Britain’s Black Community on the home front

Vikky Evans Hubbard from the International Slavery Museum has news of a talk this Thursday:

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During this month of remembrance, the International Slavery Museum are pleased to welcome author and historian Stephen Bourne, whose work documents the history of Black communities living in Britain.

Stephen's book, ‘Mother Country - Britain's Black Community on the Home Front, 1939-45’, unearths a ‘hidden history’ of Britain and the Second World War.

At the International Slavery Museum this Thursday 22 November at 1.30pm, Stephen will give an illustrated talk highlighting some of the forgotten Britons he features in the book, including the community leaders Dr Harold Moody and Learie Constantine, Esther Bruce, singer Adelaide Hall and bandleader Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson.

The book also explores the experiences of Black evacuees and Black senior citizens who Stephen interviewed about the home front in Africa and the Caribbean.

Stephen will also screen the short documentary he made about his adopted aunt, Esther Bruce: ‘Aunt Esther’s Story’.  In the 1930s Esther made dresses for the famous African American singer Elisabeth Welch and she also be-friended another citizen of London at that time, the Jamaican nationalist Marcus Garvey.

The talk will be held in the lecture theatre on the fourth floor, full details are on the website. Places are free but limited, please call 0151 478 4456 to reserve a place.