100 Great Black Britons

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As part of the 100 Great Black Britons campaign, children and young people have been encouraged to explore Black British history and celebrate the continued legacy and achievements of Black people in Britain. All but one will be presented as 'blended events'- meaning they will take place in our lecture hall in front of a live audience, while at the same time being streamed to those joining us online. The result of Vernon's campaign was that in February 2004 Mary Seacole was announced as having been voted the greatest Black Briton. She received her PhD in History from the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, University of Hull in 2014. If you are not black this is a good book to acquaint yourself with the figures who you may or may not have heard about.

It would have been nice to have had more than 41 images within the book and the possible use of a title that did not describe the 100 people in terms of a colour. Liz Smith, Director of Learning and Engagement, National Portrait Gallery --This text refers to the hardcover edition. Mary Seacole was adopted by the Royal College of Nursing and was given the same status as Florence Nightingale. Now, with this book, Vernon and Osborne have relaunched the campaign with an updated list of names and accompanying portraits.Furthermore, during the last 16 years, academics and independent scholars have discovered new black British historical figures, and new role models and icons have emerged since the last campaign in 2004. That was the brainchild of the Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon and historian Dr Angelina Osborne, co-authors of the new book. Sam Walker, of the Black Cultural Archives, responded in support of the 100 Great Black Britons poll, stating that "it doesn't matter whether the poll is a copycat idea; so is Black History Month, which came from America in the late 1980s and has served us well to date". For a person who is passionate about the history of Black people in Britain, I found this book to be rather disappointing, and very one-sided.

Now, with this book, Vernon and Osborne have relaunched the campaign with an updated list of names and accompanying portraits -- including new role models and previously little-known historical figures. Philippa's inclusion on the Black Britons list proved controversial, as historians dispute that she was "black" in any modern sense: see Criticism section above.The campaign was one of the most successful movements to focus on the role of people of African and Caribbean descent in British history. Since 2010 he has been leading the campaign for Windrush Day and in 2018 kick-started the campaign for an amnesty for the Windrush Generation as part of the Windrush Scandal which led to a government U-turn in immigration policy. In 2003, Vernon and Osborne, frustrated by the almost complete exclusion of the Black British community from mainstream notions of Britishness in education and popular media, launched their groundbreaking 100 Great Black Britons campaign, which invited the public to vote for the Black Briton they most admired.