In 1991 Stephen Bourne and his adopted aunt, Esther Bruce (1912-94), collaborated on her autobiography Aunt Esthers Story. This is now recognised as one of the first books to document the life of a Black working-class Londoner. In 2007 Bourne assisted in the production of a short documentary, also called Aunt Esther's Story, with no money, ...

Found this excellent video on Youtube today, some footage of African American Jazz music in the 40's.

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 October 24, 1972) was the first African American Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As the first black man to openly play in the major leagues since the 1880s, ...

London Illustrated News - June 21, 1851 We have been favoured with the following intelligence, and the accompanying sketch, by an Officer serving in Kaffirland: - Camp, Fort White, April 20th, 1851. " As I have an opportunity of writing, which may not soon occur again, and as you no doubt wish to know how we are getting ...

by the Right Hon. The Lord David Alton of Liverpool November 19th marked the Centenary Anniversary of the Great Congo Demonstration when , one hundred year ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian leaders, along with many Peers and fifty Members of Parliament assembled at the Royal Albert Hall to protest against the abuses by ...

This queen of Zazzua, a province of Nigeria now known as Zaria, was born around 1533 during the reign of Sarkin (king) Zazzau Nohir. She was probably his granddaughter. Zazzua was one of a number of Hausa city-states which dominated the trans-Saharan trade after the collapse of the Songhai empire to the west. Zaria's wealth ...

Cy Grant was born in Guyana, Central America. He came to Britain in 1941 to join the Royal air Force and was a commissioned office by 1943. He later became a Prisoner of War and later a TV personality. Cy Grant was born in Guyana, Central America. He came to Britain in 1941 to join ...

German East Africa, campaign in (1914-18). In 1914 Germany possessed four colonies in sub-Saharan Africa: Togoland, Cameroons, South-West Africa (now Namibia), and East Africa (now Tanzania). The fight for the fourth of these has most captured the public imagination. The last German troops did not surrender until two weeks after the Armistice in Europe, on ...

Vincent Bunting was born in Panama in June 1918 and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He became a fighter pilot and joined No 611 Squadron in December 1942. After being promoted to Warrant Officer, Bunting served with No 132 Squadron flying Spitfires. In October 1944 he was transferred to No 154 Squadron. Whilst leaded ...

The first world war 1914-1918 saw a significant number of Africans arrive in Britain to fight. The second and larger wave of Afro-Caribbean's arrived in Britain during the course of the Second World war 1939-1945. In all, Several thousand workers migrated as volunteers fight in the RAF and other branches of the armed forces, ...