Continuing our celebration of Black History Month, today we focus on British rapper, journalist, author, activist and poet, Akala. Kingslee James McLean Daley, aka Akala, was born in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1983 to a Scottish mother and Jamaican father. He grew up with his mother “in the cliched, single-parent working-class family,” in Kentish Town, […]
#BHM: Today’s Hero, Maya Angelou
Thankfully not “unsung”, but today’s hero is none other than stunningly influential poet, activist and positive human force, Maya Angelou. If you have a spare 2 minutes today, watch her delivering her inspirational poem, ‘Still I Rise’ (video below). Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, poet and award-winning author known for her acclaimed 1969 […]
#BHM: Today’s History Maker, Sir Steve McQueen
Continuing our celebration of Black History Month, today we highlight the life and career of inspirational artist and director, Steve McQueen. Sir Steven Rodney McQueen, was born in Ealing in 1969, Ealing, to a Grenadian father and a Trinidadian mother, both of whom had immigrated to England. He studied art in London at the Chelsea […]
#BHM: Today’s Unsung Hero, John Edmonstone
John Edmonstone was born into slavery on a plantation belonging to Scottish politician Charles Edmonstone in Demerara (what is now Guyana, South America), in the late 1700s. The politician often played host to his friend and famed naturalist Charles Waterton, who would often have John accompany him on trips into the rainforest to observe the […]
#BHM: Today’s History Maker, Doreen Lawrence OBE
Continuing our agency’s support for Black History Month, today we praise Doreen Lawrence OBE, mother of Stephen Lawrence, who has been a pioneering campaigner and force for good since that tragic day in 1993. Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE. Anti-racism campaigner and Labour peer. The charitable foundation she set up in Stephen’s memory is providing […]
#BHM: Today’s Unsung Hero, Olive Elaine Morris
Olive Elaine Morris was born in Jamaica in 1952, migrating to Britain with her family by the age of nine. In 1969 she became involved in an incident when a Nigerian diplomat was pulled over in his Mercedes because the police accused him of stealing the car, something they were able to do because of […]
