100 Great Black Britons

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Winner of 100 Great Black Britons: Mary Seacole
Crimean War Veteran Nurse and original lady of the lamp

top 100 list categories biographies info

The 100 Great Black Britons were compiled as a response to the BBC Great Britons debate that took place last year. Patrick Vernon, founder of black heritage website Every Generation saw that no black people even made it to the Top 100, due in part to many people being unaware of black achievements and contributions made over the centuries.
The BBC commissioned separate programmes on the top ten along with a live debate during the height of Black History Month last year. Winston Churchill was the overall winner (over 300,000 voted during the whole BBC campaign).

The creation of 100 Great Black Britons nomination list reflects the history of the black community over the past 1000 years. This list and the debate that it will no doubt generate is a form of celebration - to celebrate those unsung heroes who helped change and shape the political, social and cultural landscape of Britain, at the same time celebrating those individuals who are well known. Our aim is to educate both black and white, to impress upon people the diverse historical background of black people, and to reflect the growing interest in black culture and history.

Today we are pleased to announce the results, including the Top Ten and the winners of the sub categories.

The total number of hits to date is 1,000,000 with 10% being unique visitors, and 10% of them actually cast votes.

"The popularity and success of the campaign highlights the fact that black history in Britain is intertwined with British history.
We have launched the results to coincide with Black History Month in The United States, because we have our own successes and achievements that need to be acknowledged "- Patrick Vernon

"This is wonderful news - what an achievement! As a black Jamaican woman in the 19th century Mary Seacole stood up against the discrimination and prejudices she encountered. Against all odds Mary had an unshakeable belief in the power of nursing to make a difference.

"I am delighted that she has finally been recognised for her outstanding determination, leadership and commitment to nursing. I believe she embraces the 'essence of humanity', qualities that we can still learn from in today's society.

"The RCN and I passionately believe that Mary Seacole deserves a statue in London to commemorate her service in the Crimean war and her important place in the UK's and nursing history. Today's award demonstrates that the time has now come to make this happen." - Sylvia Denton OBE, FRCN
RCN President

We are also looking for sponsorship to develop an educational resource for schools and adult learners based on the website.

List in order

Mary Seacole

Wilfred Wood/O.A. Lyseight

Mary Prince

Olaudah Equiano

Queen Phillipa

Courtney Pine

Sir Bill Morris/Sir Trevor McDonald

Shirley Bassey

Bernie Grant

Professor Stuart Hall

Categories

Business

Jazzy B
Entrepreneur and music producer

Sport

Daley Thompson
1980 and 1984 Olympic Gold medal winner for the decathlon

Greatest Black British Woman

Mary Seacole
Crimean war veteran nurse and original lady of the lamp

Music

George Bridgetower
Renowned Violinist and close friend of Beethoven

Arts and Culture

Linton Kwesi Johnson
Britain's first Dub poet and writer

Entertainment

Lenny Henry
Co-founder of Comic Relief and veteran comedian/actor

Science/Innovation/Design

Mary Seacole
Crimean War nurse

Nobility

Queen Philippa
Wife of Edward III and mother of the Black Prince

Public Life - Pioneers of the Past

Lord David Pitt
Medic, political pioneer and labour peer for Hampstead

Public Life - General

Sir Bill Morris
Former head of largest trade union for industry

Politics

Olaudah Equiano
Black Britain's political founding father

Bios on the Top Ten

Mary Prince
Mary Prince, one of the first black writers to be published in Britain, shocked readers with her account of the horrors of slavery that served as a protest and rallying cry for emancipation that provoked two libel actions and ran into three editions in the year of its publication.
After escaping from her owner in 1828, it is thought that Mary remained in England. Her story is an important contribution to early black writing, offering a glimpse into the lives of enslaved men and women whose life stories cannot be traced.

Queen Philippa of Hainault
Philippa was the daughter of William of Hainault, a lord in part of what is now Belgium. When she was nine the King of England, Edward II, decided that he would marry his son, the future Edward III, to her, and sent one of his bishops, a Bishop Stapeldon, to look at her. He described her thus:
"The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is cleaned shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than the forehead. Her eyes are blackish brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that is somewhat broad at the tip and flattened, yet it is no snub nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full and especially the lower lip…all her limbs are well set and unmaimed, and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father, and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us."
Philippa was a remarkable woman. She was very wise and was known and loved by the English for her kindliness and restraint. She would travel with her husband on his campaigns and take her children as well. When the King was abroad she ruled in his absence. Queen's College in Oxford University was founded under her direction by her chaplain, Robert de Eglesfield in 1341 when she was 28. She brought many artists and scholars from Hainault who contributed to English culture.

Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine is one of Britain's best known and most innovative jazz saxophonists. His debut album, Journey to the Urge Within released in 1987 was the first serious jazz album ever to make the Top 40, and established Pine as the leading figure in the British jazz scene, and an inspiration to many young musicians, black and white.
Pine has been honoured with a MOBO award for best jazz act for two years on a row (1996 and 1997). He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in jazz including Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and was asked to join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He has been awarded an OBE, and currently hosts a popular show on BBC Radio 2.

Dame Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey is regarded as one of the original divas. With a career that spans more than 50 years, her dramatic voice has provided three Bond films with unforgettable theme songs. She hosted her own highly rated BBC show in the 1970s moving to Switzerland in the early 80s.
The woman they call Burly Chassis came back in customarily spectacular style in 1997 with History Repeating, collaborating with Bath's Propellerheads. It introduced her to a new generation of dance fans, just as she was celebrating her 60th birthday.
A mother and grandmother with a self-confessed love of glamour, Dame Shirley still returns to Wales for occasional performances - she topped the bill at the opening of the Welsh Assembly in 1999, and performed the anthem World In Union with Bryn Terfel for the Rugby World Cup in 2000.

Bernie Grant
Labour MP Bernie Grant was one of the most charismatic black political leaders of modern times. His death on 8 April 2000 marked almost four decades campaigning for racial justice and minority rights. Though in life he was an outspoken maverick, in death, Bernie Grant was praised from the heights of the Establishment, from Cabinet ministers and Scotland Yard to political associates and black community leaders, and Prime Minister Tony Blair described Grant as "an inspiration to Black British communities everywhere".
A successful local politician, Grant served for a decade as local councillor in the London Borough of Haringey, of which he was elected Leader in 1985. He was the first black head of a local authority in Britain, and was responsible for the well-being of a quarter of a million people, many of them Black and ethnic minorities. Grant joined the Labour Party in 1975 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Tottenham in 1987.
Bernie Grant brought to parliament a long and distinguished campaigning record. He was a founder member of the Standing Conference of Afro-Caribbean and Asian Councillors and a member of the Labour Party Black Sections. He convened major conferences of politicians, activists, researchers and academics to shape black agendas. Grant also helped tackle racism on a European wide level, in association with members of the European Parliament and anti-racist groups.

Professor Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall was born in Kingston, Jamaica and was educated in Jamaica and at Merton College, Oxford (Rhodes Scholar). He came to prominence at the Centre for Cultural Studies at Birmingham University and thereafter as Professor of Sociology at the Open University from 1979.
He is currently emeritus at The Open University and Visiting Professor, Goldsmith College, Milton Keynes, he was Research Fellow and then Director of the Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham. His research interests are in cultural theory and cultural studies, race, ethnicity and cultural identity. His publications include: Resistance through Rituals, The Popular Arts, Policing the Crisis, Culture, Media, Language, New Times, Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, Questions of Cultural Identity, Representation and Visual Culture: A Reader

Sir Trevor McDonald
Born in Trinidad in 1939, Trevor worked in various aspects of the media including local newspapers, radio and television. He joined the Caribbean regional service of the BBC World Service in 1960 as a producer, before moving to London at the end of that decade to work for the corporation (BBC Radio, London).
Moving to Independent Television News (ITN) in 1973, he rose steadily through the ranks. He's served as news, sports and diplomatic correspondent before moving on to become diplomatic editor and newscaster. Twice voted Newscaster of the year, McDonald is perceived as the face of ITN after years of fronting its flagship 'News at Ten' bulletin.
Once viewed as the best-spoken person in the country and was reported to have fronted a two-year inquiry into the state of language learning. It warned that government education policy failed to teach pupils the necessary language skills needed for later life.
In 1992 he received an OBE in the Queen's Honours List, and received a knighthood in 1999. He continues to be the anchor for the News at Ten, and presents Tonight with Trevor McDonald, which was launched in 1999.

Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was the first political leader of Britain's black community. He worked closely with Granville Sharpe and Thomas Clarkson in the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, often speaking at public meetings describing the cruelty of the slave trade. He published his autobiography, The life of Olaudah Equiano, the African in 1789, which became the single most important literary contribution to the campaign for abolition. In his lifetime, Equiano's narrative went through 8 editions; six more followed in the 22 years following his death.

Mary Seacole
Mary Seacole, a skilful nurse and 'doctress' from Kingston, Jamaica, made her mark on British public life when she went to the Crimea by her own efforts to bring comfort to the wounded and dying soldiers, after her offers to help were rejected by the government. In 1855 she opened her British Hotel, and the British army soon knew of 'Mother Seacole'.
She was awarded a Crimean medal, and in 1857 published her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole in many lands. She died in 1881, and is buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Sir Bill Morris
Born in Jamaica in 1938, Sir Bill Morris was until recently General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. His leadership of the TGWU has seen several high profile battles; in October 1999 he challenged the Ford Company over racism at its Dagenham plant, saying that the company was sitting on a tinderbox. Most recently he was awarded with a knighthood and is heading an inquiry into the treatment of ethnic minority police officers in London, an inquiry he says is vital to restoring public confidence in the Metropolitan Police.

Every Generation will be launching a website call Recognition as a result of the success of 100 Great Black Britons. The site will feature profiles, information, news and stories of achievement from individuals, which will be seen as a source of inspiration. No matter how big or small the small the achievement Recognition wants to celebrate and share with the rest of the community and the Diaspora.
Recognition website
100 Great Black Britons website

For further information please contact:
Angelina Osborne
Pamela Adjei
Tel: 0207 247 5565 / 07976 731 539
Email

Appendix

The 100 in order

Mary Seacole

Wilfred Wood/O.A. Lyseight

Mary Prince

Olaudah Equiano

Queen Phillipa

Courtney Pine

Sir Bill Morris/Sir Trevor McDonald

Shirley Bassey

Bernie Grant

Professor Stuart Hall

Elery Hanley

Sade

Stephen Lawrence

Ms Dynamite

Queen Charlotte

Henry Sylvester Williams

Daley Thompson

Lenny Henry

Joan Armatrading

Benjamin Zephaniah

Arthur Wharton/Andrew Watson

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Nana Bonsu/Len Garrison

George of Lydda

Septimus Severus

Baroness Rosalind Howells

Harold Moody

Lennox Lewis

Diane Abbott

William Cuffay

Francis Barber

Ignatious Sancho

Phil Lynott

Moira Stuart

Frank Bruno

Niger Val Dubh

Leary Constantine

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Robert Wedderburn

Claudia Jones

Herman Ouseley

Craig David

John Barnes

Martin Offiah

Des'ree

Randolph Turpin

Paul Boateng

Cleo Laine

Lord John Taylor

Ottobah Cuguano

Trevor Phillips

Ian Wright

Linford Christie

Bruce Oldfield

Peter Herbert

Mike Fuller

Lee Jasper

Beverley Knight

Ozwald Boateng

Viv Anderson

Desmond Douglas

Patrick Berry

Brendan Batson

Floella Benjamin

Lord David Pitt

John Edmonstone

Kanya King

Val McCalla

Dame Jocelyn Barrows

David Lammy

Oona King

John Archer

Baroness Scotland

Baroness Amos

George Bridgetower

Samuel Coleridge Taylor

Zadie Smith

Jazzy B

Ira Aldridge

Colin Jackson

Yvonne Brewster

Duonne Alexander

David Case

Tessa Sanderson

Seal

Errol Brown

Rudolph Walker

Gabrielle/Naomi Campbell

Goldie

Mica Paris

Angie Le Mar

Ben Okri

Denise Lewis

Jeremy Guscott

Paul Ince

Nigel Benn/Chris Eubanks

John Conteh

Janet Kay

Jenette McDonald

Carroll Thompson

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