Lots of people think Black History Month is a 'waste of time' and it just 'brings up history that we'd rather forget'.
Aim: To learn about and celebrate the journey of the Black community in the UK
The 2nd World War had created a labour shortage in Britain which led to people being employed for low pay or positions not being filled. Some 157,000 Poles were the first groups to be allowed to settle in the UK, partly because of ties made during the war years. They were joined by Italians but it was not enough to meet the need.
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Windrush departed on May 24th, 1948. It had 300 passengers below deck and 192 above, from colonies of Jamaica and Trinidad.
The fare price for a place on the troop deck was a cut-price £28 and 10 shillings. |
Despite an apparent official reluctance to allow immigration from the fast-disappearing empire, the government could not recruit enough people from Europe and turned to men from around the world.
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Although the atmosphere turned out to be far from welcoming when they first arrived, 202 of the passengers found work straight away.
The newly-founded National Health Service was a major source of employment for some - others worked in factories and mills - but the largest employer was London Transport. |
2011 BHM Hall of Fame
Name: Oona King
MP for Bethnal Green and Bow between 1997 and 2005, and stood for the Labour selection to be mayor of London. A Baroness and Member of the House of Lords, and former Chief Diversity Officer for Channel 4. |
Name: YolanDa Brown
Talented saxophonist and double MOBO Award winner. Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London on 2nd December 2010 at the Barbican, alongside human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and Time Out editor Mark Frith. |
Name: Diane Abbott
The first black woman ever elected to the British Parliament in 1997. Diane is founder of London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst Black children. |
Name: Kanya Kingis
CEO of the Mobo Organisation. She worked her way up from a television researcher and a book for Radio 2 to being the driving force behind on of Britain's most successful musical awards. The annual Mobos celebrate Music of Black Origin. |
Name: Sherry Dixon
Former editor of Pride Magazine |
Name: Christine Ohuruogu
Her victory in the Beijing Games was the 50th gold medal for Great Britain in Athletics at the Olympics. |
Name: Alex Wek
Sudanese British model who first appeared on the catwalks at age 18 in 1995. |
Name: Dame Kelly Holmes
Inspired by Seb Coe after watching him win Olympic gold medals, led her to aspire to be an Olympic champion. |
And for all the unsung Heroines...
Let us pray...
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