Black History

A.D. Harvey thinks the world of academia is letting down the thousands who make Black History Month such a popular success each year.

Malcolm Chase recalls the life of the Soho tailor William Cuffay, the son of a freed slave from St Kitts, who overcame poverty and disability to become one of the leaders of the Chartist ‘conspiracy’ of 1848.

Marika Sherwood reveals the state of our knowledge – and ignorance – about a period of our multi-racial past.

Kathy Chater recalls how a chance discovery in family history threw up much wider questions about perceptions of black Britons in the 18th century.

Ben Shephard looks at the career of Peter Lobengula, the African ‘Prince’ who tantalised the British press and public and died in poverty in Salford in 1913, highlighting Victorian attitudes towards race, colour and sex.

Paul Rich argues that while the official response to post-war immigration was slow to develop, the tensions and white backlash of the late fifties marked its emergence as a national political issue.

Ziggi Alexander and Audrey Dewjee consider the life of a remarkable Victorian woman.

Paul Edwards traces the leading black figures of the period.

Paul Edwards profiles two black men who settled in 18th Century Britain.