Learie Constantine 1901 - 1971
Constantine
was born in Trinidad. A West Indies test cricketer, having toured England
with the West indies XI in 1923, he played in test matches from the
very first one in 1928 until 1939, In 1928 made 1,000 runs and took
100 wickets. From 1930 he played professionally in the Lanchashire League;
then worked for the Ministry of Labour during WWII as a Welfare Officer.
He was called to the Bar in 1954. Returning to Trinidad, he was chairman
of the PNM (Eric Williams' political party); then Minister of Communciations.
He was appointed the first High Commissioner form independent Trinidad
1962-64. Constantine was created a Life Peer in 1969 and was on the
BBC board of governors.
Constantine was the author of four books on cricket and an autobiographical
volume, Colour Bar, London1954. This recounts some of his experiences
as a Welfare Officer, as well as what was probably the first court case
challenging the colour bar, initiated by Constantine during WWII.
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Ottobah
Cugoano, c.1757 - 1801
This Ghanaian born boy was enslaved aged c. 13 and sold in Grenada.
His ownder Alexander Campbell brought him to England in 1772, and then
worked for the paintner Cosway who may have granted his freedom. The
black community in London advised Cugoano to become a Christian, as
a further safeguard against being returned to slavery in the Caribbean.
With Cosway's help he acquired some education and began to take an active
role in the anti-slavery movement alongside Equiano, helping to rescue
kidnapped Blacks bound for slavery in the Caribbean.
His duties as manservant to Cosway could not have been too arduous,
as Cugoano began writing about the horrors of the transatlantic slave
trade, at first in letters to the press and to infuential people such
as Edmund Burke and even members of the Royal family. His Thoughts and
Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery.... published
in 1787, was the first Black-authored anti-slavery book arguing against
enslavement from a philosophical and economic standpoint. Cugoano proposed
immediate abolition and emancipation. By 1786 Cugoano's writing had
made him one of the central figures in Britain's anti-slavery movement.
In 1791 a shorter version was published in which he revealed his plans
to open a school for Africans in London. Whether he accomplished this
is unknown.
Address: Pall Mall, London. (Cosway's home/studio)
There are
no biographies, as far as I know, except what in Peter Fryer, Staying
Power, London 1985; Folarin Shyllon, Black people in Britain, London
1977; Gretchen Gerzina, Black London, London 1995 Paul Edwards, Thoughts
and Sentiments… London 1969 (I believe Cugoano's book was re-published
more recently.)
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Celestine
Edwards c.1858 - 1894
Celestine Edwards was born in Dominica. After working as a seaman he
settled in Britain and became involved in the temperance movement. From
about 1881 he lived in London's East End, worked as a casual building
worker and 'soon gained a reputation as a public speaker in Victoria
Park'. His temperance lectures often contained references to the situation
of Black people around the world.
Edwards soon began to publish penny pamphlets on religious questions,
and then a biography of a former slave, Walter Hawkins, From Slavery
to Bishopric - the life, struggles and successes of Bishop Walter Hawkins,
which was published in 1893. In 1891 Edwards gained a theology degree
at King's College.
From 1892 to 1895 edited Lux, a Christian Evidence newspaper; to this
he added the editorship of Anti-Caste, published by Catherine Impey.
Edwards edited the last issues in 1893 before it was transformed into
Fraternity, the 'Official Organ of the Society for the Recognition of
the Brotherhood of Man', a mainly White organisation founded in 1893.
The paper existed from July 1893 to February 1897. Thus Edwards was
probably the first Black man to edit a White-owned paper.
Edwards has also been appointed the Brotherhood's executive secretary
(or London secretary?) by 1898. He played an active and key role in
what would today be termed the anti-racist struggle, maintaining that
given 'equal opportunity the Negro in years to come will give a good
account of himself'. He also spoke out against imperialism. Edwards
spoke at meetings around the country on behalf of the Brotherhood on
topics such as 'Lynch law in America', and 'The Negro Race and Social
Darwinism' and also at such meetings as those called by the society
trying to prevent or reduce the 'Liquor Traffic' to West Africa., and
became known as 'the Negro lecturer'.
Deciding he wanted to become a physician, Edwards enrolled at the London
Hospital. But the punishing schedule of speeches literally around the
country took its toll. Advised to travel and cease working for a while,
he decided to visit his family in Dominica where he died of exhaustion.
See Peter Fryer, Staying Power, London 1985 and the journals he edited.
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Olaudah
Equiano
Additional address: 1790 - 1792: Taylors Building, Chandos St, Covent
Garden (from Linebaugh, The Many-Headed Hydra)
James
Beale Africanus Horton 1835 - 1883
Horton was the first African (born in Sierra Leone) graduate
of the University of Edinburgh (MD 1859 - dissertation 'On the medical
topography of the west coast of Africa'). He became head of the Army
Medical Dept. in the Gold Coast and also practised privately. He published
a number of scientific papers and ground-breaking book of sociology/history,
West African Countries and Peoples (1868), which was reprinted in facsimile
with an introduction by George Shepperson in 1969. He Is commemorated
by the University of Edinburgh by a plaque in Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh.
Address in 1880s: 40 St.Luke's Rd, Westbourne Park (he was establishing
the Commercial Bank of West Africa).
See Christopher Fyfe, Africanus Horton, London.
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Claudia
Jones 1915-1964
Trinidad-born journalist and political activist Claudia Jones lived
in the USA until she was imprisoned in 1953 for being a member of the
Communist Party. She had been in the second rank of the CPUSA's leadership,
as Women's Organiser, writer, editor and journalist. In 1966 she was
extradicted to Britain. Unrecognised for her abilities by the CPGB which
also ignored her accusations of its racism, Claudia became deeply involved
in political and cultural organising among Caribbean and African peoples.
She published and edited the first Black post-war newspaper The West
Indian Gazette and Afro-Asian News. She started Black beauty
contests at a time when Black could not be beautiful, and talent quests
for musicians and other performers. All these efforts resulted in many
Black people being offered work, whether as models or on TV and other
areas of the entertainment industry. It of course also served to counteract
the prevalent racist notions of Black people being culture-less savages.
Claudia founded Carnival in London, again as a showcase for Black talent,
and undoubtedly as a venue for Caribbeans and others to get together
and enjoy themselves in a tradition way and with their own music. After
her premature death these indorr events were reincarnated as the hugely
popular Notting Hiill Carnival.
Address: 6 Meadow Road; from c.1960, 138 Cranforth Gardens;
from c. 1962, 58 Lisburne Road, London NW3
West Indian Gazette: 250 Brixton Road, London SW9 till c.1964,
when13 Station Ave, London SW9
See Marika Sherwood, Claudia Jones, a life in exile, London 2000, Buzz
Johnson, "I Think of my mother": Notes on the Life and Times of Claudia
Jones, London 1985
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Lewis
Latimer 1848 - 1928