In 1990, a group of African and Caribbean ex-service personnel appeared on an episode of the BBC television show ‘Hear-Say’. One woman explained why Britain’s Black citizens chose to take up arms in the Second World War. If Hitler had…
Category: Black History
Spirit of a Dove: The Life of Evelyn Dove by Stephen Bourne
In the 1920s and 1930s many African American expatriates settled in Europe including Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall and Elisabeth Welch. They captivated audiences with their songs, beauty, elegance and style. Evelyn stood alone as a black Briton who joined these…
Black Women in Wartime Britain 1939-45 by Stephen Bourne
At the height of the London Blitz in 1941, Esther Bruce, who was then a young woman aged 28, became part of my family. Her Guyanese father had just died, so their neighbour, 63-year-old Granny Johnson (my great-grandmother), ‘adopted’ her.…
Black Women in Britain During the Great War By Stephen Bourne
With only a few exceptions, such as the Crimean war ‘doctress’ Mary Seacole, black and dual-heritage women have been ‘written out’ of British history. This is true of the many books published about Britain and the First World War and…