Given the racist, xenophobic Brexit happenings across the pond, egged on and abetted by our home-grown bigots and manipulators such as Steve Bannon and co-signed by our illegitimate white supremacist POTUS, let us all join in the United Kingdom’s celebration of Black History Month—as an “up yours” to racist asshats (there and here) and as a gesture of solidarity.
Black History Month was born here in the U.S. out of what was first “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of historian Carter G. Woodson. Currently Canada celebrates in February, as we do. The U.K. and Ireland celebrate Black History Month in October.
The U.K.’s Evening Standard published an article titled “Black History Month UK 2019: Why is it important and why is it celebrated in October?”
Like most things that originate in the US, it wasn't long before word about Black History Month made its way to the UK.
After visiting America in the 1970s, Ghanaian-born Akyaaba Addai Sebo, a special projects officer at the Greater London Council, founded the UK's version of Black History Month in 1987.
The US celebrates in February because the birthdays of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass fall within this month.
There are two reasons thought to be behind why Black History Month is celebrated in October in the UK.
Traditionally, October is when African chiefs and leaders gather to settle their differences, so Akyaaba chose this month to reconnect with African roots.
Additionally, many thought that since it was the beginning of the new academic year, October would give black children a sense of pride and identity.
Black British social and political activist Patrick Vernon interviewed Akyaaba Addai-Sebo about the genesis of the celebration in the United Kingdom.
PV- How was Black History Month first started in the UK?
AS: I was stirred up in the mid-1980s by the identity crisis that Black children faced as some brazenly would not identify with Africa and shrank when called an African. A colleague came to work one morning broken hearted and in probing her why revealed to me in confidence that her seven year old son, who she had proudly and purposefully named Marcus, after Marcus Mosiah Garvey (a foremost Black nationalist leader), before going to bed, had asked her: “Mom, why can’t I be white?”
In consoling this devastated mother I was prompted to go around asking questions about “identity” and to observe and talk to children more after school, in buses, parks, and in the play grounds in the communities in some parts of London. I was awakened to the fact that even some Ghanaians tried to mimick being Afro-Caribbeans and some Afro-Caribbeans would take offense being referred to as “African”. A crisis of identity faced us squarely despite the Race Awareness campaigns of the Greater London Council (GLC) and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).
And that’s how Black History Month in the United Kingdom was born.
Addai-Sebo wrote in 2017:
Black History Month seeks to extend the boundaries of freedom and justice in the history of Black presence and experience in this our United Kingdom. Black History Month is a celebration of the magnificence of cultural diversity and the enriching value in peaceful co-existence. To the African mind, to achieve harmony both the black and white keys of the organ must be in tune.
By now, those of you who are following the situation in the U.K closely are more than likely aware of MP David Lammy, whom I follow avidly on Twitter. I wrote about his powerful speech in Parliament on the hostile environment in Great Britain—dealing with the deportation of black Britons of the Windrush Generation, who play a large role in the black history of the U.K.— in ”’If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas': MP blasts Brit Home Secretary over 'Windrush Generation.’”
This is a day of national shame, and it has come about because of a hostile environment policy that was begun under her Prime Minister.
Let us call it like it is. If you lay down with dogs, you get fleas and that is what has happened with this far-right rhetoric in this country. Can she apologise properly? Can she explain how quickly this team will act to ensure that the thousands of British men and women, denied their rights in this country under her watch in the home office are satisfied.
He also tweets about our politics here:
I did not realize that it wasn’t until 1987 that the House of Commons got its first black representation until I saw some tweets from Lammy. I decided that my main focus today will be on the history of black political representation in the U.K., thinking perhaps that many readers here may be in the boat I was in and know very little about it. Those of you who do, please feel free to post additions in the comments section.
House of Commons
House of Commons, also called Commons, popularly elected legislative body of the bicameral British Parliament. Although it is technically the lower house, the House of Commons is predominant over the House of Lords, and the name “Parliament” is often used to refer to the House of Commons alone.
The origins of the House of Commons date from the second half of the 13th century, when landholders and other property owners in the counties and towns began sending representatives to Parliament to present grievances and petitions to the king and to accept commitments to the payment of taxes. In the 14th century the knights and burgesses chosen as representatives (i.e., the commons) began sitting in a separate chamber, or “house,” from that used by the nobles and high clergy (i.e., the lords).
David Lammy unveils a portrait of Bernie Grant:
Fascinating background on Bernie Grant and his portrait.
Incredible pencil artist portrait of Bernie Grant from Wendy Hurrell on Vimeo.
Bernie Grant (1944-2000)
Guyana-born Grant is well remembered for his passionate work campaigning for racial equality, as well as making his mark in the House of Commons by wearing a traditional Ghanaian cotton robe at the State Opening of Parliament.
A champion of social and racial justice, and a pioneer for diversity, after his death in 2000, Prime Minister Tony Blair described him as “an inspiration to black British communities everywhere”.
Diane Abbott
Born to Jamaican parents in London, in 1987 Diane Abbott became first black woman elected to Parliament.
“I joined the Labour Party because I knew how hard life was for my parents and their friends. I knew how hard black people’s lives are generally and I wanted to do something about it.” Diane Abbott
The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art commissioned this portrait in 2003 to commemorate Abbott’s important place in Parliament’s history. The chosen artist, Stuart Pearson Wright, was a previous winner of the BP Portrait Award who had studied at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Abbott decided that the close-up portrait would show no evidence of clothing. She was aware that it would hang among portraits of white male MPs wearing suits and hoped it would disrupt these traditional images.
A senior Labour Party figure, and prominent campaigner on race and civil liberties issues, Abbott has represented the diverse constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. Since 2010 she has held increasingly important positions in Labour’s Shadow Cabinet and is currently Shadow Home Secretary.
Paul Boateng
Paul Boateng was born in London to Ghanaian and Scottish parents. Like Diane Abbott, Bernie Grant and Keither Vaz - the other MPs of colour elected in 1987 - he was a member of Black Sections, the Labour Party movement for African Caribbean and Asian people, which had been established in 1983 following demands for greater representation.
'I always felt that although our election represented real progress, it was only a stage in an ongoing struggle. A glass ceiling had been smashed, but many more remained.' Paul Boateng
In 2002 Boateng became the UK's first black Cabinet Minister when he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. To commemorate this historic event, the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art commissioned this portrait. The commission was given to Jonathan Yeo, a self-taught artist who in 2001 painted 'Proportional Representation', the first General Election Artwork.
The portrait was painted over a number of sittings at the artist’s London studio. After debating whether Boateng should wear his trademark pinstripe suit or his preferred African collarless suit, the artist and sitter decided to leave the clothing ambiguous.
A former civil rights lawyer, Boateng represented Brent South, one of the most diverse constituencies in the country, between 1987 and 2005. He subsequently became Britain’s first black ambassador when appointed British High Commissioner to South Africa. In 2010 he entered the House of Lords as Baron Boateng of Akyem and Wembley.
Here in the U.S., post-Reconstruction, we had black elected officials in the U.S. Congress starting in 1929, with the first black woman, Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1969.
The House of Lords seated its first black life peer in 1969, predating the first election of a black person to the House of Commons by almost two decades.
The House of Lords
House of Lords, the upper chamber of Great Britain’s bicameral legislature. Originated in the 11th century, when the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted witans (councils) composed of religious leaders and the monarch’s ministers, it emerged as a distinct element of Parliament in the 13th and 14th centuries. It currently comprises the following elements: (1) the Lords Spiritual, including the archbishops of Canterbury and York and the bishops of Durham, London, and Winchester, as well as 21 other bishops holding sees in England; (2) from November 1999, 92 hereditary peers; (3) from January 1980, all life peers and peeresses created under the Life Peerages Act of 1958. A fourth element, the Law Lords, consisting of the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature (the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice), acted as Britain’s final court of appeal (except for Scottish criminal cases) until 2009, when the Law Lords were abolished and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being. The total number of persons qualified to sit in the House of Lords is in excess of 670.
Learie Constantine (1901-1971)
Constantine, born in Trinidad in 1901, distinguished himself as a cricketer early in life and began an illustrious sporting career which would take him from the Caribbean to England. On the field Constantine showed flashes of brilliance as a batsman, but it was as a bowler and fielder that he excelled.
Constantine was employed during the Second World War by the Ministry of Labour as a welfare officer for West Indian workers in munitions factories in Liverpool, and West African seamen. This was his first official role in race relations where he worked with government departments, employers and trade unions to improve the conditions and experience of migrant workers during the war effort. He was a public advocate for race relations through broadcasts, public lectures and popular charity cricket matches.
Race Relations
It was following a charity match at Lords in 1943 that Constantine and his family were refused lodgings at the Imperial Hotel on the basis of the colour of their skin. The following year Constantine successfully won damages from the Hotel in a landmark case which highlighted the levels of discrimination in Britain. In 1954 Constantine qualified as a barrister and published his book Colour Bar. His book attacked the presence and impact of discrimination across Britain and called for change.
In the 1950s Constantine moved back to Trinidad but returned to England in 1961 as Trinidad’s first High Commissioner in London, a post which he held until 1964. Following the Race Relations Act (1965), which became the first piece of legislation in the UK to address discrimination on the grounds of race, Constantine served on the Race Relations Board. Learie Constantine was introduced to the House of Lords in 1969 and following his elevation Baron Constantine continued to act as a figurehead for race relations in Britain until his death in 1971.
Another key life peer was Lord David Pitt.
Lord David Pitt
Lord Pitt of Hampstead, now deceased was the longest serving Black Parliamentarian, having been granted a life peerage in 1975. Born in Grenada, he came to Britain in 1933 to study medicine at Edinburgh University. His achievements in his two chosen careers of medicine and politics were considerable. In 1943, while practicing medicine in Trinidad and Tobago, he was founder member and leader of the Westindian National Party.
Upon his return to live in Britain in 1947 he served as a Member of London County Council and a Chairperson of the Greater London Council and, from 1985-88, as President of the British Medical Association. He was Deputy Chairman of the Community Relations Commission from 1968-1977, and Chairman in 1977. Notably, Pitt was a member of black peoples’ and anti-discriminations organisations such as the League of Coloured Peoples and the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination which he chaired in 1965.
As a prominent member of the House of Lords, inner city issues were among his major concerns. He was Chairperson of the Shelter National Campaign for the Homeless; Chairperson of the Race Equality Unit of the Institute of Social Work; President of the Open Door Counseling Service for the Youth of North London; President of the African-Caribbean Medical Society and Co-Chairperson of the Urban Trust, which provided pump-priming finance for projects in inner city areas
Curious about the first black woman life peer, I found out that she was Valerie Amos.
Baroness Amos
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos of Brondesbury, (born March 13, 1954, British Guiana [now Guyana]), British politician, the first woman of African descent to serve in a British cabinet and as leader of the House of Lords (2003–07).
Amos was educated at Townley Grammar School for Girls and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Warwick (1976) and a master’s degree in cultural studies from the University of Birmingham (1977). She worked initially for local governments in London and then from 1989 to 1994 headed the Equal Opportunities Commission. In August 1997 she was made a life peer by the new Labour Party government of Tony Blair. As a member of the House of Lords, Amos served as the government spokesperson for social security, international development, women’s issues, and foreign and Commonwealth affairs. In May 2003 she was appointed international development secretary, thus becoming the first black woman to serve in a British cabinet. Following the death of Lord Williams of Mostyn in September 2003, Amos was named leader of the House of Lords, a post she held until 2007. She later served as British high commissioner to Australia (2009–10) and as head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2010–15). She became director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London in 2015.
A black woman also heads one of the U.K.’s smaller national parties, the Women's Equality Party.
‘We’re not just for middle class white women’: new head of Women’s Equality party
Mandu Reid wasn’t always a feminist. In fact, for a long time she was “embarrassed” to identify with a movement which is now central to her being. “I was a late developer in that respect,” she says. Growing up in southern Africa during the apartheid era, she says, “racial lines were much more front and centre in my mind, and it wasn’t until I was 26 that I changed tack. It took me that long to realise how much work was needed to bring gender equality. I was so naive – I feel quite stupid about my younger self.”
Yet Reid is now the new leader of the Women’s Equality party (WEP) and one of the brightest hopes in British feminism. She moved to London aged 18 and has lived and worked there since, first for the Treasury and then for the London mayor’s office. She is the first black leader of a political party in the UK, a historic moment that she feels comes with contradictory emotions.
Mandu Reid, her mother Judy, and her sister Nadia are featured here.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, posted this mini-doc on the contributions of black Londoners.
There is no way I can cover much more in one story, but a look at Twitter so far this month has me excited—so many interesting pieces of black history I know nothing about to explore.
Here’s a sample:
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is also a part of black history in the U.K
Here’s a much earlier U.S.-U.K connection.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this brief survey. Let me know if you’re interested in reading more.