985. She was appointed Emeritus Professor at New York Medical College in 1987 until her death in 2013.

Chemotherapy Contributions of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Dr. Jane Wright would build on the work that her father started at Harlem Hospital. Chemotherapy was mostly experimental at this time but Wright and her father work tirelessly to re-directed the focus of research to investigating anti-cancer chemicals.

Publications of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Her most notable published papers are:

- "Investigation of the Relationship Between Clinical and Tissue Response to Chemotherapeutic Agents on Human Cancer"- Black American 1957

- "The in Vivo and in Vitro Effects of Chemotherapeutic Agents on Human Neoplastic Diseases"- Black American 1953

Awards of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Jane received many awards during her career including the Damon Runyon Award in 1953 and the Spirit of Achievement Award, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1965 , to name but a few.

She also received various recognitions including an American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Conquer Cancer Foundation 2011 award created in her honor - the J C. Wright, MD, Young Investigator Award. She became the first woman elected president of the New York Cancer Society.

Death of Jane C. Wright - Black American Scientist and Pioneering Cancer Researcher

2. Benjamin Bradley - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Source: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Benjamin Bradley is widely considered as the first person to develop and install a steam engine inside a warship.

Few details are available of his life, and there are no records of his date and cause of death.

Biography (Life) of Benjamin Bradley - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Born as a slave in around 1830, Bradley was taught to read, possibly by his master's children. At the time, it was actually illegal for a slave to learn to read, and so this skill was potentially very dangerous for him.

Bradley showed a natural talent for mathematics and making things and he was put to work in a printing office at the age of 16. He began working with scrap metal, first modeling a small ship, and then a working steam engine. His skills so impressed those around him that he was placed in a new job, in the science department at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

In his new position he helped to set up and conduct experiments. He also received a salary, some of which he was allowed to keep. He used the money he saved from his job and from the sale of his first engine to build larger models and was eventually able to finish an engine large enough to drive the first steam-powered warship at 16 knots.

Education of Benjamin Bradley - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Benjamin Bradley had no formal education but was taught basic literacy by his masters children. He was otherwise self-taught.

Inventions of Benjamin Bradley - Black American Engineer and Inventor - "Steam Engine"

Benjamin Bradley developed the first successful steam engine design for use in a warship. This was achieved in 1856 when an engine capable of propelling a sloop-of-war was developed.

Because of his legal status as a slave, he was unable to file for a patent. He was able to sell his engine and buy his freedom.

Death of Benjamin Bradley - Black American Engineer and Inventor

His date and cause of death are unknown.

3. Dorothy Vaughan - Black American (African American) Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician and "Human Computer" who made enormous contributions the U.S. war effort in WW2 and the early space program.

She would also become the first Black American supervisor at NASA.

Biography (Life) of Dorothy Vaughan - Black American Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

Dorothy Johnson was born on September 20th, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents would later move to Morgantown, West Virginia.

She would later graduate from Beechurst High School in 1925. After graduating with B.A. in Mathematics, she worked as a school teacher to help her family through the great depression.

She married Howard Vaughan in 1932. The couple would have six children together: Ann, Maida, Leonard, Kenneth, Michael, and Donald.

Vaughan would be a lifelong advocate for racial and female equality and a committed Methodist Christian.

She would retire from NASA at the age of 60 in 1971.

Education of Dorothy Vaughan - Black American Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

Dorothy Vaughan won a full scholarship to the historically black college, Wilberforce University. Here she studied for a B.A. in Mathematics and graduated in 1929.

The Career of Dorothy Vaughan - Black American Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

Vaughan joined the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of what was then the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in December of 1943.

She left her position as the math teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, VA to take what she believed would be a temporary war job. Just two years earlier, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, prohibiting discrimination in the country's defense industry, and the Laboratory began hiring black women to meet the war-time demand for processing research data.

Jim Crow laws at the time required the "colored" mathematicians to work separately and Vaughan was assigned to a segregated all-black group of female mathematicians making calculations for teams of engineers. The group was required to work and eat in separate parts of the facility from white workers. In 1949 she was promoted to team leader for the "West Area Computing Group".

This would make her the first Black supervisor ever at NACA.

NASA & Space Program and Dorothy Vaughan - Black American Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

In 1958, NACA became NASA, and segregated facilities were abolished. Vaughan and many of her group joined the new Analysis and Computation Division (ACD). This was a racially and gender-mixed group working on the frontiers of computing.

As electronic computers became more prevalent at NASA, the "human computers" would retrain as computer programmers. Dorothy Vaughan became an expert FORTRAN programmer, and contributed to the Scout Launch Vehicle Program.

Death of Dorothy Vaughan - Black American Scientist, Mathematician, and Human-Computer

4. Walter Lincoln Hawkins - Black American (African American) Inventor and Scientist

Biography (Life) of Walter Lincoln Hawkins - Black American Inventor and Scientist

Walter was born March 21, 1911 in Washington D. C. His mother was a science teacher and his father a lawyer.

As a child, he was fascinated with how things worked and would often take apart and reassemble toys. He would also build his own spring-driven toy boats and working radio in his youth.

He was inspired by his physics teacher at High School to dedicate his life to inventing. After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, his received his master's degree in chemistry at Howard University and a doctoral degree at McGill University in Montreal.

After completing his education, Hawkins took on a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University before being offered a position at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in 1942. At Bell, Hawkins was the first African American scientist on staff.

Over the course of his 34-year career at Bell Labs, Hawkins worked as Head of Plastics Chemistry R&D, Assistant Director of the Chemical Research Laboratory, and supervisor of Applied Research, before being promoted to department head in 1972.

He finally retired from Bell in 1976 after which he taught at New York's Polytechnic Institute, acted as a technical consultant for chemical and pharmaceutical companies, and served as the research director of the Plastics Institute of America.

Inventions of Walter Lincoln Hawkins - Black American Inventor and Scientist - "Plastic Cable Sheath"

Whilst at Bell Labs, Hawkins' research was focussed on polymers. Primarily thermal and oxidative stabilization of polymers for telecommunications.

At this time telephone cables were either coated in highly toxic lead-based materials or polyethylene. The former was expensive and hazardous whilst the latter quickly deteriorated in the presence of UV.

Using his knowledge he, and colleague Victor Lanza invented a polymer that didn't degrade like polyethylene, wasn't hazardous and was very cheap to make.

This new polymer subsequently went into production as a cable sheath in the 1960's.

Patents of Walter Lincoln Hawkins - Black American Inventor and Scientist

Hawkins wrote three books, more than 50 scientific papers and earned 18 U.S. and 129 foreign patents for his works.

Honors and Death of Walter Lincoln Hawkins - Black American Inventor and Scientist

Hawkins received various awards throughout his career:

National Medal of Technology,

International Award from the Society of Plastics Engineers,

Percy L. Julian Award,

Distinguished Alumni Award from Howard University,

At least five honorary degrees.

In 1975 he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering - The first Black American to do so.

Bell Labs' annual W. Lincoln Hawkins Mentoring Excellence Award is named in his honor.

In 2010, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Lincoln Walter Hawkins died in 1992.

5. Powtawche Valerino - Black American (African American) Mechanical Engineer

Powtawche Valerino is a mechanical engineer working for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She played a vital role in the navigational systems of the Cassani mission.

Biography (Life) of Powtawche Valerino - Black American Mechanical Engineer

Valerino was born on the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Reservation to a Choctaw Mother and African-American Father. She is an enrolled member of the tribe. and spent her early years on the reservation

When she was ten, Valerino's family moved to New Orleans. After watching the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion on TV she became very interested in science and technology.

In high school, Valerino shadowed professional mechanical engineers as part of NASA's Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program.

Education of Powtawche Valerino - Black American Mechanical Engineer

Valerino studied and earned her Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and her Masters and Doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Rice University. She also interned at Johnson Space Center in Houston and Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, worked on the X-38 team.

She was the first Native American to earn a Ph.D. in engineering at Rice University.

The career of Powtawche Valerino - Black American Mechanical Engineer

Valerino joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mission Design and Navigation Section in 2005. Initially working on the Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter Mission she was later transferred to the Cassini team.

After 13 years on the Cassini project, she began working on the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft mission, which launched on August 12, 2018.

Public Engagements of Powtawche Valerino - Black American Mechanical Engineer

Valerino also works to encourage under-represented groups to pursue careers in STEM. In 2016 she received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Education Award for her outreach activities. She also helped 21st Century Fox promote the 2017 film "Hidden Figures".

6. Ronald McNair - Black American (African American) Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Ronald McNair was a Black American physicist and NASA Astronaut. His life was cut tragically short when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.

Biography (Life) of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Ronald was born on October 21, 1950 in Lake City, South Carolina. When he was only 9 years old he refused to leave a segregated library until he checked out his books.

The library is now named in his honor.

Education of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

He later completed his Doctorate in Physics from MIT in 1976.

Pre-NASA Career of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Prior to joining NASA, McNair worked on the then recently invented chemical lasers. In 1976, he became a staff physicist at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, where he continued studying lasers.

NASA Career of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Ronald McNair was selected for the astronaut program in 1978. He was one of the first three African Americans selected as astronauts, along with Guion S. Bluford, Jr., and Frederick Gregory.

His first space mission was on STS 41-B which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida in 1984. This mission was a complete success with McNair logging a total of 191 hours in space.

This made him only the second African-American to make a space flight.

His next and final assignment was as mission specialist on mission STS 51-L aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in January of 1986.

Challenger Mission and Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Ronald McNair was mission specialist for the Challenger Mission when it exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, at an altitude of 14,000 metres (46,000 feet) on January 28, 1986.

The disaster would change the space shuttle program forever.

Honors of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

Honorary Doctorate of Laws from North Carolina A&T State University in 1978,

Honorary Doctorate of Science from Morris College in 1980,

Honorary Doctorate of science from the University of South Carolina in 1984.

Posthumously awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor

And many more special honors.

Death of Ronald McNair - Black American Scientist, Physicist, and NASA Astronaut

He was survived by his wife Cheryl and their two children.

7. Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American (African American) Scientist and Chemist

Beebe Steven Lynk was one of the first female African-American chemistry teachers in the United States. She was also a famed author and helped found the University of West Tennessee.

Biography (Life) of Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Beebe Steven was born on October 24th, 1872 in Mason, Tennessee. Very little is known of her early life, whether she had siblings or not and who her parents were.

After graduating with a bachelors degree in Chemistry she founded the University of West Tenessee with her husband.

Education of Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Beebe attended Lane College in Jackon, Tennessee. She graduated with a degree in 1892 at the age of 20.

A year later she married Dr. Miles Vandahurst who was the founder, editor, and publisher of Medical and Surgical Observer. This would become the first medical journal to be edited by a Black American. Miles Lynk was also the first African American to establish a medical practice in Jackson.

She later earned a PhC (Pharmaceutical Chemist) degree in 1903.

The career of Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Beebe and her husband founded the University of West Tennessee in Jackon in 1900. After completing her PhC Lynk immediately took up a position as a professor of medical Latin botany and materia medica at the University's new medical school.

Beebe and her husband moved the University to Memphis in around 1907. It would later close down in 1924 due to financial problems but issued 216 medical degrees whilst it was open.

African-American Women's Club Movement and Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Lynk played an active role in the early Black Women's Club Movement. Lynk was also a member of the National Federation of Women's Clubs.

Here also served briefly as the treasurer of the Tennessee State Federation of that organization.

In 1896 she authored her famous book, Advice to Colored Women. It reflected the organization's mission to raise the social and cultural status of Black American women through education and "fostering respectability".

Death of Beebe Steven Lynk - Black American Scientist and Chemist

8. Louis T. Wright - Black American (African American) Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

Louis T. Wright was an American civil rights activist and surgeon.

Biography (Life) of Louis T. Wright - Black American Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

Louis T. Wright was born on the 23rd July 1891 in LaGrange, Georgia. His father was born a slave but went on to earn a medical degree from Meharry Medical School, Nashville, TN.

Wright would go onto to work as at Harlem Hospital, where he was the first African-American on the surgical staff. He would spend thirty years there and earned a reputation as an excellent surgeon and staunch civil rights supporter.

Education of Louis T. Wright - Black American Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

Wright graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1911. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1915, where h e finished fourth in his class. He would later complete his postgraduate studies at Freedman's Hospital in Washington D.C., and return to Georgia.

The career of Louis T. Wright - Black American Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

After completing his studies and moving back to Georgia, Wright joined the Army Medical Corps. He served as a lieutenant during the first world war. At the end of his military career, he was discharged as a captain and was given a Purple Heart for injuries suffered in a phosgene gas-based German assault.

He returned to the U.S. in 1919 and moved to New York to set up a medical practice in Harlem. Wright also established connections with Harlem Hospital.

In 1929, he was appointed as the first African-American police surgeon for the New York Police Department.

Throughout his thirty years of practice, Wright started the Harlem Hospital Bulletin and headed a team that pioneered chlortetracycline use on humans.

He would later earn a reputation of excellence for treating head injuries and was made a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Civil Rights Activism and Louis T. Wright - Black American Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

Louis Tompkins Wright would build a reputation for his excellent medical research and his support for racial equality in the field of medicine.

He was also heavily involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He served as its chairman for almost 20 years.

Death and Legacy of Louis T. Wright - Black American Scientist, Surgeon and Civil Rights Activist

He died on the 8th October 1952 aged 61 in New York City.

9. Katherine Johnson - Black American (African American) Scientist, Physicist, and Mathematician

Katherine Johnson was a mathematician renowned for her work at NASA. Notably, she is remembered for her pivotal work on calculating orbital mechanics for manned NASA missions.

She would be become one of the famed NACA, later NASA, Langley 'Human Computers'.

Biography (Life) of Katherine Johnson - Black American Scientist, Physicist and Mathematician

Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. She was the youngest of four children born to her father, a lumberjack, and her mother, a teacher.

She would show an interest and talent for mathematics at a young age which her parents cultivated. Her home town did not offer public schooling for African-American students past 8th grade so at the age of 13 her parents arranged for her to attend high school on the campus of historically black West Virginia State College.

At 18, she enrolled in the college, where she studied math under the mentorship of W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African American to earn a PhD in mathematics. She graduated in 1937 and took a job teaching at a black public school in Marian, Virginia.

The career of Katherine Johnson - Black American Scientist, Physicist and Mathematician

In 1939, West Virginia decided to integrate its graduate schools and Johnson and two men were chosen to be the first black students offered spots at West Virginia University. Johnson enrolled in the graduate math program but left shortly to start a family. Johnson returned to teaching but in 1952 she heard about, and subsequently applied for, a position with the all-Black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' (NACA's) Langley laboratory, headed by fellow West Virginian Dorothy Vaughan. Johnson would continue to work at NACA and NASA until her retirement in 1986.

Apollo Mission, Space Shuttle and Other NASA Related Contributions of Katherine Johnson - Black American Scientist, Physicist and Mathematician

Whilst at NASA, Johnson made significant contributions to the Space Program. She famously calculated the trajectory for John Glenn's 1962 space flight. In fact, Glenn refused to go until Johnson had run the numbers herself.

Johnson was also instrumental in making the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo's Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module.

Like other 'Human Computers,' Johnson would later transition to working with computers.

Legacy, Awards, and Honors of Katherine Johnson - Black American Scientist, Physicist and Mathematician

Johnson co-authored many scientific papers throughout her career, 26 in total. She has also been garnered with many honors throughout her career including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

She has since been honored as one of the 100 most influential women worldwide by the BBC in 2016.

She also features in the highly acclaimed 'Hidden Figures' film. Johnson died in 2020 at the age of 101.

10. Daniel Hale Williams - Black American (African American) Scientist and General Surgeon

Daniel Hale Williams was one of the first physicians to perform open-heart surgery in the United States and founded a hospital, Chicago's Provident Hospital, with an interracial staff.

Education of Daniel Hale Williams - Black American Scientist and General Surgeon

Daniel Hale Williams was born on January 18, 1856, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. After the death of his father, 10-year-old Williams was sent to live in Baltimore, Maryland, with family friends. There, he worked as a shoemaker's apprentice, but did not like the work and returned to his family, who had moved to Illinois. In Illinois, he began work as a barber, but wanted to pursue an educationand apprenticed with surgeon Dr. Henry Palmer. Supported by a prominent Black activist, he completed his training at Chicago Medical College, now called Northwestern University Medical School.

Williams graduated medical school in 1883.

The career of Daniel Hale Williams - Black American Scientist and General Surgeon

After graduating with a medical degree, Daniel opened his own practice in Chicago's South Side and taught anatomy at his alma mater. He also became as the first African American physician to work for the city's street railway system.

Due to discrimination, Black doctors were refused staff positions in hospitals. So, in May 1891, Williams opened Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the nation's first hospital with a nursing and intern program that had a racially integrated staff. Williams worked at the hospital as a surgeon.

In 1893, Williams operated on a man with a severe stab wound to his chest. Although lacking modern blood transfusion and surgical procedures, Williams successfully sutured Cornish's pericardium, becoming only the third person to perform open-heart surgery.

After this, Williams was appointed as the surgeon in chief of Freedman's Hospital in Washington D. C. He held this post till 1898.

Williams would die a widower of a stroke on August 4, 1931 in Idlewild, Michigan.

Legacy and Honors of Daniel Hale Williams - Black American Scientist and General Surgeon

Daniel received various honorary degrees from Howard and Wilberforce Universities. He was also a Charter Member of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Chicago Surgical Society.

A Pensylvania State Historical Marker has also been placed on U.S. Route 22 in his honor.

TV and Other Media Representations of Daniel Hale Williams - Black American Scientist and General Surgeon

Daniel has, in recent years, appeared in popular culture. These have included:

Stevie Wonder's "Black Man" track is widely credited to Williams achievements,

Tim Ried played Daniel Williams in the TV series, Sister in 1998,

He was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Black Americans in 2002.

11. Mae C. Jemison - Black American (African American) Engineer, Physician, and NASA Astronaut

Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons

Mae C. Jemison is an American physician, engineer and NASA astronaut. In 1992, she went into space on board the shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African American woman in space.

Biography (Life) of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

Jemison was born on the 17th October 1956 in Decatur, Alabama. Her father was a roofer and carpenter and her mother was an elementary school teacher. When Jemison was three, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in search of better educational opportunities.

She was fascinated with all things related to science, especially astronomy, from a young age, encouraged and supported by her parents.

Education of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

She would pursue and complete a doctorate degree in Medicine from Cornell University in 1981.

Medical Career of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

Dr. Jemison, postdoctoral studies, completed an internship at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center in 1982. She then worked as a GP with INA/Ross Loos Medical Group in LA until December of the same year.

Between 1983 and 1985 she worked as the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

She returned to the U.S. in 1985 and joined the CIGNA Health Plans of California working, once again as a GP.

NASA Career of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

In 1987, she applied for and was accepted as the first African American woman to be admitted into the NASA astronaut training program. During her time with NASA, she was responsible for aiding launch activities at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, verification of Shuttle computer software and other avionics work on the Space Shuttle Program.

Jemison flew into space on September 12, 1992, aboard theThis Space Shuttle Mission aboard Endeavouron mission STS-47. She was the first African American woman in space. Endeavour would complete 127 orbits of the Earth and clock up over 190 hours in space.

She resigned from NASA the following year, in March of 1993.

Filmography of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

Jemison has made various TV appearances throughout her life including a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Lieutenant Palmer.

She has also made various appearances in other TV programs as herself.

Honors and Awards of Mae C. Jemison - Black American Engineer, Physician and NASA Astronaut

Jemison has received many honors and awards throughout her career. Many are listed here on her official NASA biography.

12. Warren M. Washington - Black American (African American) Atmospheric Scientist

Warren M. Washington is an African-American expert meteorologist and atmospheric scientist. He was the former chair of the National Science Board and currently serves as the senior scientist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Biography (Life) of Warren M. Washington - Black American Atmospheric Scientist

Warren was born in Portland, Oregon on the 28th August 1936. His father was a waiter and his mother a practical nurse.

While in high school, Washington was advised to attend business school but chose science instead. He would go on to become one of the world's most influential climate scientists and would become well respected for his work on climate modeling.

Today he lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Mary. The couple has three children together.

Education of Warren M. Washington - Black American Atmospheric Scientist

Warren graduated from Oregon State University with a bachelors degree in physics and later earned a masters degree in meteorology, also from Oregon State.

He would later complete his doctorate in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1964.

The career of Warren M. Washington - Black American Atmospheric Scientist

After earning his doctorate, he worked for a time as a research assistant at Penn State. Washington became a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in 1963. While at NACR, Washington developed one of the first atmospheric computer models of the earth's climate. He later became the head of NACR's Climate Change Research Section in the Climate and Global Dynamics Division.

As his professional reputation grew, Washington was also asked to serve on various national commissions on climate change. He was appointed as an adviser for the Federal Government including serving no less than four U.S. Presidents.

Between 1978 and 1984, he served on the President's National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere; in 1990, he began serving on the Secretary of Energy's Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee; and in 1996, he assumed the chair of the Subcommittee on Global Change. Washington was also appointed to the National Science Board and elected chair of the organization in 2002 and 2004.

Research of Warren M. Washington - Black American Atmospheric Scientist

Washington published numerous studies during his time at NCAR but he also wrote and released two books:

- An Introduction to Three-Dimensional Climate Modeling

Odyssey in Climate Modeling, Global Warming, and Advising Five Presidents - His 2006 autobiography

Awards of Warren M. Washington - Black American Atmospheric Scientist

Warren has received many awards and honor during his career. These have included:

The 1997 Biological and Environmental Research Program Exceptional Service Award for Atmospheric Science from the U.S. Department of Energy,

The 1999 National Weather Service Modernization Award'

The National Medal of Science in 2010, and,

He was elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2013.

He has also been recognized for his efforts to encourage minority youngsters to pursue careers in atmospheric science.

13. Annie Easley - Black American (African American) Computer Scientist, Mathematician, and Rocket Scientist

Annie Easley is a Black American rocket and computer scientist who helped create software for a variety of NASA systems. She is most known for her work on the Centaur Rocket.

Annie also, in no small part, helped make modern-day space flight possible.

Biography (Life) of Annie Easley - Black American Computer Scientist, Mathematician and Rocket Scientist

Annie was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1933. During her time at school, she firmly believed her only potential careers were either nursing or teaching.

She would initially begin studying as a pharmacist at Xavier University but dropped out in 1954 when she married.

Annie then worked as a substitute teacher helping to prepare Blacks for the literacy tests that were prerequisites to register to vote at the time.

Once her husband was discharged from the army the couple moved to Cleveland where she read an article about the "human computers" at the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio (the predecessor of the NASA Glenn Research Center). The lab needed people with strong math skills, and Easley needed a job.

Education of Annie Easley - Black American Computer Scientist, Mathematician and Rocket Scientist

She would later earn a Bachelors degree of Science in Mathematics from Cleveland University in 1977 whilst working for NASA.

NACA Career of Annie Easley - Black American Computer Scientist, Mathematician and Rocket Scientist

Annie Easley began working at the AER lab in 1955 as a 'Human Computer', one of only four African-American employees there. Her early primarily revolved around running simulations for the newly planned Plum Brook Reactor Facility.

In the 1970s, Easley returned to school to earn her degree in mathematics from Cleveland State, doing much of her coursework while also working full time.

She would spend 34 years working for NACA and NASA. When human computers were replaced by electronic computers, Easley became an expert programmer. She developed and implemented code used to analyze alternative power technology such as the battery technology developed for use in early hybrid vehicles.

Death of Annie Easley - Black American Computer Scientist, Mathematician and Rocket Scientist

14. Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. - Black American (African American) Scientist, Solar Physicist and Pioneer in EUV/XUV Optics

He is also credited with helping create more Black Physicists with Ph.D.'s than any other single university in the U.S.

Biography (Life) of Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. - Black American Scientist Solar Physicist, and Pioneer in EUV/XUV Optics

Arthur was born in Cleveland, Ohio on the 24th August 1936. He was an only child to his lawyer father and his social worker and Sunday school teacher mother.

He would develop an early interest in science. An interest that would develop into a burning passion for the rest of his life.

Education of Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. - Black American Scientist Solar Physicist, and Pioneer in EUV/XUV Optics

Walker attended the Case Western Institute of Technology, graduating in 1957 with a bachelors degree in physics.

The following year he earned a master's degree in physics from the University of Illinois and completed his doctorate in 1962.

The career of Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. - Black American Scientist Solar Physicist, and Pioneer in EUV/XUV Optics

Here he focussed his research on solar radiation, specifically extreme UV light and soft X-Rays. Both of these affected the chemistry of the Earth's upper atmosphere, including the Ozone layer.

Between the late 1970's and '80's Walker worked with various other scientists to develop a new scientific technique, called multilayer technology. This was later developed for use in space, producing encouraging results with images of the Sun's corona in the later 1980's.

This tech can still be found on NASA's major satellites.

Walker also worked for Stanford as a Professor of Physics beginning in 1974. His first doctoral student at Stanford was the future astronaut Sally K. Ride. After the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, killing all aboard, Walker was appointed to chair the presidential commission that investigated the disaster. In the 1990s he led a team of scientists who were the first to apply normal incidence X-ray optical systems to astronomical observation. Later, he collaborated on the use of X-ray spectroscopy to create 3-D images to reveal the composition of celestial bodies.

Death of Arthur B. C. Walker Jr. - Black American Scientist Solar Physicist, and Pioneer in EUV/XUV Optics

Arthur Walker died on the 29th April 2001 peacefully at home on the Stanford Campus. He had finally lost his battle with cancer.

15. Jeanette J. Epps - Black American (African American) Aerospace Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Jeanette J. Epps is a Black American aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut. Before becoming an astronaut she worked for the Ford Motor Company and the CIA.

Biography (Life) of Jeanette J. Epps - Black American Aerospace Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Jeanette Epps was born on the 3rd November 1970 in Syracuse, New York. She was one of seven children born to her father, Henry, and mother, Luberta.

Her parents moved to New York during the so-called Great Migration, when many Blacks from the rural South moved north and west in search of opportunity.

Epps would later graduate from Le Moyne College and earn her master's and PhD in aerospace engineering the University of Maryland before working in research at the Ford Motor Company. She would later join NASA's astronaut program.

Education of Jeanette J. Epps - Black American Aerospace Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Jeanette graduated from the Le Moyne College with a Bachelors of Science degree in Physics and later earned a Master and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Aerospace Engineering.

The career of Jeanette J. Epps - Black American Aerospace Engineer and NASA Astronaut

After graduation, Jeanette worked for a time in the research division at the Ford Motor Company. She would later work as a technical intelligence officer at the CIA before joining NASA in 2009.

She qualified as an astronaut in 2011 and has since also served as an aquanaut for the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the NEEMo 18 mission.

ISS Mission and Jeanette J. Epps - Black American Aerospace Engineer and NASA Astronaut

It was announced by NASA in January of 2017 that Epps would form part of the crew for the ISS from mid-2018 onwards for missions 56 and 57 and would serve as the flight engineer for the missions.

Sadly she was later pulled from the mission for unspecified reasons.

The mission would have made her the first Black American long-term ISS crew member and 14th Black American to go to space. Black American astronauts have visited the station in the past but never lived there long-term.

16. Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American (African American) Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a Black American scientist, Astrophysicist, author and science communicator, and educator. He is also the Frederick P. Rose Director for the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, New York City.

He is also a famed TV presenter and wine enthusiast.

Biography (Life) of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Tyson was born in New York City on the 5th October 1958. he was the second of three children. His mother was a Gerontologist for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and his father was a sociologist and human resources Commissioner for NYC's mayor.

He spent his early childhood in Castle Hill the Bronx but the family would eventually move to Riverdale. His early education was spent attending public schools in the Bronx area.

After a visit to the Hayden Planetarium at the age of 9, Tyson would never shake his fascination of Astrophysics. He would regularly attend lectures at the Planetarium during his teenage years and began giving lectures on the subject at the age of fifteen.

Between 1972 and 1976 Tyson was the school's wrestling captain and the editor of his high schools Physical Science Journal.

He currently lives in Lower Manhattan with his Wife, Alice Young. The couple has two children.

Education of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

He then completed an MPhil in Astrophysics at Columbia University in 1989. And finally, he earned his P.h.D. in Astrophysics at Columbia in 1991.

The career of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Tyson's career technically began between his BA and MPhil when he lectured at the University of Maryland.

After earning his doctorate, Tyson spent a few years as a postdoctoral research assistant at Princeton University. He would eventually join the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist in 1994 while simultaneously continuing his work at Princeton.

He would soon be promoted to Acting Director of the Planetarium in 1995. During the Bush Administration, he formed part of a 12-member commission to study the Future of the US Aerospace Industry.

Publications of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Tyson is an accomplished scientist and has a large catalog of research publications. He has also published 13 books so far in his career.

He is perhaps best known for his work entitled "Origins: The Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution".

Between 1995 and 2005 he was a monthly contributor to the natural history magazine, "Universe".

His recent works include the New York bestseller "Death by Black Hole and other Cosmic Quandaries" and "The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet".

Awards and Honors of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Tyson is the recipient of more than twenty honorary degrees as well as NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal.

He has also become immortalized with the asteroid 13123 named "Tyson" in his honor. He was also voted the "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" by People Magazine in 2000.

Media Appearances of Neil deGrasse Tyson - Black American Scientist, Astrophysicist, and Author

Tyson launched his highly popular "Star Talk" in 2009. This was meant to be a weekly podcast that would run for only 13 weeks. It has since evolved into a regular radio talk show.

17. Bettye Washington Greene - Black American (African American) Black American Scientist and Chemist

Bettye Washington Greene is widely credited as being the first African-American female Ph.D. chemist to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company. While there she would research and help develop latex and other polymers.

Biography (Life) of Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

After her marriage to Veteran Airforce Captain William Miller Greene in 1955, she returned to Academia to complete he Ph.D. and joined and worked for Dow Chemical Company for her entire professional life.

Education of Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Greene attended segregated public schools in Texas and graduated from the I. M. Terrel High School in 1952.

She earned her Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama in 1955. Greene later earned her Doctorate in Physical Chemistry at the Wayne State University in Detroit in 1962.

The career of Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Greene joined the Dow Chemical Company's E. C. Britton Research Laboratory in Midland, Michigan in 1965. This made her the first African-American woman to join the company in a professional position.

Whilst there her work focussed on colloid and latex chemistry as well as their interactions with paper.

She was promoted to Senior Research Chemist in 1970. She would continue working for Dow well into the later 1980's before retiring in 1990.

Patents of Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Greene held several patents including:

Latex-based adhesives made from emulsion polymerization,

Composite sheet preparation with stable latexes that contained phosphorus surface groups,

Stable latexes containing phosphorus surface groups.

Philanthropy and Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Greene was a charter member of the Midland, Michigan Alumni Chapter for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. This is a national public service group focussed on working with African Women.

Death of Bettye Washington Greene - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Bettye Greene passed away on the 16th June 1995, she was 60 years old.

18. Charles Henry Turner - Black American (African American) Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Charles Henry Turner was an African-American research biologist, zoologist, educator and comparative psychologist.

Biography (Life) of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Turner was born the 3rd February 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. After earning Bachelors and P.h.D. degrees, he devoted his life to teaching children and studying insects.

Education of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

After graduating from Gaines High School as class valedictorian, Turner enrolled in the University of Cincinnati, where he earned a B.S. degree in biology in 1891. He remained at the University of Cincinnati and earned an M.S. degree in biology the following year.

He would later, in 1907, earn a Doctorate from the University of Chicago in Zoology.

The career of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Turner found it difficult to find work at a major university, either as a result of racism or because he wanted to work with African American students. So instead he taught at various schools, including Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), a historically black college in Atlanta. In 1905, he returned to school to study for his Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Chicago. he earned his PhD in 1907 and later settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a science teacher at Sumner High School. He remained there until his retirement in 1922.

He conducted scientific research at the same time, despite having little access to laboratories or research libraries, a meagre salary, and a heavy teaching load.

Publications of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Turner published more than 70 papers on invertebrates throughout his life and several morphological studies of vertebrates and invertebrates.

Through his work, he was able to establish that insects can modify their behavior as a result of experience. Turner became the first entomologist to show that insects can hear and distinguish pitch. He also found that cockroaches can learn through trial and error. He also showed that honeybees could see in color.

Turner was also one of the first behavioral scientists to pay close attention to the use of controls and variables in experiments.

Turner maintained a lifelong commitment to civil rights, and was a leader of the civil rights movement in St. Louis, where he argued that education was the key to a more equal society.

Death of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Charles Henry Turner died on Valentines Days in 1923. He had suffered from acute myocarditis whilst living in Chicago.

He was buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Chicago.

The legacy of Charles Henry Turner - Black American Scientist, Research Biologist, Educator, Zoologist and Comparative Psychologist

Since his death, several schools have been named in his honor in St. Louis, Missouri. He is remembered on the Clark Atlanta University campus on the Tanner-Turner Hall building.

His life and times are the subjects of the 1997 children's book Bug Watching with Charles Henry Turner by M.E. Ross.

In recent years, his research has been reintroduced to the public through the publication of Selected Papers and Biography of Charles Henry Turner, Pioneer of Comparative Animal Behavior Studies (2003).

19. Donna Auguste - Black American (African American) Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist

Donna Auguste is a Black American entrepreneur, businesswoman, scientist, and philanthropist. She co-founded and served as the CEO of Freshwater Software between 1996 and 2001.

Prior to this, she worked as a senior engineering manager at Apple Computer.

Biography (Life) of Donna Auguste - Black American Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Auguste was born in 1958 in Texas but soon moved to Louisiana and then California. She has three sisters and was raised by her single mother.

From an early age, she loved to take apart household electrical appliances to see how they worked. She would later take an interest in software engineering.

Education of Donna Auguste - Black American Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Auguste enrolled in electrical engineering and computer science program at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was one of a very few women and very few Blacks studying these subjects. Here she earned her Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

She later completed her Masters in Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1983 and became the first African-American women to attend the PhD program at Carnegie-Mellon University.

The career of Donna Auguste - Black American Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

While still a PhD student, Auguste interned at the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center. Whilst there she met the future founders of IntelliCorp.

At Apple, her work primarily revolved around the Newton PDA development project.

She moved to Bouler, Colorado in 1996 and joined the U.S. West Advanced Technologies as senior director. At this time, she foresaw the great potential for the internet and decided to found her own company Freshwater Software.

"Freshwater Software Inc." and Donna Auguste - Black American Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist

Freshwater Software was founded to provide, maintain and monitor business-critical web applications. It would grow rapidly to become a multi-million dollar company that served Fortune 500 Companies like Alta Vista, IBM, and Microsoft.

The company was sold in 2001 to Mercury Interactive Corporation for $147 Million.

Personal Life of Donna Auguste - Black American Scientist, Businesswoman, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist

Auguste founded the Leave a Little Room Foundation, LLC after selling Freshwater Software. This is a philanthropic organization devoted to providing housing, electricity, and vaccinations for underprivileged communities around the world.

Auguste is also a devoted Catholic and a member of Cure d'Ars Parish in Denver.

20. Vivien Thomas - Black American (African American) Scientist and Surgical Technician

Vivien Theodore Thomas was an African-American surgical technician who would go on to develop procedures to treat blue baby syndrome in the 1940's.

'Blue baby' syndrome is also called cyanotic heart disease.

Biography (Life) of Vivien Thomas - Black American Scientist and Surgical Technician

Thomas may have been born in New Iberia, Louisiana (sources are unclear) on the 29th August 1910. He would later attend the Pearl High School in Nashville, where the family moved when Thomas was two.

While Thomas hoped to become a doctor, the Great Depression forced him to rethink his plans. He spent some time working as a carpenter working at Vanderbilt University.

In 1930, he managed to find a job as a surgical research assistant with Dr. Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University.

Thomas would marry his wife Clara and have two children.

Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas - Black American Scientist and Surgical Technician

On his first day of work with Blalock, Thomas was thrown in at the deep end and assisted Alfred on a surgical experiment on a dog. At the end of the day, Thomas was told he would be part of another experiment the next day.

Within weeks Thomas was starting similar surgeries on his own. He was, legally, classified and paid as a Janitor despite the fact that by the mid-1930's his duties were not indistinguishable from that of Postdoctoral lab researchers.

The Great Depression would very much dictate Thomas's career. After securing his job with Dr. Alfred Blalock, Nashville's Bank failed and wiped out his savings.

He was, therefore, thankful to have a secure job, though low paying, during this time of severe economic insecurity.

Thomas and Blalock would go on to make great leaps in human understanding of the causes of hemorrhagic and traumatic shock. Their work would ultimately save thousands of lives during WW2.

Their findings would ultimately lay the foundation for the revolutionary lifesaving surgery they were to perform at Johns Hopkins a decade later.

In all, Thomas spent 11 years at Vanderbilt with Blalock before moving to Johns Hopkins.

Despite his lack of a college degree, when Blalock was offered the position of Chief of Surgery at Johns Hopkins in 1941, he requested that Thomas accompany him. Hopkins was strictly segregated at that time, and Thomas was the only employee there who was not a janitor.

Death of Vivien Thomas - Black American Scientist and Surgical Technician

Vivien died of pancreatic cancer on the 26th November 1985. He has since been recognized as a key player in the pioneering work achieved by Blalock.

21. Joan Higginbotham - Black American (African American) Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Joan ELizabeth Higginbotham is a Black American NASA Astronaut and engineer. She flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-116.

She is the third Black American woman to ever go into space.

Biography (Life) of Joan Higginbotham - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Joan is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and The Links, Incorporated.

Education of Joan Higginbotham - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Joan graduated from University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in 1987 and earned a Master's in Management Science in 1992 and a Masters in Space Systems in 1996, both from the Florida Institute of Technology.

The career of Joan Higginbotham - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

After graduating from college in 1987, Higginbotham started working for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, as a Payload Electrical Engineer in the Electrical and Telecommunications Systems Division.

She would continue to be an integral part of the Space Shuttle team and would participate in 53 Space Shuttle launches whilst working at the Kennedy Space Center.

She was later selected for the astronaut program in 1996.

NASA, and Joan Higginbotham - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

She graduated from the program and would later log over 308 hours in space during her STS-116 mission. She would decide to leave NASA in 2007 to pursue work in the private sector.

Awards and Honors of Joan Higginbotham - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Higginbotham has given various awards and honors. These included the NASA Exceptional Service Medal as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of New Orleans.

22. Lewis Temple - Black American (African American) Inventor, Blacksmith, and Abolitionist

Lewis Temple was a Black American inventor, blacksmith, and abolitionist.

Biography (Life) of Lewis Temple - Black American Inventor, Blacksmith, and Abolitionist

Temple was born into slavery in Tampa, Florida on the 1st October 1800. He moved to the whaling village of New Bedford, Massachusetts during the 1820's, having either escaped or been freed.

In New Bedford, Temple worked as a blacksmith. He married Mary Clark by 1836 and the couple had three children and owned a whalecraft shop.

Inventions of Lewis Temple - Black American Inventor, Blacksmith, and Abolitionist - "Temple's Toggle"

Temple is best remembered for his invention of "Temple's Toggle iron" or "Temple's Blood" that was a harpoon based on an ancient Eskimo design. In time whalers would take to using his harpoon over existing older designs.

He never patented it and as such the design was freely copied, but Temple was successful none-the-less. He was also active in the anti-slavery movement and assisted many former slaves, possibly including young Frederick Douglass.

Accident and Death of Lewis Temple - Black American Inventor, Blacksmith, and Abolitionist

Lewis lived well and built a large sized shop. He would later be seriously injured after falling down a sewer hole left open due to negligent city construction works.

23. Stephanie Wilson - Black American (African American) Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Stephanie Wilson is the second Black American woman to go to space. She is also an engineer and NASA astronaut.

Wilson would clock up more than 42 days in space.

Biography (Life) of Stephanie Wilson - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Wilson was born on the 27th September 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her family would move a year later to Pittsfield.

Her father had a long career in electronic engineering and worked for Raytheon, Sprague Electric, and Lockheed Martin.

Education of Stephanie Wilson - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

The career of Stephanie Wilson - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

After graduating from Harvard, Wilson worked for a couple of years for the former Martin Marietta Astronautics Group in Denver, Colorado. Whilst there, she worked as a loads and dynamics engineer on the Titan IV rocket.

Wilson left Martin Marietta to attend graduate school at the University Texas in 1990. Her master's research, sponsored by a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Fellowship, focused on the control and modeling of large, flexible space structures. Following the completion of her graduate work in 1992, Wilson went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she remained until joining NASA.

NASA and Stephanie Wilson - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Wilson was selected by the NASA Astronaut Program in April of 1996. Two years later she qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.

She would fly on no less than three space shuttle missions, STS-121 (2006), STS-120 (2007), and STS-131 (2010).

Awards and Honors of Stephanie Wilson - Black American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

Wilson has various awards and honors including The NASA Distinguished Service Medal and NASA Space Fight Medal to name but a few. She has also been given an honorary Doctorate from Williams College.

24. Earl W. Renfroe - Black American (African American) Scientist and Orthodontist

Earl W. Renfroe, an African America orthodontist, and educator who advocated for racial equality.

Biography (Life) of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist, and Orthodontist

Renfroe was born in Chicago on the 9th January 1907. He would later graduate from Austin O. Sexton Gammer School in 1921 and later the Bowen High School in Chicago in 1925.

In 1934, he became the first Black American in Illinois, and the 3rd in the U.S. to obtain a commercial pilot's license.

Renfroe was married to Hilda Forte, who died just one month before her husband on the 13th September 2000. The couple had three children.

Education of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

Whilst at Bowen High School he became the first Black American at the school to attain the rank of Cadet Commander in the Reserve Officers Training Corps.

The career of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

During Renfroe joined the Illinois National Guard in World War II, Renfroe served with the 184th field artillery division of the 1932. He would remain there for many years, eventually attaining the rank of general in 1984. United States Army as the chief dental officer in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. After the war he returned to his teaching position in Illinois but remained in the U.S. Army Reserves, retiring as a colonel in 1968.

Renfroe was certified as an orthodontic specialist in 1948. In 1950, he became the first African American professional in any field to open an office in downtown Chicago's "Loop".

He would teach clinical orthodontics at the University of Ilinois for almost 60 years. During his time he built a reputation for being the best hands-on instructor in the world.

Dr. Renfroe was promoted to associate professor at the UIC College of Dentistry in 1953, and to full professor in 1957. In 1966, Renfroe became the first African American to lead a department at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, when he was named head of the Department of Orthodontics.

International Impact of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

During the 1950's, Renfroe traveled abroad to lecture on orthodontics. He would eventually lecture in nine countries including Brazil where he was invited back to several times.

Dr. Renfroe also made 30 trips to Barbados, where a dental facility now is named after him.

Textbooks of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

Renfroe published a landmark textbook, Technique Training in Orthodontics, in 1960. This was required reading for budding dentists in Brazil through the 1960's.

Awards and Honors of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

Renfroe was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the UIC Dental Alumni Association in 1988. He was also inducted into the Chicago Senior citizens Hall of Fame.

Death of Earl W. Renfroe - Black American Scientist and Orthodontist

Earl died on the 14th November 2000 and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetry.

25. Lisa Perez Jackson - Black American (African American) Chemical Engineer

Lisa Jackson is a Black American chemical engineer who served as the Administrator for the EPA between 2009 and 2013, the first African American to hold that position.

Biography (Life) of Lisa P. Jackson - Black American Chemical Engineer

Jackson was born on the February 8th, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniabefore being adopted a few weeks later. She grew up in New Orleans and would later attend Tulane University with a scholarship from the Shell Oil Company.

Jackson is married to Kenneth Jackson and the couple has two children. The family lives in East Windsor Township, New Jersey.

She was initiated into the Delta Sigma Theta sorority as an honorary member in 2013.

Education of Lisa P. Jackson - Black American Chemical Engineer

Jackson graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University with a Bachelors of Science in chemical engineering in 1983. She later earned her Masters of Science from Princeton University in 1986.

EPA Career of Lisa P. Jackson - Black American Chemical Engineer

Jackson joined the EPA in 1987 as a staff-level engineer later moving to the New York City regional office. Her career here revolved around developing numerous hazardous waste cleanup regulations and projects, including on the Superfund remediation program.

DEP Career of Lisa P. Jackson - Black American Chemical Engineer

After working with the EPC for 16 years, Jackson joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2002. She served as the assistant commissioner of compliance and enforcement. In 2008, then President-elect Barack Obama designated Jackson as the nominee for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. She was the first African American to serve as EPA Administrator, and only the fourth woman to hold the position. She stepped down in 2013, possibly due to her objections to the Keystone pipeline.

Apple Career of Lisa P. Jackson - Black American Chemical Engineer

In May of 2013, Jackson joined Apple Inc as their Environmental Director.

26. Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American (African American) Scientist and Chemist

Lloyd Albert Quarterman was a Black American scientist who is best known for his work on the Manhattan Project.

Biography (Life) of Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Quarterman was born on the 31st May 1918 in Philadelphia. He would develop an interest in chemistry at a young age and would often be seen experimenting with a chemistry set bought for him by his parents.

Education of Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Quarterman attended St Augustine's College, Raleigh, North Carolina where he earned his bachelors degree in chemistry in 1943.

Manhattan Project and Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Shortly after graduating, Quarterman was hired to join the top-secret Manhattan Project. This would make him one of the very few Black American scientists who worked there. He also worked as a junior chemist at Columbia University, and under Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago.

His primary responsibility was to design and build a special distillation system to purify large amounts of hydrogen fluoride. This was needed to separate Uranium isotope U-235 for making the final bombs,

Post-WW2 Career of Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American Scientist and Chemist

After the war, Quarterman earned a Master of Science from Northwestern University in 1952. He then returned to the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, where he remained for the rest of his career. Here he assisted in the development of the first nuclear reactor for atomic-powered submarines, continued his studies of fluoride solutions, and began preliminary research into synthetic blood.

Death of Lloyd Albert Quarterman - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Quarterman died in July of 1982 at the age of 64 in Chicago, Illinois. He donated his body to science for research.

27. Joan Murrell Owens - Black American (African American) Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

Joan Murrel Owens was a Black American marine biologist and educator who specialized in the study of corals.

Biography (Life) of Joan Murrell Owens - Black American Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

Owens was born on the 30th June 1933 in Miami, Florida. She was the youngest of three children.

Her parents encouraged her early fascination with ocean life and supported her ambition to become a marine biologist. Owens' father was an avid fisherman which in no small part helped fuel her interest in ocean life.

She suffered from sickle cell anemia which would hamper her later career.

After years of research at the Smithsonian, she would become a professor at the Geology and Geography Department at Howard University in 1986. She transferred to the Biology Department in 1992 and retired in 1995.

Education of Joan Murrell Owens - Black American Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

After graduating from Miami's Booker T. Washington High School in 1950, Owens attended the historically Black Fisk University, supported in part by scholarships from the Pepsi-Cola Company and a Sarah Maloney Art Scholarship. Like most historically Black colleges at the time, Fisk did not offer a program in the marine sciences, so instead Owns majored in fine art and received her degree in 1954. She also took minors in mathematics and psychology.

She went on to enroll at the University of Michigan intending on studying commercial art but instead changed to an MS degree in guidance counseling. She graduated in 1956.

After working at the University of Michigan's Children's Psychiatric Hospital and teaching at Howard University, she returned to University to study a major in Geology with a minor in Zoology at George Washington University in 1970. Again, this was because Washington did not offer marine biology as a degree.

She received her B.S. in Geology in in 1973 and her M.S. 1976. Owens later received her Ph.D. in Geology from George Washington University in 1984.

Research of Joan Murrell Owens - Black American Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

Most of Owens' research was limited to laboratory work given that her medical condition meant she was unable to SCUBA dive. A large percentage of her work was conducted with coral samples that the Smithsonian Institution collected during an 1880 British Expedition.

Discoveries of Three New Species of Coral by Joan Murrell Owens - Black American Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

Whilst working at the Smithsonian Owens described the new genus Rhombopsammia and its two species in 1986. She alsoadded a new species to the genus Letepsammia in 1994, naming L. franki for her husband, Frank A. Owens.

Death of Joan Murrell Owens - Black American Scientist, Marine Biologist, and Educator

Joan died on the 25th May 2011 and she was survived by her sister, her daughters, and granddaughter.

28. Margaret S. Collins - Black American (African American) Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Biography (Life) of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Collins was born on the 4th September 1922 in Institute, West Virginia. she was considered a child prodigy and started college at the age of 14.

Education of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

This made her the first African American woman to gain an entomology PhD and only the third African American female zoologist in the US.

The career of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Collins taught at Florida A&M University and later at Howard University, where she became the president of the Entomological Society of Washington and a research associate at the Smithsonian. She did, however, primarily consider herself a field scientist, focussing her fieldwork on North and South America.

While in Florida, Collins was a volunteer driver for the Tallahassee Bus Boycott - a student-led boycott to end segregation. Her increasing civil rights and equality activism resulted in her being targeted by bomb threats.

Between the late 1970s through to 1996, Collins served as a research associate in the Smithsonian'sNational Museum of Natural History, Department of Entomology. She specialized in termites from the Caribbean.

Research of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Collins' research would focus on termites, specifically their evolution, tolerance to high temperatures, defensive behaviors, general ecology, taxonomy, and etymology. She also researched termites in Guyana and advised Guyana's military on ways to build that would avoid termite damage and how to use termite excretions to strengthen building materials.

Publications of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Collins made various publications during her career including:
- Science and the Question of Human Equality - 1981.
- Biology of Termites - Water relations in termites chapter - 1969.

Death of Margaret S. Collins - Black American Scientist, Zoologist, Entomologist and Civil Rights Advocate

Collin's was still performing scientific research when she passed way in the Cayman Islands on the 27th April 1996. She was 76 years old.

29. Benjamin "Ben" Montgomery - Black American (African American) Inventor and Landowner

Benjamin Montgomery was a Black American inventor and landowner.

Biography (Life) of Benjamin Montgomery - Black American Inventor, Landowner, and Freedman

Montgomery was born into slavery in Loudoun County, Virginia in 1819. He was later sold to Joseph Emory Davis in Mississippi. Montgomery was taught to read and write by the Davis children.

At one point Montgomery escaped but was recaptured. Davis enquired whyMontgomery felt the need to escape and the two men reached a mutual understanding. Davis would soon after appoint Montgomery to run a general store on his plantation. Impressed with his knowledge and abilities to run the store, Davis placed Montgomery in charge of overseeing all of his purchasing and shipping operations on the plantation.

Ben would later marry and have a son in 1847.

He would later become a freedman, buy his masters plantation, become the first Black American Mississippian official and open his own general store with his son.

Education of Benjamin Montgomery - Black American Inventor, Landowner, and Freedman

Montgomery was largely self-taught and never received a formal education. He eventually learned many skills, including flood control, surveying, machine repair, and steamboat navigation.

Patents of Benjamin Montgomery - Black American Inventor, Landowner, and Freedman - "Steam-Operated Propeller"

Being a slave, Montgomery was unable to file a patent for his invention. Davis attempted to file the patent in his name, but this was also refused as he was not the actual inventor.

When Davis' younger brother Jefferson Davis, become the President of the Confederate States of America, this changed. He signed into law the ability for slaves to file for and be awarded patents. On June 28, 1864, Montgomery, who was no longer a slave at that point, filed a patent application for his device, but this was again rejected.

"Davis Bend" and Benjamin Montgomery - Black American Inventor, Landowner, and Freedman

During the height of the civil war, Davis and his family fled from the approaching Union Army and Montgomery assumed control of and ran the plantation. At the conclusion of the war, Davies sold the plantation to Montgomery and his son Isaiah, loaning them the $300,000 they needed. The Montgomery's hoped to use the property to establish a community of freed slaves, but natural disasters decimated their crops, leaving them unable to pay off the loan. The property reverted back to the Davis family and Benjamin Montgomery died the following year, in 1877.

The legacy of Benjamin Montgomery - Black American Inventor, Landowner, and Freedman

Isaiah Montgomery was later able to purchase 840 acres of land and, along with a number of other former slaves, he founded the town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi in 1887.

30. Mary Styles Harris - Black American (African American) Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist

Mary Styles Harris is a distinguished African America Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist. She has built a prominent career in health research.

Biography (Life) of Mary Styles Harris - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist

Harris was born on the 26th June 1949 in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father was a doctor and his career directly inspired Harris to follow in his footsteps.

Her father, George, died when Harris was only 9 years old.In 1963 Harris was one of the first African Americans to enter Miami Jackson High School. Four years later, she graduated 12th out of a class of 350.

She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and their daughter.

Education of Mary Styles Harris - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist

Harris earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in 1971. She was awarded the Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship to study molecular genetics at Cornell University and earned her Ph.D. in 1975.

The Career of Mary Styles Harris - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist

In 1977, Harris became the executive director of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia and was later awarded a science residency by the National Science Foundation. After completing her Science Residency, Harris became the Georgia state director of Genetic Services for the Georgia Department of Human Resources. In this position, she influences health policies nationwide.

At the same time, Harris worked as a part-time assistant professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta and at Atlanta University. In 1987, Harris became founder and president of BioTechnical Communications, which produces audiovisual materials on health topics that are issues of major concern among minority communities.

TV and Radio Appearances of Mary Styles Harris - Black American Scientist, Biologist and Geneticist

Harris has produced a number of television and radio shows, as well as a call-in radio show, Journey To Wellness: African American Health Radio and developed a documentary, To My Sisters... A Gift For Life, focusing on breast cancer in African American Women

Harris has produced television and radio shows. She also hosts a radio show, Journey to Wellness, and has developed a documentary, To My Sisters... A Gift for Life.

Awards of Mary Styles Harris - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Geneticist

Harris has received various awards including Glamour magazine's Outstanding Working Woman Award in 1980, and awards from the Governor's Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the Women's Forum of Georgia.

31. Henry Cecil McBay - Black American (African American) Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

Henry Cecil McBay was a Black American chemist and teacher.

Biography (Life) of Henry Cecil McBay - Black American Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

Henry was born in 1914 in Mexia, Texas. His parents had only a seventh grade education, but they were determined that their children would receive an education. All five of the McBay children eventually graduated from university.

Education of Henry Cecil McBay - Black American Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

McBay showed a proficiency in mathematics at a young age. This would help him gain admission to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas at the age of 16. He paid for his tuition by working in the dining hall and local post office.

After graduating from Wiley College in 1934, with a B.S. in chemistry, McBay entered the graduate chemistry program at Atlanta University. In 1936, McBay earned his master's degree.

A lack of funds, and the need to help pay for his siblings' college education, prevented McBay from continuing on to his Ph.D., so over the next several years, he taught at a number of schools, including Wiley College and Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, while also conducting research.

In 1942, McBay took up a position as departmental assistant at the University of Chicago and began his doctoral research work in 1944. His outstanding work earned him the Elizabeth Norton Prize for Excellence in Chemical Research in both 1944 and 1945 and he was awarded a doctoral degree in chemistry in 1945.

He spent the next 36 years teaching in the chemistry department at Morehouse College, ultimately becoming the David Packard professor of chemistry. Up to 1995, more than fifty of McBay's African American students went on to earn a Ph.D. or M.D., more than under any other teacher in the country.

Teaching Career of Henry Cecil McBay - Black American Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

Henry loved nothing more than passing on his love of chemistry to younger minds. He regularly gave demonstrations on how to combine two materials.

In 1951 he developed a chemistry education program for Liberia for UNESCO.

Honors and Awards of Henry Cecil McBay - Black American Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

McBay would receive many awards throughout his career including many outstanding teacher awards and the Norton Prize for Excellence in Chemistry Research.

Death of Henry Cecil McBay - Black American Scientist, Chemist, and Teacher

McBay died in Atlanta on the 23rd June 1995.

32. Evelyn Boyd Granville - Black American (African American) Scientist and Mathematician

Evelyn Bond Granville was only the second-ever Black American Woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics in the United States. She would later work with NASA and became an influential professor.

Biography (Life) of Evelyn Boyd Granville - Black American Scientist and Mathematician

Granville was born on the 1st of May, 1924 in Washington D.C. Her father worked various jobs during the great depression and her parents separated when she was very young.

She enrolled at Smith College in 1941 with funding from a partial scholarship from Phi Delta Kappa and money from her aunt.

She married in 1960 but divorced 7 years later. She remarried again in 1970.

Education of Evelyn Boyd Granville - Black American Scientist and Mathematician

Granville graduated from Smith College in 1945 with a degree in mathematics and physics. She also gained a keen interest in astronomy.

She was later accepted by Yale University and the University of Michigan for a graduate program in mathematics. Granville chose the former as they offered financial aid for her studies.

She would earn her doctorate in 1949 from Yale.

The career of Evelyn Boyd Granville - Black American Scientist and Mathematician

After earning her Ph.D., Granville spent a postdoctoral year at the New York University Institute of Mathematics and taught at New York University, before taking a teaching job at Fisk University in 1950.

She returned to Washington in 1952 to work on the development of missile fuses at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington, D.C. Her division of NBS was later absorbed by the United States Army and became the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories.

In 1960, she changed jobs again and worked at IBM's Vanguard Computing Center in Washington, D.C. Here she wrote computer programs that tracked orbits for the uncrewed Vanguard satellite and the crewed Mercury spacecraft. She took a number of jobs in Los Angeles before returning to IBM in 1963 as senior mathematician.

She later took a position as assitant professor of mathematics at California State University, Los Angeles in 1967, taught computer science and mathematics at Texas College in Tyler, and in 1990 she was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Texas, Tyler. She retired in 1997.

In 1975 she and her colleague Jason Frand wrote a textbook, Theory and Applications of Mathematics for Teachers.

Honors and Awards of Evelyn Boyd Granville - Black American Scientist and Mathematician

Granville received various awards and honors throughout her career including honorary degrees from Smith College and the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal from Yale.
34. Ernest Everett Just - Black American (African American) Scientist, Biologist, Academic and Science Writer
Ernest Everett Just was a pioneering Black American academic, science writer and biologist. He is best known for his work on the physiology of development notably in fertilization.

Biography (Life) of Ernest Everett Just - Black American Scientist, Biologist, Academic and Science Writer

Just was born on the 14th August 1883 in South Carolina. His father was a dock builder who later died of alcoholism. His mother, Mary Matthews, would raise him and his sister thereafter as a single mother.

She supported the family by working as a teacher in an African America school in Charleston, she also worked in the phosphate miners in the summer. His mother would later persuade some other families to move to James island to farm. The town they founded, now part of the greater Charleston, was called Maryville in her honor.

He was married in 1912 and had three children but he divorced later in 1939. He would marry Hedwig Schnetzler, a philosophy student he had met in Berlin, the same year.

Education of Ernest Everett Just - Black American Scientist, Biologist, Academic and Science Writer

Just went to school for a time at the "Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina", later known asSouth Carolina State University,in Orangeburg, South Carolina. However, unhappy with the quality of education for Blacks in South Carolina, Just's mother sent him to Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, at the age of 16. His mother died in his second year there. Despite this, Just graduated in 1903 at the head of his class.

Just went on to graduate magna cum laude with an honors degree in zoology from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, New Jersey, in 1907. While there, he was honored as a Rufus Choate scholar for two years and was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Although he was also head of the class there, the school thought it would set a bad example to let a Black student deliver the commencement speech.

After graduating, Just accepted a teaching position at the historically Black invertebrate zoology and embryology. He also founded Omega Psi Phi fraternity in Howard University, and conducted research into November of 1911 along with three Howard students. This was the first all-Black fraternity in the U.S.

He later earned a PhD in 1916 from the University of Chicago, becoming one of a very few African American to earn a PhD from a major institution.

He then did a stint at Woods Hole, where he became known as an internationally respected scientist.

The career of Ernest Everett Just - Black American Scientist, Biologist, Academic and Science Writer

Despite his reputation, racism prevented Just from gaining a position at a major American university - one which would allow him more time for research than he had at Howard.

In 1930, he became the first American to be invited to the renowned briefly imprisoned by the invading Germans in a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin-Dahlem, Germany. Just ended up making a number of visits there to conduct research between 1929 and 1933. When the Nazis came to power, Just studied in France. He was working there when WWII broke out in 1940 and Just was prisoner-of-war camp. He was rescued by the U.S. State Department and returned to the U.S in September 1940. However, Just had been very ill before his imprisonment and his condition deteriorated while interred. In the fall of 1941, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died that October.

Publications of Ernest Everett Just - Black American Scientist, Biologist, Academic and Science Writer

Ernest would publish many papers during his time in Europe. This included his seminal work "General Cytology".

Ernest would spend his career studying and developing pioneering techniques in diverse areas of physiology. These included in fertilization, experimental parthenogenesis, cell division, hydration, diversion, dehydration of cells and UV carcinogenic radiation effects on cells.

He was also the editor for three scholarly periodicals. Ernest also became a Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Biology allowing him to work in Europe.

His legacy in science would live on long after his tragic death.

35. Hadiyah-Nicole Green - Black American (African American) Scientist and Medical Physicist

Hadiyah-Nicole Green is a Black American medical physicist. She is best known for her development of cancer treatment using laser-activated nanoparticles. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Biography (Life) of Hadiyah-Nicole Green - Black American Scientist and Medical Physicist

Green was orphaned at a young age and raised by her aunt and uncle in St. Louis, Missouri. She would later become the first in her family to attend college.

She received a full academic scholarship to attend Alabama A&M University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Physics with a minor in Mathematics in 2003. She went on to earn an M.Sc. in Physics in 2009 and a Ph.D. in Physics in 2012, both from the University of Alabama.

An internship at NASA helped Green realize the potential use of lasers in cancer treatment. She developed a method where lasers are used to find and image cancer cells by "illuminating" nanoparticles inserted in the cells.

After graduate school, Green worked as an assistant professor at Tuskegee University and later moved to Morehouse School of Medicine.

In 2016 she received a $1.1 million grant from the Veterans Affairs Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Scientist Training Program to develop her laser technique. She also founded the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation, in memory of her aunt, who died of cancer in 2005. The foundation aims to develop cancer treatment and make it affordable for all.

Mentoring Black Students and Hadiyah-Nicole Green - Black American Scientist and Medical Physicist

Green dedicates what free time she has to mentor and speak to young black students.

36. James Andrew Harris - Black American (African American) Scientist and Nuclear Chemist

James Andrew Harris is a Black American nuclear chemist who helped discover elements 104 and 105.

"First African-American to be involved in the discovery of new elements"

Harris helped co-discover elements 104 - Rutherfordium, and 105 - Dubnium. Unlike his colleagues, did not have a Ph.D. when he did so. This made him the first Black American to be involved in a major new-element ID program.

Biography (Life) of James Andrew Harris - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Chemist

Harris was born in Waco, Texas on March 26th, 1932. His parents divorced when he was young and he was raised by his mother.

At 12, he moved to Oakland, California to live with his aunt. After graduating from high school in Oakland, he returned to Texas and earned a BS in Chemistry from Huston-Tillotson College in 1953.

Harris did a two year stint in the Army, and after he was demobbed in 1955 he took a job at Tracerlab in Richmond, California.

While working at Tracerlab, Harris met and married Helen Harris and the couple eventually had five children. He was a devoted father.

The career of James Andrew Harris - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Chemist

In 1960, Harris accepted a position at the University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (today part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, commonly called the Lab). There, Harris was the first Black chemist involved in programs that identified or produced new elements

As part of his work in the Heavy Isotopes Production Group Harris helped discover rutherfordium (element 104) in 1969 and dubnium (element 105) in 1970.

Controversies with Russian Scientists About the Discoveries and James Andrew Harris - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Chemist

Both elements 104 and 105 were also discovered by a Russian team in the 1960's, led by George Flerov. The Russians gave the elements different names.

Albert Ghiorso, who led Harris's team, would dispute the Russian claims. Eventually, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (UPAC) accepted both claims and ruled on the current naming of both elements.

By the early 1970s, Harris was leading the Heavy Isotopes Group, despite being the only researcher in the group without a Ph.D. Harris worked at th Lab until his retirement in 1988.

After his retirement Harris dedicated much of his time to encouraging Black youth into the sciences. His committment resulted in dozens of awards from groups such as the National Organization for Equal Opportunity in Education and the Urban League.

Death of James Andrew Harris - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Chemist

James Harris died of a sudden illness on December 12th, 2000.

37. Reatha Clark King - Black American (African American) Scientist, Chemist, and Businesswoman

Reatha Clark King is a Black American chemist and corporate executive. She is married and is a mother two children.

Biography (Life) of Reatha Clark King - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Businesswoman

King was born on the 11th April 1938 in Pavo, Georgia. After her parents separated, her mother moved the family to Moultrie, Georgia.

Her family were poor sharecroppers and as a child King often worked in the cotton fields.

Education of Reatha Clark King - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Businesswoman

King received her primary education in a one-room schoolhouse and in 1954, she graduated as valedictorian from the Moultrie High School for Negro Youth.

King earned a scholarship to Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received a B.S. degree in chemistry and mathematics in 1958. A Woodrow Wilson fellowship allowed her to continue her studies at the University of Chicago, where she earned M.S. (1960) and Ph.D. degrees (1963) in physical chemistry.

In 1977, King received her M.B.A. degree from Columbia University.

Scientific Career of Reatha Clark King - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Businesswoman

After earning her Ph.D. degree, King was hired by the National Bureau of Standards, becoming the agency's first African American female chemist.

In 1968, King moved to New York City and worked assistant professor at the City University of New York in Jamaica, Queens. In 1970 she became associate dean for the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics and associate dean for academic affairs in 1974.

In 1977, King took up a position as president of Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota. In 1988, King was hired at General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota as executive director of the General Mills Foundation and vice president of the General Mills Corporation. She worked at General Mills until her retirement in 2002. In 2011, she began working with Allina Health Systems as a corporate director.

Board Memberships of Reatha Clark King - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Businesswoman

From 1979, King has served on a large number of corporate and non-profit boards. These have included the Exxon Mobil Company, H.B. Fuller Company, Wells Fargo & Company, Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company, University of Chicago, American Council on Education and the Council on Foundations.

Honors and Awards of Reatha Clark King - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Businesswoman

King has been the recipient of many awards and honors throughout her career. These have included the National Association of Corporate Directors of the Year, and the Defender of Democracy Award from the Washington, DC. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., Exceptional Black Scientist Award from the CIBA-GEIGY Corporation and 14 honorary doctorate degrees

38. Lloyd Hall - Black American (African American) Inventor, Scientist and Chemist

Lloyd Hall was a Black American inventor, chemist, and scientist. He is best known for his work on food preservation techniques.

Biography (Life) of Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

Hall was born on the 20th June 1894 in Elgin, Illinois. His grandfather had arrived in Illinois as an escaped slave, using the Underground railway.

Hall would later be an honor student at East Side High School, in Aurora. Here he captained the school debate team and was heavily involved in sports.

Lloyd would later marry.

Education of Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

After graduating High school in 1912, Hall studied pharmaceutical chemistry at Northwestern University, earning a B.Sc. in 1916. He later earned a Master's degree at the University of Chicago.

Western Electric Company and Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist and Chemist

Soon after graduating, Hall was hired by the Western Electric Company. His interview was by telephone, but he was quickly dismissed when he turned up on his first day of work and the company realized he was Black.

The career of Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

Hall began working for the Chicago Department of Health as a chemist in 1917. In 1918 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa where he worked as the chief chemist at the John Morrell Company.

Around this time he also worked as Chief Inspector of Powder and Explosives for the U.S. Ordnance Department, during WW1.

Hall moved to Chicago for a job as chief chemist at the Boyer Chemical Laboratory. Here he worked on the new industry of food chemistry. He later moved to the Chemical Products Corporation. In 1925, he took a position with Griffith Laboratories as chief chemist and director of research, where he remained for 34 years.

Food Science and Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

At Griffith's Laboratories, Hall began researching better ways of preserving foods. Up to this point, salt was the main preservative used, especially for meats. Nitrogen-based chemicals were also used but these tended to adversely damage the meat.

Hall developed a method of enclosing nitrates and nitrites within a salt "shell" to help preserve food and 'cure; the meat without affecting its quality.

He would later develop means of improving preservation of meats stored in containers and developed a means of sterilizing foods, utensils, and tools.

Contributions of Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

Hall's contributions' revolutionized food preservation, sterilization, preparation, and transportation. He, in no small part, helped improve the efficiency and profitability of food suppliers.

Hall published 5 scientific reports on his findings and received more than 100 patents.

Death of Lloyd Hall - Black American Inventor, Scientist, and Chemist

After retiring from Griffith in 1959, Hall consulted for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and sat on the American Food for Peace Council. Hall died in 1971.

39. Marguerite Williams - Black American (African American) Scientist and Geologist

Marguerite Williams was the first Black American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Geology.

Biography (Life) of Marguerite Williams - Black American Scientist and Geologist

Marguerite was born in 1895 in Washington D.C., the youngest of her five siblings born to her parents Henry and Clara Thomas. Not much in known about her early life.

Education of Marguerite Williams - Black American Scientist and Geologist

Williams attended the teacher-training program at Miners Teachers College, which is now known as the University of the District of Columbia. She graduated in 1916 with high-enough grades for her to get a scholarship and continue her education at Howard University, Washington D.C.

She earned her B.Sc. in Geology from Howard University in 1923, after which she went back to Miner Teachers College where she was appointed the position of assistant professor and 'Chair of the Division of Geography'. After a few years, Williams attended Columbia University, where she earned her masters in 1930.

Williams returned to Miners Teacher College but a decade later she began a PhD at the Catholic University of America. Her doctoral work focused on the Anacostia drainage basin, located near Bladensburg in Maryland.

Williams completed her Ph.D. in Geology in 1942. She was the first African American to earn a doctorate in geology in the United States.

Dissertation of Marguerite Williams - Black American Scientist and Geologist

Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled "The Study of the History of Erosion in the Anacostia Drainage Basin". This was a study on a local geological feature.

The career of Marguerite Williams - Black American Scientist and Geologist

After completing her PhD, Williams was promoted to Full Professor at the Miners Teacher College. She also started to teach evening courses at Howard University.

Williams continued teaching classes in geography and social sciences, including night classes, until her retirement in 1955.

Death of Marguerite Williams - Black American Scientist and Geologist

Marguerite died in 1991.

40. George Franklin Grant - Black American (African American) Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

George Franklin Grant was an African America dentist, academic, and inventor. He is famed for being the first Black American professor at Harvard.

Biography (Life) of George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

George was born in September of 1846 in Oswego, New York. His parents were former slaves. He would graduate from Harvard and later work there.

George later became the President of the Harvard Dental Association.

Education of George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

George earned his degree in dentistry in 1870 from Harvard University.

The career of George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

At the age of 15, Grant was hired by the local dentist as an errand boy. He soon became a lab assistant and the dentist encouraged him to pursue a career in dentistry.

In 1868, he and Robert Tanner Freeman, another son of former slaves, became the first blacks to enroll at Harvard Dental School. After graduating in 1870, he became the first Black American faculty member of the University, in the School of Mechanical Dentistry. He stayed at Harvard for another 19 years.

Grant specialized in treating congenital cleft palates. By 1889 he had successfully treated over 115 cases. He later patented the oblate palate, a prosthetic device that allowed patients with cleft palates to speak more normally.

"Harvard Odontological Society" and George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

Grant helped found the Harvard Odontological Society in 1881 and that year he was also elected President of the Harvard Dental Association.

Patents of George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist - "Improvements on Percy Ellis' 'Perfectum' Golf Tee"

George loved to play golf and in 1899 he patented his 'Perfectum' gold tee. This was made from whittled wood capped with gutta-percha latex resin more commonly used during root canal surgery.

Death of George Franklin Grant - Black American Inventor, Academic, and Dentist

George died in 1910 from liver disease.

41. Ruth Ella Moore - Black American (African American) Scientist and Bacteriologist

Ruth Ella Moore was a bacteriologist and the first Black American woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in natural science.

Biography (Life) of Ruth Ella Moore - Black American Scientist and Bacteriologist

Moore was born on May 19, 1903 in Columbus, Ohio. She would later become the head of the Bacteriology Department at Howard University.

Her life was dedicated to the study of tuberculosis, immunology and blood groups in Black Americans.

Education of Ruth Ella Moore - Black American Scientist and Bacteriologist

Moore earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 1925 and her master's degree in 1927 from Ohio State University. She later earned her Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the same university, in 1933.

Dissertation of Ruth Ella Moore - Black American Scientist and Bacteriologist

Her MS and Ph.D. dissertation(s) was entitled "Studies on Dissociation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis" and "A New Method of Concentration on the Tubercule Bacilli as Applied to Sputum And Urine Examination".

These were both studies on the Tuberculosis bacteria.

The career of Ruth Ella Moore - Black American Scientist and Bacteriologist

Moore taught hygiene and English at Tennessee State College whilst an undergraduate. She joined Howard University College in 1940 as Assistant Professor of Bacteriology.

After earning her Ph.D., Moore became an assistant professor at Howard University, and in 1952 she was appointed the head of the bacteriology department. She was the first woman to head any department at Howard. Later she became Associate Professor of Microbiology.

She retired in 1973 and held a position as Emeritus Professor of Microbiology.

Death of Ruth Ella Moore - Black American Scientist and Bacteriologist

Ruth died in Rockville, Maryland in 1994. She was 91 years old.

42. Emmett Chappelle - Black American (African American) Scientist

Emmett Chappelle was a Black American biochemist who has made significant advancements in medicine, food science, and Astrochemistry.

Biography (Life) of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

Chappelle was born on the 24th October 1925 in Pheonix, Arizona. He grew up on a small farmstead on the edge of Pheonix.

After graduating from High School in 1942, Chappelle was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he received some training in engineering before being assigned to the all-black 92 nd Infantry Division and posted to Italy.

After a fruitful scientific career and some time at NASA, he retired in 2001.

Education of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

Chappelle received his B.Sc. in Biology from the University of California in 1950. He later earned his Master's degree in Biology in 1954 from the University of Washington.

After his return from Italy in 1946, Chappelle attended Phoenix College where he received an A. A. in electrical engineering. Chappelle then attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a B.S. degree in biology.

He worked as a biochemistry instructor at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee until 1953, before earning a master's degree at the University of Washington. He worked as a research associate at Stanford University where he was also appointed as a scientist and biochemist for the Research Institute of Advanced Studies until 1963. Chappelle completed his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1958.

The Career of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

After earning his Ph.D. Chappelle joined the Research Institute for Advanced Studies at Baltimore, a division of the Martin Marietta Corporation. He later joined Hazelton Laboratories in 1963 as a biochemist, before joining NASA in 1966 as an exobiologist and astrochemist.

NASA and Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

At NASA, Chappelle helped develop instruments to collect and scrape soil from the surface of Mars and conducted research on luminescence.

He was involved in various projects including the Viking Spacecraft. In 1977, he moved to the Goddard Space Flight Center. Here his work focused on remote sensing and on improving environmental management.

Chappelle retired from NASA in 2001. He died in 2019.

Publications of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

Chappelle published more than 35 peer-reviewed papers, scientific and technical publications, nearly fifty conference papers, and co-authored or edited numerous other publications in his field.

Patents of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

Chappelle received 14 patents throughout his career.

Honors of Emmett Chappelle - Black American Scientist

Chappelle has been honored as one of the Top 100 Black American scientists and engineers of the 20 th Century. He also received the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA.

He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.

43. Alma Levant Hayden - Black American (African American) Scientist and Chemist

Alma Levant Hayden was a Black American chemist who was one of the first women to gain a scientific position at a government science agency.

Biography (Life) of Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Hayden was born on the 30th March 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. She had originally planned to be a nurse but later found she quite liked chemistry.

Hayden later met and married Alonzo R. Hayden. The couple had two children.

Education of Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Hayden graduated from South Carolina State College with a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry in 1947. She later gained her master's degree in Chemistry from Howard University.

The career of Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

After graduation, Hayden joined the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. She later moved to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the mid-1950's.

This is widely accepted to be the first official position given to a Black American at the agency.

"Krebiozen" and Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

At the height of the Thalidomide tragedy in 1962, the FDA's role in ensuring drug safety was increased. With provisions for regulating Thalidomide in place, the FDA turned its attention to Krebiozen, a new and expensive cancer treating drug.

Hayden and her team were able to determine that Krebiozen was, in fact, a naturally-occuring substance, creatine, which has no effect on cancer in animals. Hayden backed this up with analysis from MIT.

She also testified at the lengthy criminal trial of the promoters of Krebiozen.

Publications of Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Hayden published several scientific papers throughout her career.

Death of Alma Levant Hayden - Black American Scientist and Chemist

Alma Hayden died of cancer on the 2nd August 1967. She was survived by her husband and children.

44. Guion Bluford - Black American (African American) Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Guion Bluford is a Black American aerospace engineer, retired Air Force pilot and former NASA astronaut.

"First Black American in space"

Bluford is best known as the being the First Black American in space, when participating in four Space Shuttle missions between 1983 and 1992.

Biography (Life) of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 22nd November 1942. He would go on to become a USAF combat pilot who would see action in Vietnam, flying 144 combat missions.

He would later become a flight instructor, join NASA and fly on no less than 4 Space Shuttle missions.

Bluford married in 1964 and the couple had two children.

Education of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1964 with a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering. He was then commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a fighter pilot. He later completed a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 1974.

Bluford later completed a Ph.D. in 1978 from AFIT in Aerospace Engineering and Laser Physics. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1987.

U.S. Air Force and Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford began his pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, receiving his wings in 1966. He was later transferred to the 557 th Tactical Fighter Squadron and flew 144 combat missions in various theatres including North Vietnam.

He would later become an instructor at Sheppard Air Force Base in the late 1960's. Bluford then trained as an officer in 1971.

After his master's degree, he conducted research into Aerodynamics and fluid mechanics at the Air Force Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

NASA Career of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Guion was selected by NASA in 1978 for their astronaut program. His first mission was STS-8 that launched from Kennedy Space Centre in 1983.

Bluford would go on to be a crew member of another three Space Shuttle Missions: STS-61-A, STS-39, and STS-53.

Post-NASA Career of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford retired from NASA in 1993. Post-NASA he took up the post of Vice President/General Manager of the Engineering Services Division of NYMA, Maryland.

He has since served in leadership roles for Federal Data Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Aerospace Technologies Group.

Memberships of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford has been a member of many organizations including as a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the National Research Council to name but a few.

Honors and Awards of Guion Bluford - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Engineer

Bluford would receive many awards and honors throughout his life. These included many military medals as well as entry into various halls of fame.

45. Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American (African American) Scientist and Anatomist

Ruth Smith Lloyd was the first Black American Woman to acquire a Doctorate in Anatomy in the U.S.

Biography (Life) of Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American Scientist and Anatomist

Lloyd was born on the 17th January 1917. Her father was a Pullman porter and her mother was a clerk at the Treasury Department.

She was youngest of three sisters. She would later attend Dunbar High School before going to Mount Holyoke College.

Lloyd married Sterling Lloyd in December of 1939 a physician from Howard University. Her husband died in 1980.

The couple had three children and eight grandchildren. Lloyd was an active member of her local church in her retirement.

She also founded the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1987. Lloyd was also a member of the social and service organization, Girl Friends.

Education of Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American Scientist and Anatomist

Lloyd attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts where she majored in zoology, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1937. She then studied for a Master's degree in zoology at Howard University. At Howard, she was taught by Ernest Everett Just.

Studying the fertility of macaque monkeys at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio she received her Ph.D. in 1941. On graduation, Lloyd became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in anatomy.

The career of Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American Scientist and Anatomist

Lloyd taught at Hampton Institute, Virginia between 1941 and 1942. She then joined the medical staff at Howard University in 1942.

Lloyd returned briefly to Washington, D.C. before becoming a faculty member at Howard University College of Medicine, a position she held until her retirement in 1977.

Research of Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American Scientist and Anatomist

Lloyd's research primarily focussed on endocrinology, sex-related hormones, and medical genetics.

Death of Ruth Smith Lloyd - Black American Scientist and Anatomist

Lloyd passed away in February of 1995, at the age of 78.

46. Leland D. Melvin - Black American (African American) Scientist, Engineer, and Former NASA Astronaut

Leland Devon Melvin is a Black American engineer and former NASA astronaut.

Biography (Life) of Leland D. Melvin - Black American Scientist, Engineer, and Former NASA Astronaut

Melvin was born on the 15th February 1964 in Lynchburg, Virginia. After attending Heritage High School he enrolled at the University of Richmond on a Football scholarship. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

After graduating in 1986, Melvin was chosen by the Detroit Lions in the 11th round of the NFL Draft. During training camp, he pulled a hamstring and was released by the team. He was chosen to play for the Dallas Cowboys the following year, but pulled another hamstring and his football career was ended before it began. Instead, he went to grad school and in 1991, he received an MS in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Once retired from NASA, Melvin made appearances in some TV programs like Top Chef and the Dog Whisperer.

He is also the president of the Spaceship Earth Grants. This is a public benefits corporation dedicated to making space more accessible to the public.

Education of Leland D. Melvin - Black American Scientist, Engineer, and Former NASA Astronaut

Melvin graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1986. He went on to complete a master's in Materials Science Engineering for the University of Virginia in 1991.

NASA Career of Leland D. Melvin - Black American Scientist, Engineer, and Former NASA Astronaut

Melvin joined the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at NASA's Langley Center in 1989. He worked there for almost a decade before being selected as an astronaut in 1998.

Space Shuttle Atlantis and Leland D. Melvin - Black American Scientist, Engineer, and Former NASA Astronaut

Melvin would fly two Space Shuttle missions for NASA on the shuttle Atlantis during missions STS-122 and STS-129. The latter was the 31st shuttle mission to visit the ISS.

After his second and final mission, STS-129, Melvin had clocked up over 565 hours in space. He retired from NASA in February of 2014. Melvin has published two books; Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances and Chasing Space: Young Reader's Edition.

47. Margaret E. M. Tolbert - Black American (African American) Scientist and Biochemist

Margaret Ellen Mayo Tolbert is a Black American biochemist. She became the first Black American Woman to be in charge of a Department of Energy lab.

Biography (Life) of Margaret E. M. Tolbert - Black American Scientist and Biochemist

Tolbert was born on November 24th, 1943 in Suffolk, Virginia. Her parents both died when she was very young and her grandmother raised Margaret and her siblings for several years. After her grandmother's health declined her eldest sister took the role of the head of the family.

In Junior High, Tolbert had to walk two miles to school every day and was still top of her class. Whilst at High school she also worked as a maid to help pay the family bills, and graduated valedictorian of her High School class.

Later a well-off Black American couple, who she worked for, supported her and encouraged her to attend university.

She married for a time and had a son. She would marry again after her Ph.D.

Education of Margaret E. M. Tolbert - Black American Scientist and Biochemist

Tolbert attended Tuskeegee University and graduated with a B.Sc. in chemistry, with a minor in math, in 1967. She later earned her master's in analytical chemistry from Wayne State University in 1968.

She briefly returned to Tuskegee, where she taught mathematics before going on to complete her doctorate in biochemistry at Brown University in 1973.

The career of Margaret E. M. Tolbert - Black American Scientist and Biochemist

Post-doctorate, Margaret worked at Tuskegee University as a faculty member and chemistry researcher. She also taught at Florida A & M University between 1973 and 1976.

She also served as the Associate Dean at Florida A & M.

For a short period, she performed some research in Brussels, Belgium in 1979 before returning to Tuskegee the same year.

She also held a short-term visiting research position at Brown University, and in 1979 she the first female director of The Carver Research Foundation of Tuskegee University, and provost of the university, while continuing to conduct research at various institutions, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Maine.

In 1987, she joined the research department of British Petroleum. She would later accept a position as Division Director at Argonne National Laboratory. In 1996 she resigned and became Director of the New Brunswick Laboratory, a position she stayed in until 2002. While there, she was the first African American and the first woman in charge of a Department of Energy lab.

In September of 2002, Tolbert became the Senior Advisor to the Office of Integrative Activities, where she worked promoting activities at the National Science Foundation to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM. She held that position until she retired in 2011.

Honors of Margaret E. M. Tolbert - Black American Scientist and Biochemist

Tolbert has received a good number of awards and honors during her life. These include her election as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998.

48. Robert Curbeam - Black American (African American) Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

Robert Curbeam is a former Black American NASA astronaut and scientist.

Biography (Life) of Robert Curbeam - Black American Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

Robert Curbeam was born on the 5th of March, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland.

He is married and has two children. Curbeam enjoys weightlifting, backpacking, and sports.

Education of Robert Curbeam - Black American Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

Curbeam received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1984. In 1990, he earned his masters in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Curbeam also earned a Degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991.

Naval Career of Robert Curbeam - Black American Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1984, Curbeam commenced his Naval Flight Officer Training. After earning his wings he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 11 aboard the USS Forrestal.

During his tour on VF-11, he also attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School, famously given the nickname Topgun.

After completing Test Pilot School in December 1991, he reported to the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate where he was the project officer for the F-14A/B Air-to-Ground Weapons Separation Program. In August 1994, he returned to the U.S. Naval Academy as an instructor in the Weapons and Systems Engineering Department.

NASA Career of Robert Curbeam - Black American Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

Curbeam was selected by NASA in 1994 and completed his training in 1997. Robert took part in two Space Shuttle Missions, STS-85 in 1997 and STS-98 in 2001.

Curbeam clocked up 593 hours in space and retired from NASA in 2007 to join the private sector.

Honors and Awards of Robert Curbeam - Black American Scientist and Former NASA Astronaut

Curbeam received various honors and awards throughout his career including: Fighter One Radar Intercept Officer of the Year in 1989 and U.S. Naval Test Pilot Scholl Best Developmental Thesis (DT-11) Award.

49. Patricia S. Cowings - Black American (African American) Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

Patricia S. Cowings is a specialist scientist who was the first American woman to be trained as a scientist astronaut by NASA.

Biography (Life) of Patricia S. Cowings - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

Cowings was born on the 15th December 1948 in The Bronx, New York. The daughter of the preschool teacher and a grocer, she was one of four children.

Her parents instilled into her the importance of education as a way of "getting out" of the Bronx.

Education of Patricia S. Cowings - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

Cowings earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of New York-Stony Brook in 1970. She later earned her master's in Psychology from the University of California, Davis

Cowings later earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1973.

The career of Patricia S. Cowings - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

Patricia joined NASA in 1971 through their graduate program on a fellowship where she has remained, conducting research, ever since.

Research of Patricia S. Cowings - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

At NASA Patricia has been the principal investigator on various studies. Most of these have involved the Autogenetic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE) - a treatment for space motion sickness that she developed and patented.

AFTE teaches budding astronauts to control up to 20 physiological responses, from heart rate to involuntary muscle contractions.

Honors and Awards of Patricia S. Cowings - Black American Scientist and Aerospace Psychophysiologist

Cowings received various awards and honors throughout her career, including the NASA Individual Achievement Award in 1993, Black Engineer of the Year Award (1997), and the National Women of Color Technology Award in 2006, to name but a few.

50. Harold L. Martin - Black American (African American) Engineer and Educator

Harold L. Martin is a Black American engineer, educator and Chancellor of Winston-Salem State and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Martin is the first alumnus in North Carolina A & T's history to hold this position.

Biography (Life) of Harold L. Martin - Black American Engineer and Educator

Harold was born on the 22nd October 1951 i n Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Martin married and has two sons.

Education of Harold L. Martin - Black American Engineer and Educator

Martin earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from the North Carolina A & T. He later earned his doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1980.

The career of Harold L. Martin - Black American Engineer and Educator

Martin's career started began at his alma mater, North Carolina A & T. He worked in various roles within the schools' electrical engineering department. He later served as the department's dean from 1989 to 1994.

He was later appointed the Vice Chancellor for academic affairs of the university between 1994 and 1999. He became the chancellor of Winston-State University in 2000 to 2006.

In 2006 he became the Senior Vice President for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina. In 2009 he was elected as the 12 th Chancellor of North Carolina A & T State University, a position in which he still serves.

This made him the first alumnus to do so.

Honors and Awards of Harold L. Martin - Black American Engineer and Educator

Martin has received various awards and honors throughout his career. These have included his inclusion in the Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities in 1974. He has also received honorary degrees from Wake Forest University, to name but a few.

51. Ann T. Nelms - Black American (African American) Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Ann T. Nelms is an influential Black American Nuclear Physicist. She is best known for her study of the persistence of nuclear radioactivity, often cited in reports on nuclear fallout.

Biography (Life) of Ann T. Nelms - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Nelms was born in 1929 in Waycross, Georgia.

Since 1954 she has lived in Washington D.C. with her husband and child.

The career of Ann T. Nelms - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Nelms worked as a nuclear physicist for the National Bureau of Standards in the 1950's. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with many other prominent scientists, including Ugo Fano and J W Cooper.

Publications of Ann T. Nelms - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Nelms has published various studies including:

- "Graphs of the Compton Energy-Angle Relationship and the Klein Nishina Formula from 10 Kev to 500 Kev" in 1953 and;

- "U235 Fission Product Decay Spectra at Various Times after Fission" in 1957.

52. Garrett Morgan - Black American (African American) Inventor, Entrepreneur, and Community Leader

Garrett Morgan was a Black American inventor and community leader. He famously rescued workers trapped in a water intake tunnel in 1916 and was a prolific inventor.

Biography (Life) of Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur and Community Leader

Garrett was born in Claysville on the 4th March 1877. Claysville was an African-American community just outside of Paris, Kentucky. He was the seventh of 11 children. His mother was of Indian and African descent, and his father was a former slave.

In his mid-teens, Garrett moved to Cincinnati in search of work.

Garrett married in 1896 but the marriage ended in divorce. He re-married in 1908 and the couple had three sons.

Education of Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur and Community Leader

Garrett progressed no further than a sixth-grade education.

The career of Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur and Community Leader

Most of his teenage years were spent working as a handyman and sewing-machine mechanic. He moved to Cincinnati and later to Cleveland, Ohio in 1895.

Whilst repairing sewing machines he was inspired to make his first invention, a belt fastener for sewing machines. In 1907 he opened his own sewing machine and shoe repair shop. This would eventually grow and expand into the Morgan's Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store which eventually had 32 employees.

In 1909 he invented a hair cream designed especially for Black hair and launched the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to sell it. By 1910 he had lost interest in fixing other peoples sewing machines and dedicated himself to his inventions.

In 1914, Morgan patented a breathing device, or "safety hood," which provided a safer breathing experience in the presence of smoke and gas. The device became the prototype and precursor for the gas masks used during World War I.

He was the first Black man in Cleveland to own a car, and developed a friction drive clutch. In 1923, he created a traffic signal with a warning light to alert drivers that they would need to stop-an early version of the modern three-way traffic light.

He later developed glaucoma in 1943 and became blind. Despite this, he continued to work and one of his last inventions was the self-extinguishing cigarette.

Lake Erie Tunnel Explosion and Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur, and Community Leader

In 1916, workers hit a pocket of natural gas whilst drilling a new tunnel under Lake Erie. The resulting explosion trapped the workers. Morgan and his brother used breathing devices to rescue two workers and recover four bodies before the rescue effort was shut down.

Community Leadership of Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur and Community Leader

In 1908, Garrett founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men to help improve the economic and social conditions of the black community.

He later founded the Cleveland Call Newspaper in 1916 that later became the Cleveland Call and Post Newspaper. Garrett became a member of the Prince Hall Freemason fraternity which was a mainly black lodge.

Morgan helped found an all-black-member country club in 1920 and ran for office in 1931 for a Cleveland City Council seat.

Death of Garrett Morgan - Black American Inventor, Entrepreneur and Community Leader

Garrett died on the 27th July 1963, aged 86.

53. Njema Frazier - Black American (African American) Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Njema Frazier is an African America Physicist who works at the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington D.C.

Biography (Life) of Njema Frazier - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

She currently lives in Maryland but she is a native of San Francisco, California.

Education of Njema Frazier - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Frazier graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in physics. She later earned an M.S. in physics and a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from Michigan State University.

The career of Njema Frazier - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Dr. Frazier held multiple positions at the NNSA, including acting director of the International Program Management Division and and acting director of the Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion.

"POWER" and Njema Frazier - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Dr. Frazier is the co-founder of the Professional Opportunities for Women at Energy Realized (POWER) Employee Resource Group at the Department of Energy (DOE). This group advocates for women at the DOE and supports stronger diversity and inclusion of more women in STEM fields.

Honors and Awards of Njema Frazier - Black American Scientist and Nuclear Physicist

Dr. Frazier has received various awards and honors throughout her career including the DOD Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the 2018 Alumni Achievement Award Spotlight from CMU, to name but a few.

She has also been featured on the EBONY Power 100 list, Grio's list of 100 History Makers in the Making, The Black Engineer of the Year, and others.

54. Thomas L. Jennings - Black American (African American) Inventor, Tradesman and Abolitionist

Thomas L. Jennings was a Black American tradesman, inventor, and abolitionist. He is considered the first Black American man to receive a patent - for a process that is the forerunner of modern-day dry cleaning.

Biography (Life) of Thomas L. Jennings - Black American Inventor, Tradesman, and Abolitionist

Jennings was born in 1791 to a freed Black American family in New York City. He learned a trade and built his own tailor business before marrying.

His wife was born into slavery but was granted indentured servant status under New York's gradual abolition law of 1799. Under this law, slaves born after July 4, 1799 were converted to the status of indentured servant and were not eligible for full emancipation until 1827. These indentured servants were required to serve "apprenticeships" of twenty-eight years for men and twenty-five for women, designed to compensate their owners for the future loss of their property.

The couple had three children.

The career of Thomas L. Jennings - Black American Inventor, Tradesman, and Abolitionist

Jennings learned and practiced the trade of a tailor in his youth, eventually opening a leading clothing shop in New York . As a tailor, he was often asked for cleaning advice and realized that conventional cleaning methods used at the time, which involved water, were ineffective and damaged the clothes.

He began experimenting with different chemical solutions and cleaning agents, testing them on different fabrics until he found a combination that worked. He called his method "dry-scouring".

Jennings filed for a patent in 1821. Although slaves were not allowed to hold patents, as a free man, Jennings was granted the patents a year later. Under the Patent Act of 1793, a person being granted a patent had to sign an oath declaring that they were a citizen of the U.S., therefore the patent recognized Jennings as a citizen - a rarity for a Black person at the time.

Jennings used some of the money he earned from his patent to buy his family's freedom from indentured servitude . Much of the rest of his income went on abolitionist activities. In 1831, he became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia.

Inventions of Thomas L. Jennings - Black American Inventor, Tradesman, and Abolitionist - "Dry Scouring"

Jennings developed a means of clearing clothes called "dry scouring" for which he received a patent in 1821.

Civil Rights Activism and Thomas L. Jennings - Black American Inventor, Tradesman, and Abolitionist

Jennings was a strong advocate for the abolitionist movement. He was the founder of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia in 1831, and a supporter of the Freedom's Journal, the first Black-owned newspaper in the U.S.

Death of Thomas L. Jennings - Black American Inventor, Tradesman, and Abolitionist

Thomas Jennings died on the 11th February 1859 in New York City.

55. Fatimah Jackson - Black American (African American) Scientist, Biologist, and Anthropologist

Fatimah Jackson is a Black American biologist and anthropologist.

Education of Fatimah Jackson - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Anthropologist

Jackson was raised in Denver, Colorado. Her father died when she was six. After high school, Jackson attended the University of Colorado, but transferred to Cornell University, where she earned a BA (1972), MA (1978) and PhD (1981) in biology.

The career of Fatimah Jackson - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Anthropologist

After graduate school, Jackson worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Anthorpology. In 1986, she moved to the University of Florida until 1990, when she began teaching applied biological anthropology at the University of Maryland, where she remained for 20 years.

In 2009, Jackson became a professor of biological anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, moving to Howard University in 2013 and serves as the director and curator of the W. Montague Cobb Research Lab.

Research of Fatimah Jackson - Black American Scientist, Biologist and Anthropologist

Jackson's research is focussed on:

Genetic variation in peoples of African descent

Human-plant co-evolution

Gene-environment interactions in chronic disease

Honors and Awards of Fatimah Jackson - Black American Scientist, Biologist, and Anthropologist

Jackson has been the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award from the University of Maryland in 1995. Her research has also featured in the PBS program Black American Lives as well as the BBC's Motherland.

56. Alfred L. Cralle - Black American (African American) Inventor and Businessman

Alfred L. Cralle was a Black American inventor and businessman. He is best known for his invention of the ice cream scoop.

Biography (Life) of Alfred L. Cralle - Black American Inventor and Businessman

Cralle was born on the 4th September 1866 in Kenbridge, Virginia.

Education of Alfred L. Cralle - Black American Inventor and Businessman

The career of Alfred L. Cralle - Black American Inventor and Businessman

Cralle later attended the Wayland Seminary in Washington, D. C. This was one of a number of schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to help educate newly freed African Americans after the Civil War .

After a few years, Cralle moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a porter at a drugstore and at a hotel.

Inventions of Alfred L. Cralle - Black American Inventor and Businessman - "Ice Cream Mold and Disher"

Whilst working at the hotel in Pittsburgh, Cralle came up with his idea of the ice cream scoop, as we know it today. He noticed how much trouble ice cream servers had in using spoons and ladles to get ice cream into the cones. The ice cream tended to stick to spoons and ladles, requiring the server to use two hands.

Cralle invented a device, originally called an Ice Cream Mold and Disher, which was designed to keep the ice cream from sticking and be easy to operate with one hand.

He applied for and was awarded a patent for it in February of 1897. He would, sadly, never profit from his ingenious invention.

Death of Alfred L. Cralle - Black American Inventor and Businessman

Cralle, after losing his wife, one of his daughters and his only son to diseases, was tragically killed in an automobile accident in Pittsburgh in 1920. He was survived by his only surviving daughter who was only 10 years old at the time.

57. Gloria Long Anderson - Black American (African American) Scientist, Chemist, and Academic

Gloria Long Anderson is a Black American Chemist and Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Chemistry at Morris Brown College, where she is also the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Biography (Life) of Gloria Long Anderson - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Academic

Anderson was born on the 5th November 1938 in Altheimer, Arkansas. Her parents were sharecroppers and Gloria was expected to help with farm chores in her youth, although her parents made sure it never interfered with her education.

She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia and has one son.

Education of Gloria Long Anderson - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Academic

Anderson graduated from Altheimer Training High School in 1954 and then received her B.S. degree in chemistry and mathematics from Arkansas A&M and Normal College, where she graduated in 1958 at the top of her class. She earned her M.S. in organic chemistry from Atlanta University in 1960 and spent the next four years teaching chemistry at South Carolina State College and Morehouse College. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1968.

The career of Gloria Long Anderson - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Academic

After earning her Ph.D., Anderson joined the faculty of Morris Brown College in Atlanta as an Associate Professor and chair of the chemistry department. In 1973, She was named the Fuller E. Calloway professor of chemistry, earning the title again in '90, '93, '99, and '07.

In 1984, she served as a faculty research fellow at the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in California. From 1984 to 1989, Anderson was promoted to dean of academic affairs at Morris Brown College, served as Morris Brown's interim president twice, from 1992 to 1993, and in 1998, and from 1995 to 1997, she was the dean of science and technology.

Since 2007, Anderson has been serving as a professor of chemistry and vice president for academic affairs, while also continuing her research in organic chemistry

Research of Gloria Long Anderson - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Academic

Anderson's research has centered around the chemical structure of Fluorine-19. She has also concentrated on epoxidation mechanisms, solid-fuel rocket propellants, antiviral drugs, fluoridated pharmaceuticals and substituted amantadines.

Patents of Gloria Long Anderson - Black American Scientist, Chemist and Academic

Anderson has received various patents throughout her career.

58. Samuel R. Scottron - Black American (African American) Engineer and Inventor

Samuel R. Scottron was a Black American inventor and entrepreneur. He was a prominent member of Brooklyn's Black Elite community and is best known as the inventor of Scottron's Improved Mirror and the curtain rod.

Biography (Life) of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Scrotten is thought to have been born in Philadelphia between 1841 and 1843 but other sources claim he was born in New England. Nothing is known of his parents but there were most likely indentured servants, small farmers or perhaps artisans.

Whatever the truth, the family moved to New York 1849 and later Brooklyn in 1852. He attended grammar school at the age of 14.

After a varied career, he eventually married a native New Yorker in 1863 and had five children. Samuel was the maternal great-grandfather of the singer Lena Horne.

Education of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Scottron graduated from Cooper Union with a degree in Superior Ability in Algebra and Engineering in 1875.

The career of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor

In his early years, Scottron worked as a barber. During the Civil War, he worked as a merchant to supply provisions to the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the US Colored Soldiers. In 1864, he moved to Florida and started a grocery store chain, with stores in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Lakeville, Palatka, and Tallahassee.

Selling the stores, he then relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts, and worked as a barber. During his time as a barber, he noticed how customers struggled to view their haircuts using hand mirrors alone. His solution was to develop an array of mirrors that were "arranged opposite each other as to give the view of every side at once." He obtained a patent for this invention, the Scottron Mirror, in March 1868.

Between the 1870's and 1984, he focussed his attention on inventions and secured various patents for his creations.

Inventions of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor - "Improved Mirror"

His mirror would prove to be very successful and profitable. He would also file for and be awarded a number of other patents ranging from an Adjustable Window Cornice to a Curtain Rod.

In 1880, Scottron then obtained a patent for an adjustable window cornice, a patent for a cornice in 1883, a pole tip in 1886, a curtain rod in 1892, and a supporting bracket in 1893.

He also invented many other devices that were not patented, but which hs licensed to others in exchange for royalties. Scottron is credited with inventing the hanging strap used for support when standing on trolley cars and he devised a way to make glass look like onyx.

Community Leadership of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor

In 1894, Sottron was appointed to the Brooklyn Board of Education and served as its only African American member for the next eight years. He also wrote on race-related matters for a number of prominent newspapers and magazines.

In 1884, Scottron founded the Society of the Sons of New York, he was a member of the Brooklyn Academy of Sciences and a 33rd degree Mason.

Scottron married Anna Maria Willet, and the couple had three daughters and three sons. Scottron's great granddaughter was the actress and singer Lena Horne.

Death of Samuel R. Scottron - Black American Engineer and Inventor

Samuel Scottron died of natural causes in 1905.

59. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American (African American) Scientist and Sociologist

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is a Black American sociologist who "examines the culture of schools, the broad ecology of education, and the relationship between human development and social change".

Biography (Life) of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot was born on 22nd August 1944. Sara has built a career exploring the culture of schools, the patterns and structures in the classroom, socialization within families and communities and the relationship between culture and learning styles.

Education of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at Swarthmore college, graduating in 1966. She later earned a Ph.D. in the sociology of education at Harvard University in 1972.

The Career of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot has been a fellow at the Bunting Institute and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. In 1984, she was the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Prize, and in 1993 she was awarded Harvard's George Ledlie Prize given for research that makes the "most valuable contribution to science" and "the benefit of mankind." In 1995, she became a Spencer Senior Scholar; and in 2008, she was named the Margaret Mead Fellow by the Academy of Political and Social Sciences.

Work of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot's work focuses on the examination of the culture of schools, "the broad ecology of education, and the relationship between human development and social change."

Publications of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot has written 10 books expanding and exploring her pioneering approach to social science methodology. These have included I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation (1994) , the seminal The Art and Science of Portraiture (1997), and The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture (1983), which received the 1984 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association.

Honors and Awards of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - Black American Scientist and Sociologist

Lawrence-Lightfoot has received various honors and awards throughout her career. These have included the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984.

In 1993, the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Chair, an endowed professorship, was established at Swarthmore College; and in 1998 she was the recipient of the Emily Hargroves Fisher Endowed Chair at Harvard University. When she retires, the Emily Hargroves Fisher Endowed Chair will become the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Chair, making her the first African-American woman in Harvard's history to have an endowed professorship named in her honor.

60. Joseph Winters - Black American (African American) Inventor and Abolitionist

Joseph Winters was a Black American abolitionist and inventor. He is best known for his patent for a wagon-mounted fire escape ladder.

Biography (Life) of Joseph Winters - Black American Inventor and Abolitionist

Winters was born in Leesburg, Virginia to a Black American brick maker and Shawnee Indian mother in 1816.

Winters later moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania sometime around 1840.

The career of Joseph Winters - Black American Inventor and Abolitionist

Winters initially worked as a farmer and later became a mechanic for the Cumberland Valley Railroad. During the time Winters lived in Chambersburg, he was active in the Underground Railroad.

Inventions of Joseph Winters - Black American Inventor and Abolitionist - "Improved Wagon Mounted Fire Escape Ladder"

Winters noticed that firefighters of the time needed to take ladders off their wagons before raising them to climb up to windows to rescue people or use their hoses. His solution was to provide a means of keeping the ladders attached to wagons to enable them to be raised and lowered much more easily.

He filed for and received his patent for his design in 1878. He later made an improvement to the design and received another patent in 1879.

Interestingly his design was not the first true wagon fixed ladder, that had been made 29 years earlier by George Huttman and George Kornelio in 1849. Winters' innovation was to use a metal, rather than wooden, ladder.

His design would be quickly adopted by the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Fire Department.

Other Patents of Joseph Winters - Black American Inventor and Abolitionist

Winters would continue to tinker with his designs for fire escape ladders and he received another patent in 1882 for the first ladder that could be affixed to a building.

Underground Railroad and Joseph Winter

Winters was also an active member of the Underground Railroad movement in the U.S. The Underground Railroad was responsible for safely ferrying slaves into free states and Canada through networks of safe houses and secret routes across the U.S.

Death of Joseph Winters - Black American Inventor and Abolitionist

Winters died in 1916 at the grand old age of 100.

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The Complete List of Genius Black Inventors, Scientists and Engineers That Changed the World

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Many Black Americans have overcome hardship and extraordinary tragedies; led stellar careers as inventors, scientists, and engineers; and helped make the world a better place to live. Their accomplishments range from groundbreaking research into cancer treatment to the invention of the humble ice cream scoop.

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Changed the Landscape of Oncology

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Jane Cooke Wright (also known as "Jane Jones" or "Mrs Jane Jones") (November 20, 1919 - February 19, 2013) was a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells. She also pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer ( mycosis fungoids).

Early life and education

Wright was born in Manhattan to Corinne Cooke, a public school teacher, and Louis T. Wright, a graduate of Meharry Medical College and one of the first African American graduates from Harvard Medical School. Her father, Louis Tompkins Wright, was from a medical family. He was the child of Dr. Ceah Ketcham Wright, a physician graduated from Bencake Medical College, and stepson of William Fletcher Penn, the first African-American graduate of Yale Medical College. Wright's uncle, Harold Dadford West, was also a physician, ultimately president of Meharry Medical College. Wright's father continuously fought against racial injustice and declared the American Medical Association responsible for the existing racial discrimination in the medical field. He publicly stated, "the American Medical Association has demonstrated as much interest in the health of the Negro as Hitler has in the health of the Jew." In becoming physicians, Jane Wright and her sister Barbara Wright Pierce both followed in their father's and grandfathers' footsteps, overcoming both gender and racial bias succeed in a largely white male profession.

Jane's family had a strong history of academic achievement in medicine. The first medical member of the Wright family was Dr. Ceah Ketcham Wright. Ceah was first born into slavery, and after the Civil War, Ceah earned his medical degree at Meharry Medical College. Jane's step father, Dr. William Fletcher Penn was the first African American to graduate form Yale Medical College. Lastly, Jane's father, Dr. Louis T. Wright, who she took her greatest inspiration from, was among the first black students to earn an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and the first African American doctor at a public hospital in New York City. During his 30 years working at the Harlem Hospital, he founded and directed the Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Foundation.

Jane attended Smith College, originally wanting to pursue a degree in art, however her father suggested to change her studies to pre-medical studies. After her studies at Smith college, Jane earned a full scholarship to study medicine at New York Medical College. She graduated as a part of an accelerated three-year program at the top of her class in 1945 with the honors award. After graduating from medical school, Dr. Wright earned an internship at Bellevue Hospital during 1945 and 1946. In 1947, she married David D. Jones, Jr, an attorney In 1949, she completed her surgical residency at Harlem Hospital in 1948, where her father was.[citation needed ]

As a child, Wright attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, then the "Ethical Culture" school and the "Fieldston School", from which she graduated in 1938. She graduated with an art degree from Smith College in 1942 and then earned a medical degree, graduating with honors in 1945 from the New York Medical College.

After medical school, she did residencies at Bellevue Hospital (1945-46) and Harlem Hospital (1947-48), completing her tenure at Harlem Hospital as chief resident. In 1949 she joined her father in research at the Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Center, which he had founded, succeeding him as director when he died in 1952. In 1955 she accepted a research appointment at New York University Bellevue Medical Center, as Associate Professor of Surgical Research and Director of Cancer Research.

In 1949, Dr. Wright joined her father at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem hospital. During her time at the research institute, she and her father sparked an interest in chemotherapeutic agents. They were interested in making chemotherapy more accessible for everyone. In the 1940s chemotherapy was a new development, so it was not a well-known or well-practiced source for treatment because it was still in its experimental stage of drug development. Chemotherapy was considered the "last resort" and the drugs available and dosage was not very well defined. Both Jane and her father wanted to make chemotherapy a more accessible method of cancer treatment. They were the first groups to report the use of nitrogen mustard agents and folic acid antagonists as cancer treatments. The Folic acid antagonist can block folic acid in the body, which is required for cells to produce certain types of amino acids. By inhibiting the folic acids, cells are unable to make new strands of DNA/RNA or produce proteins to drive mitosis. Because cancer cells are highly proliferative compared to the other class in the human body, it is crucial to stop mitosis from happening. The folic acid antagonists that were tested were probably the most important discovery because the antifolates are highly potent against a vast array of solid tumors, including several types of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, melanoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Methotrexate is still one of the main chemotherapy drugs used today to treat many types of cancer, and it has been a basis for all modern chemotherapy.

Wright's research work involved studying the effects of various drugs on tumors, and she was the first to identify methotrexate, one of the foundational chemotherapy drugs, as an effective tool against cancerous tumors. Wright's early work brought chemotherapy out of the realm of an untested, experimental hypothetical treatment, into the realm of tested, proven effective cancer therapeutics-thus literally saving millions of lives. Wright and her father introduced nitrogen mustard agents, similar to the mustard gas compounds used in World War I, that were successful in treating the cancerous cells of leukemia patients. Wright later pioneered combinatorial work in chemotherapeutics, focusing not simply on administering multiple drugs, but sequential and dosage variations to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and minimize side effects. She was successful in identifying treatments for both breast and skin cancer, developing a chemotherapy protocol that increased skin cancer patient lifespans up to ten years. She also developed a non-surgical method, using a catheter system, to deliver potent drugs to tumors located deep within the body such as the liver and spleen. She published more than 100 papers on cancer chemotherapeutics during her career and served on the editorial board of the Journal of the National Medical Association.

During her career, Cooke also collaborated with cell biologist and physiologist Jewel Plummer Cobb, another noted African American woman scientist.

In addition to research and clinical work, Wright was professionally active. In 1964, she was the only woman among seven physicians who helped to found the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and in 1971, she was the first woman elected president of the New York Cancer Society. Wright was appointed associated dean and head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Department at New York Medical College in 1967, apparently the highest ranked African American physician at a prominent medical college at the time, and certainly the highest ranked African American woman physician. She was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board (also known as the National Cancer Advisory Council) by US President Lyndon Johnson, serving from 1966 to 1970. and the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke (1964-65). Wright was also internationally active, leading delegations of oncologists to China and the Soviet Union, and countries in Africa and Eastern Europe. She worked in Ghana in 1957 and in Kenya in 1961, treating cancer patients. From 1973 to 1984 she served as vice president of the African Research and Medical Foundation.

Wright was the recipient of many awards, including the honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Wright retired in 1985 and was appointed emerita professor at New York Medical College in 1987. In describing her pioneering research in chemotherapy, she told reporter Fern Eckman, "There's lots of fun in exploring the unknown. There's no greater thrill than in having an experiment turn out in such a way that you make a positive contribution."

On July 27, 1947, Wright married David D. Jones and the couple had two daughters: Jane Wright Jones and Alison Jones. Her husband was an attorney and became founder of anti-poverty and job training organizations for young African Americans. Unfortunately, in 1976, Mr. Jones died of heart failure.

In addition to her love of the sciences, Jane was fond of watercolor painting, reading mystery novels, swimming, and sailing. Upon receiving the Merit Award from Mademoiselle in 1952, she stated, "My plans for the future are to continue seeking a cure for cancer, to be a good mother to my children, and a good wife to my husband."

Notable research papers

J. C. Wright, J. P. Cobb, S. L. Gumport, F. M. Golomb, and D. Safadi, "Investigation of the Relationship Between Clinical and Tissue Response to Chemotherapeutic Agents on Human Cancer", New England Journal of Medicine 257 (1957): 1207-1211.

J. C. Wright, J. I. Plummer, R. S. Coidan, and L. T. Wright, "The in Vivo and in Vitro Effects of Chemotherapeutic Agents on Human Neoplastic Diseases", The Harlem Hospital Bulletin 6 (1953): 58-63.

Selected review articles

Recognitions

Exhibitions and Profiles

Interviews

Diann Jordan, Sisters in Science: Conversations With Black Women Scientists (2006), p. 33

Encyclopedias and Reference Books

Robert C. Hayden, "Jane Cooke Wright", Black Women in America: Profiles (MacMillan Library Reference USA, New York), p. 321.

Edward Sidney Jenkins, Patricia Stohr-Hunt, and Exyie C. Ryder, To Fathom More: African American Scientists and Inventors (University Press of America, 1996).

Benjamin F. Sheaer, Notable Women in the Life Sciences (Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut), pp. 405-407.

"Jane Cooke Wright", Encyclopedia of World Biography (2008)

Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present (Gale, 2001)

Notable Black American Women, Book 1, Gale Research (1992)

Vivian Ovelton Sammons, Blacks in Science and Medicine, Hemisphere, 1990.

Wini Warren, "Jane Cooke Wright", Black Women Scientists in the United States (Indiana University Press, 2000), p. 276 et seq.

Children's Books

Haber, Louis (1979). Women pioneers of science (1st ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 978-0152992026.

Obituaries

Allen Lichter, "In Memoriam: ASCO Remembers Founding Member Dr. Jane Cooke Wright", American Society of Clinical Oncology, Feb. 22, 2013.

Weber, Bruce. "Jane Wright, Oncology Pioneer, Dies at 93", The New York Times (obituary), March 2, 2013.

Papers and Archives

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Jane Cooke Wright (also known as "Jane Jones" or "Mrs Jane Jones") (November 20, 1919 - February 19, 2013) was a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells.

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Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was one of the few African-American surgeons of the early 1890s. He performed the first successful open-heart surgery in 1893.

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First Open-Heart Surgery - Decades TV Network

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Annie was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist. Known for NACA and NASA work.

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An American astronaut and physician who in 1987, became the first African-American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program. In 1992, Jemison finally flew into space with six other astronauts, becoming the first African-American woman in space.

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Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

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Fun Facts about Dr Mae C Jemison (Celebrating Black History for Students)

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George Washington Carver was born into slavery but went on to become a botanist and one of the most prominent scientists and inventors of his time.

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George Washington Carver "The Plant Doctor" Revolutionized Farming Industry | Biography

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Computer scientist and engineer who is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip

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Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson has died at the age of 101. Johnson was part of a group of African-American women who worked on critical mathematical calculations in the early days of human spaceflight, as chronicled in the best-selling book and hit movie “Hidden Figures.”

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Inventor, racecar driver and self-taught engineer revolutionized the American food industry with his work on refrigerated transportation. He became the first African American to receive the national medal of technology and holds over 60 patents.

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Invented the Wooden Clock, believed to be the first clock built in America. In addition he is known for developing/inventing the Almanacs.

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The exceptional life of Benjamin Banneker - Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua

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Invented Global Positioning System (GPS).

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Navy Hidden Hero: Gladys Mae West and GPS

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Invented the Carbon Light Bulb Filament.

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Lewis Latimer: Unsung Heroes of Science 2019

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Invented the Electric Self- Feeding apparatus for amputees, a Neck frame for injured or ill patients and Emesis Basin.

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Black Lives Matters Founders:  Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi are on the 2020 TIME100 list.

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Ibram X. Kendi on moving towards justice. Interviewed by Lucy Feldman, TIME Senior Editor

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Patricia Bath is the FIRST person to invent and demonstrate laserphaco cataract surgery. "Sometimes even now when I’m told I was a “first,” it comes as a surprise, because it’s only through history that you understand that kind of thing."

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Patricia Bath On Being The First Person To Invent & Demonstrate Laserphaco Cataract Surgery | TIME

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African American- Invented the “Super Soaker” one of the bestselling toys for children.

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Lonnie Johnson was brought up in Mobile, Alabama in the 1960s, when black children were not expected to go far, but such was his talent for engineering that he worked for Nasa, and helped test the first stealth bomber. But as he explains here, the invention that made his fortune was a water pistol - the extremely powerful Super Soaker.

I've always liked to tinker with things.

It started with my dad. He gave me my first lesson in electricity, explaining that it takes two wires for electric current to flow - one for the electrons to go in, the other for them to come out. And he showed me how to repair irons and lamps and things like that.

The kids in the neighbourhood took to calling me "the Professor". We had little projects that we would work on, and I was the ringleader.

For example, I put together a working engine out of parts from a scrapyard, and we stuck that engine on one of our go-karts. It had thin wagon wheels instead of tyres, and the hood was just a crate. You controlled the steering with a piece of string.

I have never really understood why in this country so many people look down on black people

It was not perfect. We had to push the car to get it going, but after that it could sustain itself. And we had a lot of fun with it - though we were stopped by the police, because the vehicle was not exactly street-legal.

About three years later I was stopped a second time, when I was cycling around with some sheet metal on the back of my bicycle.

I was scared, but the police officer just wanted to know what the heck I was up to. So he escorted me home and I showed him how I was making a robot just like the ones I saw on TV.

Nobody had told me that the robots I saw on shows like Lost In Space had actors inside them!

This project took almost a whole year, my last year of high school. But finally the robot was finished and we entered him into a fair held by the Junior Engineering Technical Society at the University of Alabama.

We were the only black school there. This was 1968, just five years after Governor Wallace had stood in the doorway of the Foster Auditorium to attempt to block the enrolment of two black students - and my high school was in the news a lot because they were integrating us. White people were coming on TV, calling us all kinds of names, and saying they didn't want their kids coming to the school and being exposed to us.

It was all just curious to me. I have never really understood why in this country so many people look down on black people. I can't say it weighed on me at the time, though. I was just so excited to have my robot, to know that it worked and that I would have a chance to show it off.

The robot was called Linex. He was three-and-a-half-feet (1m) tall, had shoulders that could rotate and two arms with elbows and wrists that swivelled. He could pivot and move around on wheels.

His chest contained a propane tank that I'd filled with compressed air to move the limbs. His memory was a reel-to-reel tape recorder, which I'd linked to a remote-control unit improvised from my sister's walkie-talkie.

Linex was controlled by signals transmitted through this unit. When you turned the tape recorder on it recorded different frequencies and tones, like the noises you get when you press the buttons on a telephone. Then it would play back and the robot would follow all the instructions.

Well, I'm not sure if it's because the judges at the science fair were from out of town, or if it's because they were from industry, not the university, but in any case they awarded me and Linex first place.

Looking back, I am struck by the University of Alabama's lack of curiosity about me. You would have thought they would want to know, "Who is this guy? What kind of grades does he have? Is he qualified to attend school here?" But those overtures were not made to me.

I soon found my prototype water pistol was an excellent ice-breaker at social events

Instead, I got an Air Force scholarship and a math scholarship to Tuskegee University, a black school that's famous for the Tuskegee Airmen. During WWII there was an experiment to see if blacks could fly aeroplanes and the Tuskegee Airmen went on to become so successful as a fighter squadron escorting bombers that pilots would request them by name.

I received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, then graduated with a masters in nuclear engineering.

In one of my first jobs, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, I found myself working on cooling systems for nuclear reactors with an engineer who had graduated from a prestigious New England university. To my surprise I found I just knew how to do things he didn't know how to do. I had been exposed to things he hadn't been exposed to and I was able to solve problems more easily. I was struck by how well Tuskegee had prepared me to be an engineer.
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I thought, "Here I am going toe-to-toe with an engineer from one of the top schools in the country."

In 1975, I was called to active duty in the Air Force, studying US space launches that used nuclear power. I felt it was a big deal to be involved in such an important project - we were providing technical support for launch recommendations that ultimately went to the president.

After I presented an analysis that identified a possible failure Nasa had overlooked, I was invited on to the Galileo Mission, the unmanned spacecraft sent to study Jupiter and its moons. I was given responsibility for attaching the nuclear power source to the spacecraft and allocating power to the various systems - the science instruments, the computer, the power control system.

A major concern was that in the event of a short circuit, power to the memory would be lost and the spacecraft would be unable to call home. So I devised an isolation circuit that would maintain power to the computer memories even when power was lost.

So in 1982 you could say that I had a fun day job working on these spacecraft in Pasadena, California, but all this time I continued to tinker on my own ideas in the evening.

At that time I was experimenting with a new type of refrigeration system that would use water as a working fluid instead of ozone-destroying CFCs. One evening, I machined a nozzle and hooked it up to the bathroom sink, where I was performing some experiments. It shot a powerful stream of water across the bathroom sink. That's when I got the idea that a powerful water gun would be fun! But it was months before I did anything about it.

I opened my suitcase, took the gun out and shot it across the conference room. And they said: 'Wow!'
Lonnie Johnson, Inventor and father of modern water weaponry

I rejoined the Air Force and relocated with my family to a military base in Omaha, Nebraska. I went on to become the first engineer from the Strategic Air Command - which had responsibility for identifying nuclear targets - assigned to test the B-2 Bomber, the Stealth Bomber.

After I had settled into my new job and home, I set to work making the parts of the plastic water gun on a little lathe and milling machine in the basement. I really had no idea if the magic I had in mind was going to materialise until all the parts were put together and I was ready to pull the trigger.

I gave the plastic gun to my seven-year-old daughter, Aneka, and watched as she used it to play with the other kids on the airbase. They couldn't even get close to her with their little squirt guns.

I soon found my prototype water pistol was an excellent ice-breaker at social events. I took it to an Air Force picnic one day and a superior officer, a major, saw it and said, "What is that you got, Johnson?" I said, "This is my water gun, sir." And he said, "It looks really strange - does it work?"

So I turned to him and shot him right between the eyes. After that, the picnic was over. Everybody was throwing cups of water, cups of beer and it just turned into a big free-for-all.

My initial idea was to manufacture the gun myself. A factory told me it would cost $200,000 to get the first 1,000 guns off the production line. Well, I didn't have $200,000, so I realised I would have to go into a strategic partnership with a toy company.

There followed seven years of frustration and false starts. I don't know what it is with me, but I've never been very good at giving up.

Then, in February 1989 I was walking the halls of the American International Toy Fair in New York, the world's largest toy fair, when I ran into a company called Larami.

At the time, they were knock-off merchants - they would look at what the major toy companies were making, and what had TV advertising, then they would make cheap copies and grab 10% of the market.

At the toy fair, the vice president, a guy called Al Davis, told me that the idea of a really high-performance water pistol was interesting. "I can't really review a product here," he told me, "but if you're ever in Philadelphia, where our headquarters are, I'd be happy to talk to you. Drop in and see us."

So I said, "Ok, great." But just as I was turning to leave, he called after me and said, "By the way - don't make a special trip."

Despite these discouraging words, as soon as I got home I started work on a fresh prototype of the water gun. The new test model was made of plexiglass and PVC piping, and incorporated a new design feature - instead of keeping water inside the gun itself, a two-litre soda bottle sat on the top, and acted as a water reservoir.

It was 628mm long. The diameter of the water stream was 2.4mm and could reach more than 12 metres.

It took me a couple of weeks to build the model, then I called Larami and said, "It just happens that I'm going to be in your area soon..."

I remember sitting in their conference room with the president and vice-president of the company and some marketing people. I opened my suitcase, took the gun out and shot it across the conference room. And they said: "Wow!"

I knew that I had captured their imagination. But we had the challenge of commercialisation. This gun was more complicated than the squirt guns that were on the market, and it took a lot of work to bring the price down to $10. Even then, we weren't sure that anyone would pay anywhere near that amount for a water pistol.

In 1990, the gun appeared in the toy shops. It was called the Power Drencher. To begin with we didn't do any marketing or TV advertising - but it still sold well.

The following year, we rebranded the toy the Super Soaker and did a big push on TV. That was the summer we sold 20 million guns, and I remember just staring at my royalties cheque in disbelief.

It seems strange now, but back in 1992, the Super Soaker was quite controversial. There were a few tragic incidents - on one occasion some kids shot someone with a Super Soaker, and he shot back with a real gun. On another occasion, a water fight in Boston escalated into a real gun fight and a teenager was killed.

There were also reports of people using them in weird ways, for example filling them with bleach instead of water.

The mayor of Boston tried to introduce a voluntary sales ban on the toys. I got a phone call from a reporter from that city, who, in the most serious and grave voice told me, "We've got a report that Super Soakers are being used in drive-by shootings, and we were wondering if you had any comment."

I had no idea what to say to him. In the end, I said, "Well... you know... I think we should have more of that."

In the back of my mind, I felt that my work on toy guns was probably less harmful than the work I did on real weapons systems.

Further generations of Super Soakers followed, and I went on to design the N-Strike range of Nerf dart guns, which used some of the same compressed air technology. Being a toy that sells year-round, I made even more money through Nerf guns than I had with the Super Soaker.

I didn't buy a yacht or anything. I've spent the money on something much more interesting - to me, anyway.

I have built a scientific facility in Atlanta, Georgia, which has about 30 staff.

For more than 20 years I have been interested in battery technology. Batteries typically contain liquid, but we have developed an all-ceramic battery which uses glass as an electrolyte.

It can hold three times as much charge as a lithium ion battery and it is stable enough that it can be used in very harsh environments, such as oil wells. It can be bulk-manufactured in a similar way to ceramic plates.

We are also working on an engine which is the great, great-grandson of the cooling system I was working on in 1982 when I hit upon the idea of the Super Soaker. The Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter (J-TEC) is a very efficient engine that uses hydrogen to convert heat directly into electricity and it has no moving mechanical parts.

When I look at a problem I have an intuition about whether or not it can be solved, but that isn't good enough for most investors. The process of invention requires breakthroughs and you can't predict when those will happen. So it's really only thanks to the Super Soaker and Nerf guns that I have been able to develop the ceramic battery and the J-TEC.

At our offices we have a lot of the toys kicking around and every now and then we do play with them.

I also take the guns into schools to give talks. Kids need exposure to ideas, and they need to be given an opportunity to experience success. Once you get that feeling, it grows and feeds itself - but some kids have got to overcome their environments and attitudes that have been imposed on them.

In spite of the things that have been perpetrated on my race - holding us in bondage under slavery, then making it illegal to educate us and then subjecting us to long-term discrimination and criticism - we succeed anyway, to a very large extent. We just need to realise what we're capable of.

More than 170 Super Soaker models were launched, and they have made more than $1bn (£760m). For a while I tried to buy every toy that contained one of my patents, but I couldn't keep up.

After I'm finished with all this hard science stuff, I'm looking forward to doing some more straightforward inventing. Stuff where it's easier to make a bit of money.

I have a few ideas in mind - not toys, just consumer products that I know will be easy to manufacture and that will sell well.

But I hope you don't mind if I keep them to myself for now.

As told to @williamkremer. Listen to Lonnie Johnson speaking to Outlook on the BBC World Service.
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Lonnie Johnson was brought up in Mobile, Alabama in the 1960s, when black children were not expected to go far, but such was his talent for engineering that he worked for Nasa, and helped test the first stealth bomber. But as he explains here, the invention that made his fortune was a water pistol - the extremely powerful Super Soaker.

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Invented; Traffic Signals/Lights, Breathing Device which later became a prototype for Gas masks.

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GARRETT MORGAN (Traffic Light Inventor) - Black History Month

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On 7th June 2020, protestors in Bristol rewrote the city’s history by pulling down a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston. The event has triggered a discussion amongst Britain’s curators about what objects are acceptable for display in museums and galleries in 2020. Gary Younge speaks to the curators as they currently review what's on display in UK museums and how they’re re-writing the way we revere, remember and acknowledge Britain's historical moments.

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Gary Younge looks at how things might change in British museums as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.

On 7th June 2020, protestors in Bristol rewrote the city's history by pulling down a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, and dumping it in the harbour. The damaged statue has since been retrieved and there are plans to display it elsewhere, complete with the red daubs of protestors' paint, and Black Lives Matter placards.

The event has triggered a discussion amongst Britain's curators about what objects are acceptable for display in museums and galleries in 2020. Some museums have entire collections established on the wealth of the slave trade or acts of colonial plunder, others have items that might now be deemed racially or culturally insensitive. For some, it's the context and settings of collections that reveal a distinctly racist interpretation of history. As one museum curator has put it, "in Britain, you're never more than 150 miles from a looted African object".

Gary Younge speaks to the curators as they currently review what's on display in UK museums and how they're re-writing the way we revere, remember and acknowledge Britain's historical moments.

As Gary finds out, when the public is re-admitted to museums after the current lockdown, there is a distinct possibility that some display cases may have notable absences.

Producer: Candace Wilson
Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Photo credit: Candace Wilson

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Gary Younge looks at how things might change in British museums as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement. On 7th June 2020, protestors in Bristol rewrote the city's history by pulling down a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, and dumping it in the harbour.

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In July 1981 race riots broke out on the streets of Liverpool. It was the first time that British police used CS gas to control civil unrest in mainland Britain.

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In July 1981 race riots broke out on the streets of Liverpool. It was the first time that British police used CS gas to control civil unrest in mainland Britain.

In July 1981 race riots broke out on the streets of Liverpool. It was the first time that British police used CS gas to control civil unrest in mainland Britain. Witness has been hearing from a man who took part in the riot.

(Photo: Lines of police with riot shields face a group of youths during riots in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, July 1981. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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BBC World Service - Witness History, Race Riots in Liverpool

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In July 1981 race riots broke out on the streets of Liverpool. It was the first time that British police used CS gas to control civil unrest in mainland Britain. In July 1981 race riots broke out on the streets of Liverpool.

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The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England

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The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England

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When a Libyan cleric called Hadrian arrived in Canterbury in AD 670, Anglo-Saxon England was a wild and semi-pagan land. Within a matter of years, it was the driving force behind a remarkable renaissance in learning. Michael Wood reveals how this little-known “man of Africa” helped lay the foundations of English culture.

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In recent years our eyes have been opened to black histories in Britain before the Windrush generation, stretching back through the world wars, on to the Victorian era and beyond. The numbers were small, but the presence was significant, as the black characters in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays show.

Much further back, there were Africans in Roman Britain, from Mauretania, today's Morocco and Algeria. Among them was Victor, the former slave of a cavalry soldier called Numerianus, who is described as "natione Maurum" ("of the Moorish nation") on a second-century AD tombstone from modern-day South Shields.

Then there's near silence. In the thousand years between the end of Roman Britain and the first British overseas explorations under the Tudors, people of colour are far less visible. Their stories cause barely a ripple in the waters of British history. One such story exists just below that surface - rarely impacting on public consciousness. But it is immeasurably important all the same.

Writing in 731, the English historian Bede introduces his readers to a "vir natione Afir", "a man of African race". Perhaps a Berber (or Amazigh), this man was a leading light in one of the most significant cultural movements of the past 1,400 years - a teacher of extraordinary influence on English history. This man was born in north Africa and spent the last 40 years of his life in England. He is buried here. But he had a good old Roman name: we know him as Abbot Hadrian the African.

Early church fathers

So how did a north African, born in the early seventh century, end up changing the course of English history? The story begins in the land of Hadrian's birth, Libya, where for many generations people of Greek descent had mixed with locals, and from where some of the early church fathers hailed. Bishop Quodvultdeus (died c450) was another north African man of the church to journey to Europe (albeit two centuries earlier). Quodvultdeus's haunting face may be preserved in a beautiful mosaic from the catacombs of San Gennaro in Naples.

Hadrian was perhaps raised in the coastal town of Apollonia, which had at least four Byzantine churches in his day, and a great Roman palace whose dramatic seashore remains have been excavated by archaeologists. Years later, he reminisced with his students in England about the beautiful bird that he called 'porphyrion', the African purple gallinule, which roamed the courtyard gardens of a north African ruler's palace. Perhaps he had seen this place as a young man.

Apollonia had been rebuilt in the sixth century under the great Byzantine emperor Justinian, but the Arab invasions of the seventh century brought that world to an abrupt end. The nearby city of Benghazi fell to Arab armies in 642. Maybe the collapse of Byzantine rule forced Hadrian into flight. Whatever the reason, he soon made his way to southern Italy.

After crossing the Mediterranean, Hadrian became an abbot on Nisida, a picturesque island in the Bay of Naples (now joined to the shore by a causeway). Evidently he was a man of some standing and high reputation. He went on diplomatic trips to Gaul and may have acted as a Greek-speaking interpreter for Emperor Constans on his visit to Italy in 663. At any rate, by the late 660s Hadrian's reputation was such that Pope Vitalian asked him to take over the vacant archbishopric in Britain. It's an amazing idea when you think about it: a north African abbot and scholar being sent to "the outermost edge of the world", where as Pope Gregory had said, the tribes till recently "worshipped sticks and stones".

At first Hadrian refused to take the job, and he suggested Andrew, the abbot of a nunnery in Naples. But then he proposed a more senior man, a friend with whom his name would be forever linked: Theodore of Tarsus. Theodore was a Greek originally educated in Syria at Antioch and Edessa, from which he had fled during the Arab invasion of Syria. Now in Italy, he was living in semi-retirement with the Syrian exile community at Tre Fontane, a still idyllic cluster of churches south of Rome's walls.

Theodore agreed to go. He arrived on 27 May 669, serving as archbishop of Canterbury until his death in 690. Hadrian joined him the next year, and whatever his initial doubts, stayed for the rest of his life. Together the two men would go about putting into effect one of the most significant teaching programmes in British history.

England's happiest time

The nearly 70-year-old Syrian and 40-something Libyan made a formidable teaching partnership. And, soon, the school they established in Canterbury became famous Europe-wide. "They went everywhere and did everything together," says Bede, writing in 731. "It was the happiest time since the English first came to Britain."

As Bede's words suggest, in the course of their work, Hadrian and Theodore travelled all over England, "visiting every part of the land". One of their councils in 684 was held at Twyford beyond Hadrian's Wall (today a picturesque village by the East Coast mainline stop at Alnmouth). But they lived and worked in Canterbury - building a library, devising courses, giving lectures, and training the next generation of priests, administrators, artists and writers. One of these, Aldhelm, could proudly announce himself as "the first among the Germanic peoples to master the intricacies of Latin verse".

Bede says Hadrian spoke both Greek and Latin, and his exceptional language skills come out in surviving glossaries and teaching notes where we can see him riffing between those two languages and Old English. Bede also tells us that some of his pupils got to know Greek as well as their own language.

England was a wild and semi-pagan land, and in their baggage Hadrian and Theodore carried manuscripts and teaching aids to try to revive learning, which had stalled since St Augustine's conversion mission of 597. North Africa was a powerhouse of early Christianity, home to great authors like Tertullian and Cyprian. Hadrian may well have brought with him to England copies of many key African texts: manuscripts such as the Commentary on the Apocalypse by the sixth-century north African writer Primasius, which survives today in Oxford's Bodleian Library. It's possible that Hadrian's baggage also contained the British Library's unique fragment of a collection of the letters of St Cyprian of Carthage, who was martyred in 258.

Bawdy riddles

Hadrian's influence on his adopted country may explain why the saints of Naples and Campania feature so strongly in Anglo-Saxon England. Even the Lindisfarne Gospels, one of our most famous manuscripts, contains Neapolitan feasts, like St Januarius and the anniversary of the dedication of the famous church of St Stephen in Naples in c500. Hadrian was surely responsible, too, for Anglo-Saxon knowledge of African saints, like the murdered Restituta, whose body, legend said, had miraculously floated across the sea from north Africa.

Hadrian also introduced his classes in Canterbury to the elegant Latin riddles of the the late Roman writer Symphosius, who was probably also African. Simple games of deductive reasoning, the riddles are terrific teaching aids. Hadrian's student Aldhelm was inspired to devise longer versions, and from that moment riddles really took off in English culture; Bede, Tatwine, Boniface and Alcuin tried their hand.

Later, a tradition of riddling in the vernacular developed, which became more risqué as time went on: an early testimony to the bawdy humour of the English. Some have wonderful vignettes of the natural world, others have the saucy observations of Donald McGill's seaside postcards. Through this mix of vigorous colloquialism, earthy views of sex and excruciating puns, you can trace a line all the way through English culture. And it all began with Hadrian.

Recent discoveries are adding to our knowledge of Hadrian and Theodore's teaching. Their Latin and Greek glossaries, translations and biblical commentaries are still being identified in later manuscripts. Others include medicine, metrology, philosophy, history, Roman civil law, poetry and the art of rhetoric. Parts of a major unknown commentary on Latin grammar were recently identified in Reims. A manuscript in Milan contains a copy of a student's lecture notes, taken while sitting in Theodore and Hadrian's classes in Canterbury, explaining the meaning of biblical texts, and the placenames, landscapes, customs, flora and fauna of the near east. "Melons?" says Theodore at one point, "They are like cucumbers, only bigger: in Edessa some come so big that you can hardly load two on one camel!"
Listen: Susan Oosthuizen explains why we should be reassessing what we think about the Anglo-Saxons, on this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast:
In notes in Berlin and St Gallen in Switzerland, Hadrian is quoted explaining the Latin word larum (wrongly translated in an earlier teaching text) with the Old English word for seagull, meaw (a word still used in some northern dialects). So he could and did teach in the vernacular.

Copied and anthologised, carried abroad by missionaries and itinerant scholars, fragments of these teaching notes are found in later medieval libraries all over Europe. Through them we can hear the voices of perhaps the most influential teachers in the medieval western tradition.

In later times, Theodore and Hadrian were seen as the founders of the educational system of the west. A medieval writer traces the scholarly pedigree of Europe from them through the Carolingian Renaissance of the eighth and ninth centuries down to "modern times", transmitting the knowledge of the Latin and Greek worlds to the far west - and of course, on to us. In the 21st century we have seen the tragic refugee traffic across the sea from Libya to Italy, and from Syria through Turkey to Greece: the very routes Hadrian and Theodore took more than 1300 years ago. Their tale shows how refugees from Syria and Libya helped lay the foundations of the culture of Britain and Ireland.

As archbishop of Canterbury, it was Theodore who got most of the credit. But Hadrian, his brilliant, loyal, self-effacing partner, was every bit as influential - and was maybe even greater in scholarship. As the poet and teacher Alcuin put it in York a century later, our English culture's roots came from four great strands: the wisdom of Greece and Rome, the Hebrew tradition -"and the light that came out of Africa".
Michael Wood is professor of public history at the University of Manchester. He has presented numerous BBC series, and his books include The Story of England (Viking, 2010)This article was first published in the October 2020 edition of BBC History Magazine

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The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England

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When a Libyan cleric called Hadrian arrived in Canterbury in AD 670, Anglo-Saxon England was a wild and semi-pagan land. Within a matter of years, it was the driving force behind a remarkable renaissance in learning.

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Tinie Tempah, Emeli Sandé and other well-known Black Britons share their poignant, funny and emotional experiences of the conversations parents have to help their children face racism.

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Well-known Black Britons explore how parents teach their children about racism

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Young black professionals like Lucrece Grehoua are used to changing their voice, accent and mannerisms when they enter white-majority spaces. But should they really have to?

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Young black professionals like Lucrece Grehoua are used to changing their voice, accent and mannerisms when they enter white-majority spaces. But should they really have to?

Like many young black people, Lucrece Grehoua is an expert in code-switching - used to changing her voice, accent and mannerisms when she enters white-majority spaces. But should she really have to? In this programme, Lucrece reveals the cost of hiding who we really are in the workplace and explores the mechanics of code-switching, a term first used to describe the experience of African-American students in the 1970s. She shares her own story of being taught to become "a palatable black girl with a soft voice and an unceasing smile". And she talks to other young professionals about the steps they've taken to fit in - from adopting a "white voice" in the office to changing how they behave and switching up their look. We also hear from those who, tired of code-switching, are daring to be themselves in the corporate world.

Lucrece speaks to:
Her friends Emmanuel Ajayi, Cheryl Jordan Osei and Ivan
Her Mum and brother Steve
Criminal barrister Leon Nathan Lynch
Sociolinguist Devyani Sharma from the Accent Bias Britain Project
Nels Abbey, author of Think Like a White Man, A Satirical Guide to Conquering the World While Black
Elizabeth Bananuka, founder of BME PR Pros and The Blueprint
Social Mobility Commissioner and lawyer Sandra Wallace

Picture Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC

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BBC Radio 4 - Seriously..., Code-Switching

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Young black professionals like Lucrece Grehoua are used to changing their voice, accent and mannerisms when they enter white-majority spaces. But should they really have to? Like many young black people, Lucrece Grehoua is an expert in code-switching - used to changing her voice, accent and mannerisms when she enters white-majority spaces.

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(c. 1729? – 1780) was a British composer, actor, and writer. He is the only Briton of African heritage known to have been eligible and voted in an 18th-century general election through property qualifications.

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Charles Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 - 14 December 1780) was a British abolitionist, writer and composer. Born on a slave ship in the Atlantic, Sancho was sold into slavery in the Spanish colony of New Granada. After his parents died, Sancho's owner took the two-year-old orphan to England and gifted him to three Greenwich sisters, where he remained their slave for eighteen years. Unable to bear being a servant to them, Sancho ran away to the Montagu House, whose owner had taught him how to read and encouraged Sancho's budding interest in literature. After spending some time as a servant in the household, Sancho left and started his own business as a shopkeeper, while also starting to write and publish various essays, plays and books.

Sancho quickly became involved in the nascent British abolitionist movement, which sought to outlaw both the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself, and he quickly became one of the most devoted supporters of the movement. Sancho's status as a male property-owner meant he was legally qualified to vote in a general-election, a right he exercised in 1774 and 1780, becoming the first known Black Briton to have voted in Britain. Gaining fame in Britain as "the extraordinary Negro", to British abolitionists, Sancho became a symbol of the humanity of Africans and the immorality of the slave trade and slavery. Sancho died in 1780, with his The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, edited and published two years after his death, being one of the earliest accounts of African slavery written in English from a first-hand experience.

Charles Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean, in what was known as the Middle Passage. His mother died not long after arriving in the Spanish colony of New Granada, which formed parts of modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. His father reportedly took his own life rather than live as a slave. Sancho's owner took the young orphan, barely two years old, to England and gave him to three unmarried sisters living together in Greenwich, where he lived from 1731 to 1749. The Duke of Montagu, a frequent visitor to the sisters, became impressed by Sancho's intellect, frankness, and amiability. The Duke not only encouraged Sancho to read, but also lent him books from his personal library at Blackheath.

Sancho's informal education made his lack of freedom at Greenwich unbearable, and he ran away to Montagu House, Blackheath in 1749. For two years until her death in 1751, Sancho worked as a butler for the Duchess of Montagu at her residence, where he immersed himself in music, poetry, reading, and writing. Upon her death in 1751, Sancho received an annuity of £30 (about £7000 in 2020 according to the Bank of England inflation calculator) and a year's salary. On 17 December 1758 he married a West Indian woman, Anne Osborne, becoming a devoted husband and father. They had seven children: Frances Joanna, Ann Alice, Elizabeth Bruce, Jonathan William, Lydia, Katherine Margaret, and William Leach Osborne. Around the time of the birth of their third child, Sancho became a valet to George Montagu, the son-in-law of his previous patron. Sancho remained a valet until 1773.

In 1768, British artist Thomas Gainsborough painted a portrait of Sancho at the same time as the Duchess of Montagu sat for her portrait by Gainsborough as well. By the late 1760s, Sancho had already become well accomplished and was considered by many to be a man of refinement. In 1766, at the height of the debate about slavery, Sancho wrote to Anglo-Irish novelist Laurence Sterne encouraging the famous writer to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade.

That subject, handled in your striking manner, would ease the yoke (perhaps) of many - but if only of one - Gracious God! - what a feast to a benevolent heart!

In July 1766 Sancho's letter was received by Sterne shortly after he had just finished writing a conversation between his fictional characters, Corporal Trim and his brother Tom in Tristram Shandy, wherein Tom described the mistreatment of an African servant in a sausage shop in Lisbon that he had visited. Sterne's widely publicised 27 July 1766 response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.

There is a strange coincidence, Sancho, in the little events (as well as in the great ones) of this world: for I had been writing a tender tale of the sorrows of a friendless poor negro-girl, and my eyes had scarce done smarting with it, when your letter of recommendation in behalf of so many of her brethren and sisters, came to me - but why her brethren? - or your's, Sancho! any more than mine? It is by the finest tints, and most insensible gradations, that nature descends from the fairest face about St. James's, to the sootiest complexion in Africa: at which tint of these, is it, that the ties of blood are to cease? and how many shades must we descend lower still in the scale, 'ere mercy is to vanish with them? - but 'tis no uncommon thing, my good Sancho, for one half of the world to use the other half of it like brutes, & then endeavour to make 'em so."

Following the publication of the Sancho-Sterne letters, Sancho became widely known as a man of letters. Sancho, a British subject and voter in Westminster, noted that despite being in the country since the age of two he felt he was "only a lodger, and hardly that." In other writings he describes his life: "Went by water - had a coach home - were gazed at - followed, etc. etc. - but not much abused." On another occasion, he writes: "They stopped us in the town and most generously insulted us."

In 1774 with help from Montagu, Sancho, suffering from ill health with gout, opened a grocery shop, offering merchandise such as tobacco, sugar and tea, at 19 Charles Street in London's Mayfair, Westminster. These were goods then mostly produced by slaves in the West Indies.

Ignatius Sancho is the first known person of African descent to vote in a British general election. As an independent male property owner, with a house and grocery shop on Charles Street, he had the right to cast his vote for the Westminster Members of Parliament in the 1774 and 1780 elections.

-Record of Ignatius Sancho's vote in the general election, October 1774, British Library.

As a shopkeeper Sancho enjoyed more time to socialise, correspond with his many friends, share his enjoyment of literature, and his shop had many visitors. He wrote and published a Theory of Music, though no copy is extant today. There are 62 known compositions by Sancho, which were printed in four collections in London between ca. 1767 and 1779: Minuets Cotillons & Country Dances, book I (ca. 1767), containing 24 dances; A Collection of New Songs (ca. 1769), six songs on words of William Shakespeare, David Garrick, Anacreon, and unidentified authors; Minuets, &c., &c., book II (ca. 1770), with 20 dances; and Twelve Country Dances for the Year 1779. In addition, he wrote two plays. As a financially independent male householder living in London, he qualified to vote in the parliamentary elections of 1774 and 1780; he was the first person of African origin known to have voted in Britain. At this time he also wrote letters and in newspapers, under his own name and under the pseudonym "Africanus".

Among his acquaintances were figures such as Thomas Gainsborough, the Shakespearean actor David Garrick, violin virtuoso Felice Giardini, the preacher William Dodd, the sculptor Joseph Nollekens, and the novelist Laurence Sterne. Nollekens gave Sancho a plaster cast of his 1766 marble bust of Sterne. Sancho received many prominent visitors at his shop, including statesman and abolitionist Charles James Fox, who successfully steered a resolution through Parliament pledging it to abolish the slave trade. He oversaw a Foreign Slave Trade Bill in spring 1806 that prohibited British subjects from participating in the trading of slaves with the colonies of Britain's wartime enemies, thus eliminating two-thirds of the slave trade passing through British ports.

Ignatius Sancho died from the effects of gout on 14 December 1780 and was buried in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Westminster. There is no memorial at the church, as the grave stones (which lie flat) in the churchyard were covered over with grass in 1880 and no inscription was found for him when a record was made of the existing epitaphs. He was the first person of African descent known to be given an obituary in the British press.

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho

While his correspondence often included domestic issues, it also commented on the political and literary life in 18th-century Britain. One of his more famous series of letters includes his eye-witness accounts of the Gordon Riots in June 1780. The angry mob passed outside his shop on Charles Street. The protest that began when Protestants protested against parliamentary extension of Roman Catholic enfranchisement grew into a violent mob of 100,000 looting and burning parts of London.

There is at this present moment at least a hundred thousand poor, miserable, ragged rabble, from 12 to 60 years of age, with blue cockades in their hats - besides half as many women and children, all parading the streets, the bridge, the park, ready for any and every mischief. Gracious God! What's the matter now? I was obliged to leave off - the shouts of the mob, the horrid clashing of swords, and the clutter of a multitude in swiftest motion drew me to the door, when everyone in the street was employed in shutting up shop. It is now just five o'clock - the ballad-singers are exhasting their musical talents with the downfall of Popery, S-h and N-h, Lord S-h narrowly escaped with his life about an hour since' the mob seized his chariot going to the house, broke his glasses and, in struggling to get his lordship out, they somehow have cut his face.

In 1782 Frances Crewe, a correspondent of Sancho, arranged for 160 of his letters to be published in the form of two volumes entitled The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African. The book sold very well, with more than 2,000 subscribing to it. His widow received in royalties more than £500, equivalent to £63,970 in 2020. Joseph Jekyll provided a memoir of Sancho for the first edition, and four more editions had been issued by 1803.

Sancho's son, William Leach Osborne Sancho, inherited the shop on Charles Street, Mayfair, and transformed it into a printing and book-selling business. In 1803 at this shop he printed a fifth edition of Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho with Memoirs of His Life by Joseph Jekyll, with a frontispiece engraving by Bartolozzi.

''I am Sir an Affrican - with two ffs - if you please - & proud am I to be of a country that knows no politicians - nor lawyers - nor [word deleted] ... nor thieves of any denomination save Natural....''

Sancho was unusually blunt in his response to a letter from Jack Wingrave, John Wingrave's son. Jack wrote about his negative reaction to people of colour based on his own experience in India during the 1770s. Sancho's response was as such:

I am sorry to observe that the practice of your country (which as a resident I love - and for its freedom - and for the many blessings I enjoy in it - shall ever have my warmest wishes, prayers and blessings); I say it is with reluctance, that I must observe your country's conduct has been uniformly wicked in the East - West-Indies - and even on the coast of Guinea. The grand object of English navigators - indeed of all Christian navigators - is money - money - money - for which I do not pretend to blame them - Commerce was meant by the goodness of the Deity to diffuse the various goods of the earth into every part - to unite mankind in the blessed chains of brotherly love - society - and mutual dependence: the enlightened Christian should diffuse the riches of the Gospel of peace - with the commodities of his respective land - Commerce attended with strict honesty - and with Religion for its companion - would be a blessing to every shore it touched at. In Africa, the poor wretched natives blessed with the most fertile and luxuriant soil - are rendered so much the more miserable for what Providence meant as a blessing: the Christians' abominable traffic for slaves and the horrid cruelty and treachery of the petty Kings encouraged by their Christian customers who carry them strong liquors to enflame their national madness - and powder - and bad fire-arms - to furnish them with the hellish means of killing and kidnapping.

A plaque to the memory of Sancho was unveiled on 15 June 2007, by Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich, on the remaining wall of Montagu House on the south-west boundary of Greenwich Park. The plaque was funded by the Friends of Greenwich Park to commemorate the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, made law in 1807. A second plaque to his memory is on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

When the City of Westminster commemorated the bicentenary by creating a walking tour of Westminster highlighting events and individuals involved in the campaign to abolish the slave trade, they included 19 Charles Street. This was a collaboration with historian S. I. Martin, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Palace of Westminster, Tate Britain, Westminster City Archives, and Westminster City Council.

Sancho features on the list of "100 Great Black Britons".

The Portrait of an African (oil on canvas 61.8 x 51.5 cm, c. 1757-59; held in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, Devon) is probably of Ignatius Sancho, although it was previously thought to be of Olaudah Equiano, and is now attributed to Allan Ramsay (1713-1784). A full account of the attribution to Ramsay and identification of Sancho is contained in the article "The Lost African" published in magazine, August 2006.

In 2015, a play based on the life of Ignatius Sancho, entitled Sancho: An Act of Remembrance, written and performed by Paterson Joseph, was staged at Oxford and Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. From 4 to 16 June 2018 the play had its London premiere at Wilton's Music Hall.

On 1 October 2020, Google commemorated British Black History Month by honouring Sancho with a Doodle.

Facs. Set for the harpsichord. (London: Thompson, 2014). Interpreted by V. Webster, illus. D. Durant, research S Petchy and P Cooper. Pbk 97 pp.

Dances for a Princess, humbly dedicated (with permission) to the Princess Royal by Her Royal Highnesses Most Obedient Servant Ignatius Sancho.

By Ignatius Sancho, 191 pp; ed. & intro. by S. Petchey (64 pp). 22 dances & facs. of their music and two more pieces. A recording of these dances is available from Green Ginger at https://greengingerband.co.uk. ISBN 978-1-5272-3701-8.

John Madin, "Abolition: Trading faces", BBC - Devon, 28 October 2014.

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life. Vol. I. London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782.

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life. Vol. II. London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782.

Carey, Brycchan. "Ignatius Sancho: African Man of Letters". Brycchan Carey's comprehensive collection of resources for the study of Ignatius Sancho.

The Music of Ignatius Sancho

Westminster Council's Abolition of the Slave Trade Commemoration website

Works by or about Ignatius Sancho in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

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Charles Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 - 14 December 1780) was a British abolitionist, writer and composer. Born on a slave ship in the Atlantic, Sancho was sold into slavery in the Spanish colony of New Granada. After his parents died, Sancho's owner took the two-year-old orphan to England and gifted him to three Greenwich sisters, where he remained their slave for eighteen years.

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In 1963 a small group of British black activists started a pioneering protest against racism within the local bus company in Bristol. It had specified that it did not want to employ black bus drivers. Inspired by the example of the US Civil Rights Movement the boycott ended in victory and led to the passage of Britain's first anti-discrimination laws. Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett spoke to Louise Hidalgo in 2013 about their part in the protest.

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Witness History - The Bristol bus boycott - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

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by Miranda Kaufmann

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Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

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Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

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Broadcasters Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein celebrate black classical composers and musicians across the centuries whose stories and music have been forgotten in a 90-minute special.

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Broadcasters Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein celebrate black classical composers and musicians across the centuries whose stories and music have been forgotten in a 90-minute special.

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BBC Four - Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

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Broadcasters Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein celebrate black classical composers and musicians across the centuries whose stories and music have been forgotten in a 90-minute special.

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Week 1 quiz

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Is a retired High Court judge in England and Wales, who served from 2004 to 2013. Dobbs was the first non-white person to be appointed to the senior judiciary of England and Wales.

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Dame Linda Penelope Dobbs, DBE (born 3 January 1951) is a retired High Court judge in England and Wales, who served from 2004 to 2013. Dobbs was the first non-white person to be appointed to the senior judiciary of England and Wales.

Linda Penelope Dobbs was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Arthur Ernest Dobbs, and his wife, Loyda Dobbs (née Johnson). Loyda Johnson was a Creole from Sierra Leone and Arthur Dobbs (b. 1914) was an English lawyer originally from Warwickshire who went on to serve as a High Court judge in Sierra Leone.

Dobbs was educated at Moreton Hall School, a boarding independent school for girls, near the market town of Oswestry in Shropshire, followed initially by the University of Edinburgh, where she read music but left after a year. She then attended the University of Surrey, where she studied Russian and law, graduating in 1976. She went on to the London School of Economics, where she obtained a master's degree, followed by a doctorate in Soviet criminology and penology.

Dobbs was called to the Bar in 1981, practising from 5 King's Bench Walk, the chambers of the then Attorney-General Sir Michael Havers, QC. She had a mixed criminal practice, in later years specialising in fraud and professional disciplinary tribunals, including the General Medical Council and the General Dental Council. She took silk in 1998.

She was a member of the General Council of the Bar and chaired its Professional Standards Committee and Race Relations Committee. In 2003, she became the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association. She was appointed as a deputy High Court judge in February 2003, without having previously held appointment as a recorder.

She was appointed as a judge of the High Court in 2004, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division without having sat as a deputy High Court judge.

Of her appointment to the High Court, she said: "Whilst this appointment might be seen as casting me into the role of standard bearer, I am simply a practitioner following a career path. I am confident, nevertheless, that I am the first of many to come."

Dobbs appeared in the 2008 "Black Britannia" exhibition in London by Daily Mirror photographer John Ferguson, and was also included in published lists of Britain's 10 most powerful black women and 100 Great Black Britons.

She is a patron of the African Prisons Project and an initiator of the 18 Red Lion Court Award for African advocates. She is also patron of Masicorp, an NGO promoting education in Masiphumelele, South Africa.

On 20 April 2013, Dobbs took early retirement from the High Court, aged 62 years. She was later appointed as chair of an independent inquiry into the HBOS Reading branch fraud.

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Dame Linda Penelope Dobbs, DBE (born 3 January 1951) is a retired High Court judge in England and Wales, who served from 2004 to 2013. Dobbs was the first non-white person to be appointed to the senior judiciary of England and Wales.

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By Toni Morrison

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Read excerpts from The Origin of Others:
At Prospect (from Chapter 1, "Romancing Slavery") | At the New Yorker (from Chapter 3, "The Color Fetish")

America's foremost novelist reflects on the themes that preoccupy her work and increasingly dominate national and world politics: race, fear, borders, the mass movement of peoples, the desire for belonging. What is race and why does it matter? What motivates the human tendency to construct Others? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid?

Drawing on her Norton Lectures, Toni Morrison takes up these and other vital questions bearing on identity in The Origin of Others. In her search for answers, the novelist considers her own memories as well as history, politics, and especially literature. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Camara Laye are among the authors she examines. Readers of Morrison's fiction will welcome her discussions of some of her most celebrated books- Beloved, Paradise, and A Mercy.

If we learn racism by example, then literature plays an important part in the history of race in America, both negatively and positively. Morrison writes about nineteenth-century literary efforts to romance slavery, contrasting them with the scientific racism of Samuel Cartwright and the banal diaries of the plantation overseer and slaveholder Thomas Thistlewood. She looks at configurations of blackness, notions of racial purity, and the ways in which literature employs skin color to reveal character or drive narrative. Expanding the scope of her concern, she also addresses globalization and the mass movement of peoples in this century. National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates provides a foreword to Morrison's most personal work of nonfiction to date.

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literary criticism: american: african american

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What is race and why does it matter? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid? America's foremost novelist reflects on themes that preoccupy her work and dominate politics: race, fear, borders, mass movement of peoples, desire for belonging. Ta-Nehisi Coates provides a foreword to Toni Morrison's most personal work of nonfiction to date.

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By TA-NEHISI COATES

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"I've been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates. The language of Between the World and Me, like Coates's journey, is visceral, eloquent, and beautifully redemptive. And its examination of the hazards and hopes of black male life is as profound as it is revelatory. This is required reading." -Toni Morrison

"Powerful and passionate . . . profoundly moving . . . a searing meditation on what it means to be black in America today." -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Really powerful and emotional." -John Legend, The Wall Street Journal

"Extraordinary . . . [Coates] writes an impassioned letter to his teenage son-a letter both loving and full of a parent's dread-counseling him on the history of American violence against the black body, the young African-American's extreme vulnerability to wrongful arrest, police violence, and disproportionate incarceration." -David Remnick, The New Yorker

"Brilliant . . . a riveting meditation on the state of race in America . . . [Coates] is firing on all cylinders, and it is something to behold: a mature writer entirely consumed by a momentous subject and working at the extreme of his considerable powers at the very moment national events most conform to his vision." -The Washington Post

"An eloquent blend of history, reportage, and memoir written in the tradition of James Baldwin with echoes of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man . . . It is less a typical memoir of a particular time and place than an autobiography of the black body in America. . . . Coates writes with tenderness, especially of his wife, child, and extended family, and with frankness. . . . Coates's success, in this book and elsewhere, is due to his lucidity and innate dignity, his respect for himself and for others. He refuses to preach or talk down to white readers or to plead for acceptance: He never wonders why we just can't all get along. He knows government policies make getting along near impossible." -The Boston Globe

"For someone who proudly calls himself an atheist, Coates gives us a whole lot of 'Can I get an amen?' in this slim and essential volume of familial joy and rigorous struggle. . . . [He] has become the most sought-after public intellectual on the issue of race in America, with good reason. Between the World and Me . . . is at once a magnification and a distillation of our existence as black people in a country we were not meant to survive. It is a straight tribute to our strength, endurance and grace. . . . [Coates] speaks resolutely and vividly to all of black America." -Los Angeles Times

"A crucial book during this moment of generational awakening." -The New Yorker

"A work that's both titanic and timely, Between the World and Me is the latest essential reading in America's social canon." -Entertainment Weekly

"Coates delivers a beautiful lyrical call for consciousness in the face of racial discrimination in America. . . . Between the World and Me is in the same mode of The Fire Next Time; it is a book designed to wake you up. . . . An exhortation against blindness." -The Guardian

"Coates has crafted a deeply moving and poignant letter to his own son. . . . [His] book is a compelling mix of history, analysis and memoir. Between the World and Me is a much-needed artifact to document the times we are living in [from] one of the leading public intellectuals of our generation. . . . The experience of having a sage elder speak directly to you in such lyrical, gorgeous prose-language bursting with the revelatory thought and love of black life-is a beautiful thing."

"Rife with love, sadness, anger and struggle, Between the World and Me charts a path through the American gauntlet for both the black child who will inevitably walk the world alone and for the black parent who must let that child walk away."

"Poignant, revelatory and exceedingly wise, Between the World and Me is an essential clarion call to our collective conscience. We ignore it at our own peril." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Masterfully written . . . powerful storytelling." -New York Post

"One of the most riveting and heartfelt books to appear in some time . . . The book achieves a level of clarity and eloquence reminiscent of Ralph Ellison's classic Invisible Man. . . . The perspective [Coates] brings to American life is one that no responsible citizen or serious scholar can safely ignore." -Foreign Affairs

"Urgent, lyrical, and devastating in its precision, Coates has penned a new classic of our time."

"Powerful." -The Economist

"A work of rare beauty and revelatory honesty . . . Between the World and Me is a love letter written in a moral emergency, one that Coates exposes with the precision of an autopsy and the force of an exorcism. . . . Coates is frequently lauded as one of America's most important writers on the subject of race today, but this in fact undersells him: Coates is one of America's most important writers on the subject of America today. . . . [He's] a polymath whose breadth of knowledge on matters ranging from literature to pop culture to French philosophy to the Civil War bleeds through every page of his book, distilled into profound moments of discovery, immensely erudite but never showy."

"The most important book I've read in years . . . an illuminating, edifying, educational, inspiring experience." -Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

"It's an indescribably enlightening, enraging, important document about being black in America today. Coates is perhaps the best we have, and this book is perhaps the best he's ever been."

"Vital reading at this moment in America." -U.S. News & World Report

"[Coates] has crafted a highly provocative, thoughtfully presented, and beautifully written narrative. . . . Much of what Coates writes may be difficult for a majority of Americans to process, but that's the incisive wisdom of it. Read it, think about it, take a deep breath and read it again. The spirit of James Baldwin lives within its pages." -The Christian Science Monitor

"Part memoir, part diary, and wholly necessary, it is precisely the document this country needs right now." -New Republic

"A moving testament to what it means to be black and an American in our troubled age . . . Between the World and Me feels of-the-moment, but like James Baldwin's celebrated 1963 treatise The Fire Next Time, it stands to become a classic on the subject of race in America." -The Seattle Times

"Riveting . . . Coates delivers a fiery soliloquy dissecting the tradition of the erasure of African-Americans beginning with the deeply personal." -Minneapolis Star Tribune

"[ Between the World and Me] is not a Pollyanna, coming-of-age memoir about how idyllic life was growing up in America. It is raw. It is searing. . . . [It's] a book that should be read and shared by everyone, as it is a story that painfully and honestly explores the age-old question of what it means to grow up black and male in America." -The Baltimore Sun

"A searing indictment of America's legacy of violence, institutional and otherwise, against blacks." -Chicago Tribune

"I know that this book is addressed to the author's son, and by obvious analogy to all boys and young men of color as they pass, inexorably, into harm's way. I hope that I will be forgiven, then, for feeling that Ta-Nehisi Coates was speaking to me, too, one father to another, teaching me that real courage is the courage to be vulnerable, to admit having fallen short of the mark, to stay open-hearted and curious in the face of hate and lies, to remain skeptical when there is so much comfort in easy belief, to acknowledge the limits of our power to protect our children from harm and, hardest of all, to see how the burden of our need to protect becomes a burden on them, one that we must, sooner or later, have the wisdom and the awful courage to surrender." -Michael Chabon

"Ta-Nehisi Coates is the James Baldwin of our era, and this is his cri de coeur. A brilliant thinker at the top of his powers, he has distilled four hundred years of history and his own anguish and wisdom into a prayer for his beloved son and an invocation to the conscience of his country. Between the World and Me is an instant classic and a gift to us all." -Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns

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Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates: 9780812993547 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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"I've been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates. The language of Between the World and Me, like Coates's journey, is visceral, eloquent, and beautifully redemptive. And its examination of the hazards and hopes of black male life is as profound as it is revelatory.

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Join Bethaney Wilkinson as she explores the gap between good intentions and good impact as it relates to diversity, inclusion and equity. Our goal is to discover promising practices for closing diversity gaps in our everyday lives and work!

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We know what it's like to not belong, to be overlooked, or to feel misunderstood.

It's a human experience, after all.

But what do you do when not belonging becomes the norm?
What do you do when you're left out because of something you can't change, like the color of your skin?
What do you when the barriers of broken systems and exclusive cultures consistently remind you:

"This space is not for you..."

I'm a Black woman who grew up in a small, segregated town. As a kid, Friday night football games always reminded me of the racism in our community. The white people sat on one side of the bleachers, while the black people sat on the other-even though we were all cheering for the same team. As I became an adult and joined the working world, I realized that racism isn't always about the obvious things we see. Sometimes racism is the small ways people overlook you, or ask you hurtful questions that remind you of the ways you don't belong.
It's painful.
And it's ongoing.

Over the past 10 years as a racial justice educator, I've interacted with many well-meaning leaders who value diversity, but don't understand how nuanced the problem of racism is. They hire people of color and interact with more diverse groups, but their practices still communicate to minorities:

"You don't belong here."

I've seen this play out countless times.
Good intentions fall short of good outcomes.
It's hard to know what to do next.

Despite the magnitude of the problem, I believe there is a better way forward.

This project, The Diversity Gap, will empower people to create the cultures they say they want-cultures where all people are seen, celebrated and given the space to thrive.

Over the course of the next two years, I, Bethaney, will be listening to stories of the people most impacted by diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. I want to know: what will it take to close the gap between our good intentions and the outcomes we hope for?

My dream is to see this body of research turn into a podcast, a live event, a curriculum, and maybe even a book.

Every few weeks, we'll send you 5 short and sweet diversity-related tips, insights, and stories of hope. We're talking leadership, management, advocacy, and justice.
The Diversity Digest: culture content we all need.

Follow us on Instagram to join a community of leaders and practitioners who are closing diversity gaps in a variety of contexts. We'd love to learn with you.

We'd love to hear from you! If you're interested in being on the podcast, sharing your story, or inviting Bethaney to speak, click here to let us know!

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We know what it's like to not belong, to be overlooked, or to feel misunderstood. It's a human experience, after all. But what do you do when not belonging becomes the norm? What do you do when you're left out because of something you can't change, like the color of your skin?

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Pose is set in the world of 1987 and "looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world."

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Pose: Created by Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy. With Michaela Jaé (MJ) Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Angel Bismark Curiel. In the New York of the late 80s and early 90s, this is a story of ball culture and the gay and trans community, the raging AIDS crisis and capitalism.

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After the high-profile killing of Damilola Taylor, Cornelius' family move out of London. But when they discover their new town is run by racists, Cornelius takes a drastic step to survive.

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Black Sheep: the black teenager who made friends with racists - video documentary

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Everything changed for Cornelius Walker on 27 November 2000 when Damilola Taylor was killed. Damilola was 10, the same age as Cornelius. He lived five minutes away. He had the same skin colour. Cornelius's mother, scared for her son's safety, moved their family out of London.

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The mixed-race daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in eighteenth century England.

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13 wins & 28 nominations. See more awards "

Storyline

This movie was inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar's son bent on change, who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England. Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Did You Know?

Trivia

In January 2013, the Writers Guild of America ruled that Misan Sagay would get sole writing credit. Publicly, no one with direct knowledge of the ruling has spoken out against that decision. According to information obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Amma Asante wrote several drafts before she started directing this movie, after Sagay wrote several early versions. A team of three arbiters read the submitted materials without knowledge of the writers' identities, judging the work based on dramatic construction, original and different scenes, characterization or character relationships, and dialogue. See more "

Goofs

The character Oliver Ashford states he has a commission in the Royal Navy purchased for him. Impossible as commissions have never been sold in the RN, which at the time was the nearest thing to a meritocracy the world had seen. Grease a few palms to get him in as a midshipman? Maybe. As a captain, never. Fleet boards had to be sat, idiots weeded out. Commissions could be bought and sold in the cavalry and infantry but not, for instance, in the Royal Engineers. Soldiers could be lost to incompetence but not ships or bridges. Far too valuable. See more "

Quotes

[first lines]
Captain Sir John Lindsay : How lovely she is. So much of her mother. Do not be afraid. I am here to take you to a good life. A life that you were born to. Here.
[offers a candy]
: [tries it with curiosity]
See more "

Connections

Featured in Belle: The Story (2014) See more "

Soundtracks

Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 5 in F Major, HWV 320, Andante Larghetto
Composed by George Frideric Handel
See more "

User Reviews

Details

Release Date:

13 June 2014 (UK)

Box Office

Budget:

$10,900,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$106,578, 4 May 2014

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,607,575

Company Credits

Technical Specs

See full technical specs "

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Directed by Amma Asante. With Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson. The mixed-race daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in eighteenth century England.

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is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN. McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.

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Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian- British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN.

McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.

Trevor McDonald was born on 16 August 1939 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago to Josephine and Lawson McDonald. McDonald is of Dougla heritage, his mother being of African descent and his father being of Indian descent.After working as a print and broadcast journalist in Trinidad during the 1960s, in 1969, McDonald was employed by BBC Radio as a producer, based in London but still broadcasting to the Caribbean. In 1973, he began his long association with Independent Television News, first as a general reporter, later as a sports correspondent, but ultimately concentrating on international politics. In the 1980s, he spent some time with the ITN-produced Channel 4 News, but returned to ITV in 1989, presenting the early-evening news.

McDonald was promoted in 1992 as the sole presenter of and became a well-known face on British television screens. McDonald stayed with ITN when News at Ten was axed in 1999, moving to present the new ITV Evening News. News at Ten was briefly relaunched on 22 January 2001, to which McDonald returned as a presenter. He presented the ITV News at 10.30 following News at Ten's second axing.[citation needed ]

From 1999 to 2007, McDonald hosted ITV's flagship current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald. The show was revived in 2010 with presenter Julie Etchingham.[citation needed ]

McDonald presented his last ITV News bulletin on 15 December 2005. The veteran newsreader stepped down from his role as anchor after more than 30 years at ITN, but said he had no plans to retire completely from television. At the end of the final programme, he signed off with the words:

That brings to an end my association with the news at 10.30. Thank you for watching.

Over the closing titles of the last bulletin that McDonald presented, the November 1992 to March 1999 ITV News at Ten theme was played as a tribute to him.[citation needed ]

On 31 October 2007, ITV announced that, early in 2008, McDonald would come out of retirement to present the relaunched News at Ten together with Julie Etchingham.

It was announced on 30 October 2008 that McDonald would step down from News at Ten once the 2008 US presidential election was over, to be replaced by Mark Austin. His last bulletin was on 20 November 2008. It was reported at the time that he would continue to present links for The Tonight Programme.[citation needed ]

In 2009, McDonald travelled to the Caribbean and hosted the series The Secret Caribbean with Trevor McDonald. Three parts ITV.

In 2011, McDonald travelled around the Mediterranean and hosted the series The Secret Mediterranean with Trevor McDonald. Four parts.ITV

In 2012, McDonald travelled along the route of the Mississippi River and hosted the series The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald. Three parts.

In 2013, McDonald visited death row inmates in Indiana and hosted the series Inside Death Row. Two parts.

In early 2015, McDonald travelled to New York City and hosted the 2 part series The Mafia with Trevor McDonald.

In late 2015, McDonald presented Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald, a two-part series for ITV.

In September 2016, McDonald presented a two-part series called Inside Scotland Yard With Trevor McDonald for ITV.

In February 2017, McDonald presented two-part documentary Mafia Women with Trevor McDonald for ITV.

In late 2017, McDonald presented a documentary called An Hour to Catch a Killer for ITV.

In February 2018, McDonald presented Death Row 2018 with Trevor McDonald for ITV.

In February 2018, McDonald presented James Bulger: A Mother's Story with Trevor McDonald for ITV.

In September 2018, McDonald presented To Catch a Serial Killer with Trevor McDonald for ITV.

In February 2019, McDonald presented Fred & Rose West: The Real Story with Trevor McDonald for ITV.

McDonald presented the TV series Undercover Customs which created reconstructions of major HM Customs and Excise investigations in the UK.

On 21 April 2006, McDonald presented an episode of Have I Got News for You; he delivered a number of autocue jokes, some of which were extremely risqué, in his usual somber newscaster manner, the juxtaposition of which prompted team captain Paul Merton, who usually maintains a straight face on the show, to laugh heartily in disbelief on numerous occasions. It was McDonald's first appearance in any capacity on the show since 1992.

McDonald was formerly Chancellor of London South Bank University. He also has intimate ties with King's College School in Wimbledon, a London day school, where he is now a governor.

McDonald is the author of biographies of the cricketers Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd.

McDonald has worked as an editor of poetry anthologies, and his autobiography Fortunate Circumstances was published in 1993.

Lenny Henry's comic character Trevor McDoughnut is a parody of McDonald. McDonald once surprised Henry during a performance of "McDoughnut" on by walking into the studio to sit with Henry. McDonald returned to Tiswas on two further occasions. First, a number of weeks after his original surprise appearance, he cropped up during a spoof edition of This Is Your Life to "reminisce" with Lenny Henry about the earlier event. The other appearance occurred during the Tiswas Reunited show (a reunion programme broadcast in June 2007) where McDonald joined Lenny on the sofa once again to look back at the old clips and comment on Henry's impersonation.

McDonald performed live in Hyde Park in summer 1996 with the Who, as the newsreader in the group's staging of their Quadrophenia.

In June 2007, McDonald hosted the new ITV version of This Is Your Life, Simon Cowell being the programme's "victim".

In August 2010, McDonald conducted a live on-stage interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Fairfield Halls in Croydon at an event entitled An Audience with Desmond Tutu.

In 2014, McDonald presented a media training course entitled "Deal with the Media with Sir Trevor McDonald".

McDonald holds honorary degrees from the University of Plymouth and Liverpool John Moores University. He was appointed Knight Batchelor in the Queen's 1999 Birthday Honours for his services to broadcasting and journalism. He was awarded with "Special Recognition" at the National Television Awards in 2003 and with a BAFTA fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards.

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Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian- British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN. McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism. Trevor McDonald was born on 16 August 1939 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago to Josephine and Lawson McDonald.

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Born in Jamaica, Bill Morris moved to England in 1954 and joined the Transport and General Workers Union in 1958, becoming its first black General Secretary in 1991.

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William Manuel Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth, OJ, DL (born 19 October 1938), generally known as Bill Morris, is a former British trade union leader. He was General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1992 to 2003, and the first black leader of a major British trade union.

Morris sat in the House of Lords, under the Labour Party whip, from 2006 to 2020.

Bill Morris was born in Manchester Parish, Jamaica. After the death of his father, William, a part-time policeman, his mother, Una, emigrated to England to find work settling in Handsworth, Birmingham. Morris joined her in the UK in 1954, finding work at a local car parts manufacturer, Hardy Spicer Engineering Ltd. Morris married Minetta in 1957. She died in 1990. They have two sons.

Morris joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1958, and became a shop steward in 1962. After serving on the TGWU General Executive Council (GEC) from 1972 to 1973, Bill Morris joined the union as a full-time official. He served as district officer of the Nottingham District from 1973 to 1976 and district secretary of the Northampton District from 1976 to 1979. In 1979, he became national secretary of the Passenger Services Trade Group, which was responsible for staff working for bus and coach companies. He was elected deputy general secretary in 1986, working under general secretary Ron Todd.

Morris was elected general secretary when Ron Todd retired in 1992. He was re-elected in 1995, ahead of Jack Dromey. He remained in the post until his retirement on his 65th birthday, 19 October 2003, when he was succeeded as general secretary by Tony Woodley.

Morris was a member of the TUC General Council and Executive Committee from 1988 to 2003. He was appointed a non-executive director of the Bank of England in 1998. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords from 1999 to 2000. He is a member of the Board of Governors of London South Bank University, a Trustee of the Open University Foundation, and the member of the Courts of the University of Northampton and the University of Bedfordshire. He was appointed as the first Chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica in 1999 and as Chancellor of Staffordshire University in 2004. He has been a member of the advisory councils of the BBC and IBA and a Commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality. He chaired the Morris Inquiry into professional standards in the Metropolitan Police in 2004. He sits as a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He is also a patron of the Refugee Council. In 1995 he refused to give union backing to 500 Liverpool dock workers who were sacked, claiming that it was an unofficial strike even though the union had failed to act on concerns relayed to the union in the lead up to the dispute, in effect leaving the dock workers to fight the cause themselves.

Morris is an independent non-executive Director of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Morris was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 2002 and received a knighthood in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours. On 11 April 2006, it was announced that Morris would take a seat in the House of Lords as a working life peer, and he was gazetted as Baron Morris of Handsworth, of Handsworth in the County of West Midlands in June 2006. He served on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

In August 2014, Morris was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.

He retired from the House of Lords on 21 July 2020.

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William Manuel Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth, OJ, DL (born 19 October 1938), generally known as Bill Morris, is a former British trade union leader. He was General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1992 to 2003, and the first black leader of a major British trade union.

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Philippa of Hainault ( 1314 – 1369) & Charlotte of Mecklenburg (1744 – 1818)

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BBC

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On 21 August 2018, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced that - after a review of 11,800 cases - 18 members of the Windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained would get a formal apology from the government.

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After World War Two, thousands of people moved to the UK from the Caribbean - and they were known as the Windrush generation.

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In the wake of the First World War and demobilization, the surplus of labour led to dissatisfaction among Britain’s workers, in particular seamen. This was arguably the key factor that led to the outbreak of rioting between white and minority workers in Britain’s major seaports, from January to August 1919.

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During the #LIF2019 In:Visible Women week, we created interesting discussion and activities about race, working with a number of partners. The Liverpool 1919 Race Riots served as a starting point for these.

Our dual-heritage day encouraged and supported people of mixed-Irish heritage to share stories about their experiences of growing up or living in Liverpool, whilst considering their connections to Ireland (and other parts of the world), too.

We discussed 'miscegenation' and the growth of hate-speech terminology, considering how language is misused to support political fear-mongering. It interested us to compare what happened then with what has happened in modern society in relation to racism towards Irish and other groups.

Undertaken with Black History Month and Creative Organisations of Liverpool ( COoL), Writing on the Wall (WoW) were the lead. Together we fundraised for a series of events and activities from Arts Council England, using grant support the Liverpool Mayoral Fund. Delivered in October 2019, the work included a brilliant film project that looked at the Liverpool 1919 Race Riots.

Expertly filmed and edited by First Take it featured movement and performance work directed by Tmesis Theatre, and music from Pagoda Arts; a voiceover from WoW and Black History Month Director Madeline Henegan and performers from across the city.

The film upholds the need to be vigilant against racism and shows how history repetition can be avoided. We share this film with you and encourage you to post it as widely as you can.

This is the amalgam of five short films. If you wish to view the short films individually, you can do so using the following links.

We'd like to thank everyone involved in 2019's Black History Month and look forward to returning with more work in 2020.

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1919 Liverpool Race Riots - a film - Liverpool Irish Festival

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During the #LIF2019 In:Visible Women week, we created interesting discussion and activities about race, working with a number of partners. The Liverpool 1919 Race Riots served as a starting point for these. Our dual-heritage day encouraged and supported people of mixed-Irish heritage to share stories about their experiences of growing up or living in Liverpool, [...]

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By Akala

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What I love about this book is it's kind of like a testimony, a story of contemporary London. He is like one of the Baldwins or Hooks of our generation, who walks among us, you know? When he theorises, it's from a place of knowing rather than some distant place up above . . . He is very good at remembering and honouring the experiences that have shaped him, and he applies it in a very real way

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What I love about this book is it's kind of like a testimony, a story of contemporary London. He is like one of the Baldwins or Hooks of our generation, who walks among us, you know? When he theorises, it's from a place of knowing rather than some distant place up above .

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In a dystopian London, Sephy and Callum fall in love despite the odds.

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100 Great Black Britons was the first poll to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in response to the 100 Greatest Britons poll and television series, which did not feature any Black Britons in its final published listings.

In 2002, the BBC launched a campaign and television series called 100 Great Britons with the definition of a great Briton as, "anyone who was born in the British Isles, or who has lived in the British Isles, and has played a significant part in the life of the British Isles". The series was the idea of Jane Root, then Controller of BBC Two, and in the final results of the BBC poll, Winston Churchill was voted "the greatest Briton ever". At the time, the poll was criticised for lacking in diversity, as out of 100 nominees only 13 were women while none were Black (of African descent).

In response to the absence of any Black people in the 100 Greatest Britons poll, Every Generation and Patrick Vernon launched a website and the alternative campaign, 100 Great Black Britons, in October 2003 during Black History Month to "raise the profile of the Black contribution to Britain". Vernon said: "Black history hasn't been recognised. We didn't come here at Windrush in [1948] - we've been here for a thousand years. We've influenced and shaped Britain." Believing that people were not aware of the long history of Black people in the UK, he later added that the poll was part of a campaign to provide role models of Black Britons of all ages. The website which hosted the survey www.100greatestblackbritons.com received over a million hits during the online campaign and over 100,000 people voted in the poll over three months, choosing from a selection of present day and historic Black figures. The poll has been described as a landmark moment and one of the most successful movements to focus on the role of people of African and Caribbean descent in British history.

Mary Seacole topped the subsequent list of 100 Greatest Black Britons, a nurse who helped soldiers during the Crimean War and who is often overshadowed by the work of her contemporary, Florence Nightingale and whose contribution was often ignored by the history books. Other figures in the first poll of 100 Greatest Black Britons of all time included musicians, politicians, media figures, Religious Leaders and even royalty. Response to the list saw Black historical figures being added to the school curriculum, blue plaques were put up in memory of some of the individuals on the list and a statue of Mary Seacole was unveiled in the garden of St Thomas' Hospital in London. In March 2020, a petition was started to campaign for the temporary field hospital in Birmingham to be named after Mary Seacole after it was established that Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre would be used to treat COVID-19 patients: this was in response to the temporary hospital at London's ExCel centre being named the Nightingale Hospital after Florence Nightingale.

Paul Phoenix, of Black Parents in Education, criticised the poll for being inspired by the 100 Greatest Britons poll and copying the idea. Phoenix said, "Why do we always have to keep reacting to what other people do? We should celebrate our heroes every single day the year and not wait until Black History Month to bring these issues to public attention". Sam Walker, of the Black Cultural Archives, responded in support of the 100 Great Black Britons poll stating, "it doesn't matter whether the poll is a copycat idea; so is Black History Month, which came from America in the late 1980s and has served us well to date".

The inclusion of Queen Philippa of Hainault on the list was criticised, as historians dispute that she was "black" in any modern sense. She was of predominantly European ancestry, with remote Armenian ancestry on her father's side, and Cuman ( Turkic/Asian) ancestry on her mother's side. A report written by Bishop Walter de Stapledon in c.1319 describes either Philippa (then a child) or one of her sisters as "brown of skin all over", with hair "betwixt blue-black and brown"; but, aside from the confusion over who is being described, it is unclear precisely what these terms mean. All known portraits appear to show Philippa as white. Historian Kathryn Warner concludes that she was "a European woman and emphatically not of African ancestry".

2019-2020 re-launch

In 2019, the decision was taken to relaunch and update the 100 Great Black Britons poll 16 years after the first poll. This was made in reaction to the lack of awareness in the general of public to Black British culture, establishment in Britain and Black Britons in general, in addition to both the Windrush scandal and the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. The campaign and poll has been re-launched by Vernon and Dr Angeline Osborne, an independent researcher and heritage consultant, in the wake of the Windrush scandal, the Brexit referendum, the rise of right-wing populism and the continuing economic issues faced by black communities across the UK. Repeating the poll was believed to be of great importance as academics and independent scholars have discovered new Black British historical figures and new role models have emerged since the first poll in 2003. The poll and campaign has been re-launched to celebrate and tackle the invisibility of Black people's achievements and contributions in the UK.

As part of the 100 Great Black Britons campaign, children and young people have been encouraged to explore Black British history and celebrate the continued legacy and achievements of Black people in Britain. The competition is sponsored by the National Education Union and Kevin Courtney, the NEU's joint general secretary has said, "The NEU supports this competition to celebrate what we have always known: that Britain's history is irrefutably rooted in black and global history". Schools have also been encouraged to engage with the competition with suggestions that young people could dress up as their favourite Black Briton, create a project or write an essay to honour the legacy and heritage of Black Britons and to celebrate Black British history. Arike Oke, managing director of Black Cultural Archives, has said, "The resources on the 100 Great Black Britons site can be used by families, parents, guardians and carers to help children understand themselves and their wider history". The results of the updated poll are set to be revealed in a new book published on 24 September 2020.

2003 poll results

1

Mary Seacole (1805-1881)

Mary Jane Seacole was a British-Jamaican business woman and nurse who set-up the 'British Hotel' behind the lines during the Crimean War. Coming from a tradition of Jamaican and West African ''doctresses'', Seacole used herbal remedies to nurse soldiers back to health. She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1871. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands (1857) is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed-race woman.

2 =

Bishop Wilfred Wood (born 1936)

Wilfred Denniston Wood KA was a Bishop of Croydon from 1985 to 2003 (and the first area bishop there from 1991), the first Black bishop in the Church of England. On 30 November 2000 - Barbados Independence Day - The Queen appointed Wood a Knight of St Andrew, the highest class within the Order of St Barbados ''for his contribution to race relations in the United Kingdom and general contribution to the welfare of Barbadians living there''.

2 =

Dr Oliver Lyseight (1919-2006)

Dr Oliver Lyseight was the founder of one of Britain's largest black majority churches, was a spiritual leader to the Windrush generation, the first Caribbeans to emigrate to postwar Britain in 1948.

3

Mary Prince (1788-1833)

Mary Prince (c. 1 October 1788 - after 1833) was a British abolitionist and autobiographer, born in Bermuda to an enslaved family of African descent. Subsequent to her escape, when she was living in London, England, she wrote her slave narrative The History of Mary Prince (1831), which was the first account of the life of a black woman to be published in the United Kingdom. This first-hand description of the brutalities of enslavement, released at a time when slavery was still legal in Bermuda and British Caribbean colonies, had a galvanising effect on the anti-slavery movement. It was reprinted twice in its first year.

Prince had her account transcribed while living and working in England at the home of Thomas Pringle, a founder of the Anti-Slavery Society. She had gone to London with her master and his family in 1828 from Antigua.

4

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 - 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (/ˈvæsə/), was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe region of the Kingdom of Benin (today southern Nigeria). Enslaved as a child, he was taken to the Caribbean and sold as a slave to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more but purchased his freedom in 1766.

As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement. He was part of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group composed of Africans living in Britain, and he was active among leaders of the anti-slave trade movement in the 1780s. He published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789), which depicted the horrors of slavery. It went through nine editions in his lifetime and helped gain passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade. Equiano married an English woman named Susannah Cullen in 1792 and they had two daughters. He died in 1797 in Westminster.

Since the late 20th century, when his autobiography was published in a new edition, he has been increasingly studied by a range of scholars, including from his homeland.

5

Philippa of Hainault (1310/15 - 1369)

Philippa of Hainault ( Middle French: Philippe de Hainaut; 24 June c.1310/15 - 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward III. Edward promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years. She was married to Edward, first by proxy, when Edward dispatched the Bishop of Coventry "to marry her in his name" in Valenciennes, the second city of the County of Hainaut, in October 1327. The marriage was celebrated formally in York Minster on 24 January 1328, some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England. In August 1328, he also fixed his wife's dower.

Philippa acted as regent in 1346, when her husband was away from his kingdom, and she often accompanied him on his expeditions to Scotland, France, and Flanders. Philippa won much popularity with the English people for her kindness and compassion, which were demonstrated in 1347 when she successfully persuaded King Edward to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. This popularity helped maintain peace in England throughout Edward's long reign. The eldest of her thirteen children was Edward, the Black Prince, who became a renowned military leader. Philippa died at the age of fifty-six from an illness closely related to edema. The Queen's College, Oxford was founded in her honour.

Philippa's inclusion on the Black Britons list proved controversial, as historians dispute that she was "black" in any modern sense: see Criticism section above.

6

Courtney Pine (born 1964)

Courtney Pine, CBE (born 18 March 1964 in London) is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and keyboards. On his 2011 album, Europa, he plays almost exclusively bass clarinet.

Pine's parents were Jamaican immigrants, his father a carpenter and his mother a housing manager. As a child, he wanted to be an astronaut. Born in London, Pine went to Kingsbury High School, where he studied classical clarinet, teaching himself the saxophone from the age of 14. He began his music career playing reggae, touring in 1981 with Clint Eastwood & General Saint.

7 =

Sir Bill Morris (born 1938)

William Manuel Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth, OJ, DL (born 19 October 1938), generally known as Bill Morris, is a former British trade union leader. He was General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1992 to 2003, and the first black leader of a major British trade union.

Morris sits in the House of Lords, taking the Labour Party whip.

7 =

Sir Trevor McDonald (born 1939)

British newsreader and journalist

Sir Trevor McDonald, OBE (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN.

Trevor McDonald was born on 16 August 1939 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago to Josephine and Lawson McDonald. McDonald is of Dougla heritage, his mother being of African descent and his father being of Indian descent.

McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.

8

Shirley Bassey (born 1937)

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE (/ˈbæsi/; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer whose career began in the mid-1950s, and is well known both for her powerful voice and for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and (1979). In January 1959, Bassey became the first Welsh person to gain a No. 1 single.

In 2000, Bassey was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the performing arts. In 1977 she received the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist in the previous 25 years. Bassey is considered one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the second half of the 20th century.

9

Bernie Grant (1944-2000)

Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant (17 February 1944 - 8 April 2000) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tottenham from 1987 to his death in 2000.

Bernie Grant was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, to schoolteacher parents, who in 1963 took up the UK Government's offer to people from the crown colonies to settle in the UK. Grant attended Tottenham Technical College, and went on to take a degree course in Mining Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. In the mid-1960s, he was, for a period, a member of the Socialist Labour League, led by Gerry Healy. This later became known as the Workers Revolutionary Party. He quickly became a trade union official, and moved into politics, becoming a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Haringey in 1978. He was elected as the MP for Tottenham at the 1987 general election, one of the UK's first Black British MPs, being elected at the same time as Diane Abbott and Paul Boateng, as well as Britain's first British South Asian MP Keith Vaz.

In September 2007, in Tottenham, London, Haringey Council opened the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in his name.

10

Professor Stuart Hall (1932-2014)

Stuart McPhail Hall FBA (3 February 1932 - 10 February 2014) was a Jamaican-born British Marxist sociologist, cultural theorist and political activist. Hall, along with Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams, was one of the founding figures of the school of thought that is now known as British Cultural Studies or The Birmingham School of Cultural Studies.

In the 1950s Hall was a founder of the influential New Left Review. At Hoggart's invitation, he joined the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University in 1964. Hall took over from Hoggart as acting director of the Centre in 1968, became its director in 1972, and remained there until 1979. While at the Centre, Hall is credited with playing a role in expanding the scope of cultural studies to deal with race and gender, and with helping to incorporate new ideas derived from the work of French theorists like Michel Foucault.

Hall left the centre in 1979 to become a professor of sociology at the Open University. He was President of the British Sociological Association1995-97. He retired from the Open University in 1997 and was a professor emeritus. British newspaper The Observer called him "one of the country's leading cultural theorists". Hall was also involved in the Black Arts Movement. Movie directors such as John Akomfrah and Isaac Julien also see him as one of their heroes. Hall was married to Catherine Hall, a feminist professor of modern British history at University College London, with whom he had two children.

2003 poll - full list

References

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100 Great Black Britons was the first poll to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in response to the 100 Greatest Britons poll and television series, which did not feature any Black Britons in its final published listings.

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The podcast exploring how we live in the fullness of our queer Black lives.

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Witness Black History - BBC World Service

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Witness Black History - BBC World Service

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Interviews with people who were there at key moments in black and civil rights history

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BBC World Service - Witness History, Black history - Downloads

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New Creatives - Decolonisation of a queer carcass & Stew - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

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Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.

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3 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards "

Storyline

When Stonewall Veteran and beloved Greenwich Village personality Marsha P Johnson turned up dead shortly after Gay Pride in 1992, it was the latest in a series of murders, gay bashings, and "mysterious" deaths in the local gay community. Johnson is seen in footage at a political march shortly before this, at an action trying to draw attention to these hate crimes. Tragically, Johnson then becomes the next victim. Like the other suspicious deaths, Johnson's death is quickly dismissed as a "suicide", even though there is no evidence that Johnson was suicidal, and significant evidence that Johnson was harassed and stalked on that very night. Demonstrations are held to protest the lack of police investigation, but it is not until decades later that transgender crime advocate Victoria Cruz succeeds in getting some answers. Even after decades, many contemporaries of Johnson are still afraid to discuss on the record what happened to Johnson, the murders that took place in the Village in that...

Taglines:

A Life That Launched a Revolution. A Death That Remains a Mystery.

Did You Know?

Quotes

Marsha P. Johnson : Really, everybody goes sooner or later. Tomorrow's not promised to anyone. I learned that in church when I was five years old. And I've never forgotten it. So, uh, every day counts.
[chuckles]
See more "

Soundtracks

Love Don't Need a Reason
Performed by New York City Gay Men's Chorus (as The NYC Gay Men's Chorus)
Composed by Peter Allen (as Peter Woolnough Allen) (BM), Michael Callen (as Michael L. Callen) (BMI), and Marsha Malamet (ASCAP)
Published by Tops and Bottoms Music (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Malamution Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Richard Dworkin
See more "

User Reviews

Details

Release Date:

6 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, The

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) - IMDb

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Directed by David France. With Kurt Wolfe, Sue Yacka, Catherine Shugrue Dos Santos, Victoria Cruz. Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.

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Life, love and work in a white man's world. Let's help each other figure it out!

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In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer

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In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer

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In Search Of Black History with Bonnie Greer brings you face-to-face with the people you never knew existed. People whose stories tell us a different tale about who we all are. In this eight part series, playwright and former Trustee of the British Museum, Bonnie Greer, travels with us through the ages, meeting the academics and experts who are uncovering these stories at the cutting edge of historical research, and she brings their subjects’ lives to life - with an imaginative re-telling of their stories.

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In Search Of Black History with Bonnie Greer brings you face-to-face with the people you never knew existed. People whose stories tell us a different tale about who we all are. From the earliest glimmerings of modern humanity, up to the present day, Bonnie Greer uncovers the lives of people of African descent that don't fit with the accepted history of Western Civilisation we've traditionally been taught. From saints, to philosophers, to warrior women and king's heralds - these people's lives have been lost, hidden and distorted down the centuries. We've lost the full richness and complexity of our shared histories - it's time to fill in the gaps.

In this eight part series, playwright and former Trustee of the British Museum, Bonnie Greer, travels with us through the ages, meeting the academics and experts who are uncovering these stories at the cutting edge of historical research, and she brings their subjects' lives to life - with an imaginative re-telling of their stories.

This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 8 episodes to your Library now.

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In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer

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Check out this great listen on Audible.com. In Search Of Black History with Bonnie Greer brings you face-to-face with the people you never knew existed. People whose stories tell us a different tale about who we all are. From the earliest glimmerings of modern humanity, up to the present day, Bonn...

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The boycott drew national attention to racial discrimination in Britain, and the campaign was supported by national politicians, with interventions being made by church groups and the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago.

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The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 arose from the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ black or Asian bus crews in the city of Bristol, England.

In common with other British cities, there was widespread racial discrimination in housing and employment at that time against "coloureds". Led by youth worker Paul Stephenson and the West Indian Development Council, the boycott of the company's buses by Bristolians lasted for four months until the company backed down and overturned the colour bar.

The boycott drew national attention to racial discrimination in Britain, and the campaign was supported by national politicians, with interventions being made by church groups and the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago. The Bristol Bus Boycott was considered by some to have been influential in the passing of the Race Relations Act 1965 which made "racial discrimination unlawful in public places" and the Race Relations Act 1968, which extended the provisions to employment and housing.

Background
Bristol in the early 1960s had an estimated 3,000 residents of West Indian origin, some who had served in the British military during World War II and some who had emigrated to Britain more recently. A large number lived in the area around City Road in St Pauls. They suffered discrimination in housing and employment, and some encountered violence from Teddy Boy gangs of white British youths. This community set up their own churches and associations, including the West Indian Association, which began to act as a representative body.

One of their foremost grievances was the colour bar operated by the Bristol Omnibus Company, which had been a nationalised company owned by the British government since 1950, and operated through the Transport Holding Company. Although there was a reported labour shortage on the buses, black prospective employees were refused work as bus crews, although they were employed in lower paid positions in workshops and canteens. The Bristol Evening Post and the Western Daily Press both ran series on the colour bar, which was blamed by company management on the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), which represented bus workers. Local union officials denied that there was any colour bar, but in 1955 the Passenger Group of the TGWU had passed a resolution that "coloured" workers should not be employed as bus crews. Andrew Hake, curator of the Bristol Industrial Mission, recalled that "The TGWU in the city had said that if one black man steps on the platform as a conductor, every wheel will stop."

The bus workers' concern, apart from racism, was that a new competitive source of labour could reduce their earnings. Pay was low and workers relied on overtime to get a good wage. One shop steward said, "people were fearful of an influx of people from elsewhere (on the grounds it) would be reducing their earnings potential."

Boycott
Four young West Indian men, Roy Hackett, Owen Henry, Audley Evans and Prince Brown, formed an action group, later to be called the West Indian Development Council. They were unhappy with the lack of progress in fighting discrimination by the West Indian Association. Owen Henry had met Paul Stephenson, whose father was from West Africa, and who had been to college. The group decided that the articulate Stephenson would be their spokesman. Stephenson set up a test case to prove the colour bar existed by arranging an interview with the bus company for Guy Bailey, a young warehouseman and Boys' Brigade officer. When Stephenson told the company that Bailey was West Indian, the interview was cancelled. Inspired by the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama and the ensuing Montgomery Bus Boycott in the United States in 1955, the activists decided on a bus boycott in Bristol.

Their action was announced at a press conference on 29 April 1955. The following day they claimed that none of the city's West Indians were using the buses and that many white people supported themIn an editorial, the Bristol Evening Post pointed out that the TGWU opposed apartheid in South Africa and asked what trade union leaders were doing to counteract racism in their own ranks. When reporters questioned the bus company about the boycott, the general manager, Ian Patey, said:
"The advent of coloured crews would mean a gradual falling off of white staff. It is true that London Transport employ a large coloured staff. They even have recruiting offices in Jamaica and they subsidise the fares to Britain of their new coloured employees. As a result of this, the amount of white labour dwindles steadily on the London Underground. You won't get a white man in London to admit it, but which of them will join a service where they may find themselves working under a coloured foreman? ... I understand that in London, coloured men have become arrogant and rude, after they have been employed for some months."

Support
Students from Bristol University held a protest march to the bus station and the local headquarters of the TGWU on 1 May, which attracted heckling from bus crews as they passed through the city centre, according to the local press. Local MP Tony Benn contacted then Labour Opposition leader Harold Wilson, who spoke out against the colour bar at an Anti-Apartheid Movement rally in London. On 2 May local Labour Party Alderman Henry Hennessey spoke of the apparent collusion between bus company management and the TGWU over the colour bar. On 3 May, the ruling Labour Group on the city council threatened him with expulsion, despite his honourable service of over forty years.

Tony Benn, Fenner Brockway and former cricketer Learie Constantine also condemned the bus company. Constantine was then serving as High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago. Constantine wrote letters to the bus company and Stephenson and spoke out against the colour bar to reporters when he attended the cricket match between the West Indies and Gloucestershire at the County Ground, which took place from the 4th to 7 May. The West Indies team refused to publicly support the boycott, saying that sport and politics did not mix. During the game, local members of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) distributed leaflets urging spectators to support the action.

The local branch of the TGWU refused to meet with a delegation from the West Indian Development Council, and an increasingly bitter war of words was fought out in the local media. Ron Nethercott, South West Regional Secretary of the union, persuaded a local black TGWU member, Bill Smith, to sign a statement which called for quiet negotiation to solve the dispute. It condemned Stephenson for causing potential harm to the city's black and Asian population. Nethercott launched an attack on Stephenson in the Daily Herald newspaper, calling him dishonest and irresponsible. This led to a libel case in the High Court, which awarded Stephenson damages and costs in December 1963.

The Bristol Council of Churches launched a mediation attempt, saying
"We seriously regret that what may prove an extended racial conflict arising from this issue has apparently been deliberately created by a small group of West Indians professing to be representative. We also deplore the apparent fact that social and economic fears on the part of some white people should have placed the Bristol Bus Company in a position where it is most difficult to fulfil the Christian ideal of race relations."

This in turn was criticised by Robert Davison, an official at the Jamaican High Commission, who stated that it was "nonsense to describe a group of West Indians as unrepresentative when no representative West Indian body existed."

At a May Day rally, held on Sunday 6 May in Eastville, local Trades Council members publicly criticised the TGWU. On the same day Paul Stephenson had organised a demonstration march to St Mary Redcliffe church, but there was a poor turnout. Some local West Indians said they should not ripple the water and, according to Roy Hackett, they may have feared victimisation. The dispute led to what has been described as one of the largest mailbags that the Bristol Evening Post had ever received, with contributors writing in support of both sides of the issue.

Resolution
The union, the city Labour establishment and the Bishop of Bristol, Oliver Stratford Tomkins, ignored Stephenson and tried to work with Bill Smith of the TGWU to resolve the dispute. Learie Constantine continued with his support for the campaign, meeting with the Lord Mayor of Bristol and Frank Cousins, leader of the Transport and General Workers Union. In addition, he went to the Bristol Omnibus Company's parent, the Transport Holding Company, and persuaded them to send officials to talk with the union. The company chairman told Constantine that racial discrimination was not company policy. Negotiations between the bus company and the union continued for several months until a mass meeting of 500 bus workers agreed on 27 August to end the colour bar. On 28 August 1963 Ian Patey announced that there would be no more discrimination in employing bus crews. It was on the same day that Martin Luther King made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington. On 17 September, Raghbir Singh, a Sikh, became Bristol's first non-white bus conductor. A few days later two Jamaican and two Pakistani men joined him.

Aftermath
In 1965, the United Kingdom Parliament passed a Race Relations Act, which made "racial discrimination unlawful in public places." This was followed by the Race Relations Act 1968 which extended the provisions to housing and employment. The enactment of this legislation has been cited by some as having been influenced by the Bristol bus boycott. Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent for The Independent newspaper, said "Few doubt that without Mr Stephenson's efforts it would have been difficult for Harold Wilson's Labour government to bring in Britain's first anti-discrimination laws." In 2003, as part of Black History Month, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme about the boycott.

Unite, the successor to the Transport and General Workers Union, issued an apology in February 2013. Laurence Faircloth, the union's South West secretary said of the union's stance at the time, "It was completely unacceptable. I can well accept the sense of injustice and pain that has been felt because [of] what happened in Bristol all those years ago."

In 2009, Stephenson was awarded the OBE for his part in organising the bus boycott. Bailey and Hackett were also awarded OBEs.

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The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 - Black History 365

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The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 arose from the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ black or Asian bus crews in the city of Bristol, England. In common with other British cities, there was widespread racial discrimination in housing and employment at that time against "coloureds".

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Rebecca Lee Crumpler, née Davis (1831 – 1895)

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Rebecca Lee Crumpler, née Davis (1831 – 1895)

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An American physician and author. After studying at New England Female Medical College, in 1864 she became the first African-American woman to become a doctor of medicine in the United States.

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Rebecca Lee Crumpler, née Davis, (February 8, 1831 - March 9, 1895) was an African American physician and author. Becoming a Doctor of Medicine in 1864 after studying at New England Female Medical College, she was the first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States.

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Harriet Tubman escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.

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an American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.

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MLA - Michals, Debra. "Sojourner Truth." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2015. Date accessed.

Chicago - Michals, Debra. "Sojourner Truth." National Women's History Museum. 2015. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth.

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A former slave, Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women's rights in the nineteenth century. Learn more at womenshistory.org.

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William Brown was a Black woman who joined the Royal Navy under a man's name in the early nineteenth century. It is undisputed that she was a sailor of HMS Queen Charlotte, but historians have reached varying conclusions about her service record.

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'William Brown' was a Black woman who joined the Royal Navy under a man's name in the early nineteenth century. Actual name is unknown, she is regarded as the first biologically female person to serve in the Royal Navy.

A sailor of HMS Queen Charlotte she was a subject of conflicting reports based on her age and rank.

The muster list of the HMS states that the 21 year old William Brown joined the crew of the ship on 23 May 1815 and was then discharged on the 19 June that year for "being a female". It rates her as a "landsman", the lowest grade of adult crew member in the Royal Navy.

This conflicts with alternative reports described in a piece in The Times printed on 2 September 1815. In the report Brown is described as a 'a female African, who served as a seaman in the Royal Navy for upwards of eleven years' and 'She is a smart well formed-figure, about five feet four inches in height, possessed of considerable strength and great activity; her features are rather handsome for a black, and she appears to be about 26 years of age.'

Since the appearance of Brown on the HMS Queen Charlotte, there has immense speculation over how she came to be in the Royal Navy. The Times report says: 'She says she is a married woman; and went to sea in consequence of a quarrel with her husband, who, it is said, has entered a caveat against her receiving her prize money.'
What can you do to support this Black History Month?
Check out these organizations:

You can also read Fawcett's research on The Gender Pay Gap by Ethnicity to find out more about how the pay gap affects women of colour, and our Invisible Women report exploring how race, faith, ethnicity, age, disability, sexuality, location and employment status can combine with gender to create distinct and particularly troubling experiences of discrimination and inequality.

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Seaman 'William Brown': the first black woman in the Royal Navy

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'William Brown' was a Black woman who joined the Royal Navy under a man's name in the early nineteenth century. Actual name is unknown, she is regarded as the first biologically female person to serve in the Royal Navy. A sailor of HMS Queen Charlotte she was a subject of conflicting reports based on her age and rank.

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Mary Prince (1788-c.1833): The First Woman to Present a Petition to Parliament

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Mary Prince (1788-c.1833): The First Woman to Present a Petition to Parliament

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'The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, related by herself', London, 1831

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David Olusoga opens secret government files to show how the Windrush scandal and the ‘hostile environment’ for black British immigrants has been 70 years in the making.

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David Olusoga opens secret government files to explore the Windrush scandal.

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 4. A British Story

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 4. A British Story

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The final 4th episode

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 3. A New Generation

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 3. A New Generation

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This programme focuses on the education of black children and looks at the tragedy of the New Cross house fire in 1981.

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 3. A New Generation

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 2. Intolerance

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 2. Intolerance

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This episode begins with the 1958 Notting Hill riots and talks about the Caribbean influence on the music industry.

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 2. Intolerance

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 1: Arrival

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 1: Arrival

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Windrush is a four-part series of one-hour television documentaries originally broadcast on BBC2 in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival in Britain of the MV Empire Windrush, the ship that brought the first significant wave of post-war West Indian immigrants.
The series was produced and directed by David Upshal.  Its Executive Producer was Trevor Phillips. It won the 1999 Royal Television Society Award for Best Documentary Series

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Windrush - Documentary (1998) - 1: Arrival

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Very Triggering - A young American girl trying to discuss racism with her parents

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Very Triggering - A young American girl trying to discuss racism with her parents

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Hayley Clark arguing with parents about systematic oppression

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Hayley Clark arguing with parents about systematic oppression

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Conversations with Nova Reid are raw, unedited conversations about race, identity, allyship and everything in-between as we navigate this funny thing called life. Brought to you by Tedx Speaker and Anti Racism Campaigner Nova Reid.

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Listen to Conversations with Nova Reid on Spotify.