Today Is...The Start Of Black History Month

Today starts a month of celebrating Black contributions to British society and to foster an understanding the impact and achievements of Black figures who are not always given the recognition they deserve, a study found that 50% of Britons cannot name a single Black British historical figure so let's put that right.

Mary Seacole grew up in Jamaica under colonial rule and was a pioneering nurse who self funded herself to risk her life during the Crimean War to treat wounded British soldiers on the battlefield. She volunteered to work as a nurse with Florence Nightingale, but was rejected because of racial discrimination. In a 2003 poll, Mary Seacole was named the greatest Black Briton of all time and the first statue of a named Black woman in Britain stands outside St Thomas’ Hospital

Sir Learie Constantine was the first black player in the English Criket League and a became a barrister, broadcaster, diplomat, writer, and in 1969, was appointed as the UK's first black peer.

Claudia Jones moved to UK from the United States, where she faced racial and political persecution due to her activism for Black and workers’ rights. She found asylum in the UK where she established the West Indian Gazette, the country's first major black newspaper and launched the Notting Hill Carnival.

Paul Stephenson led a boycott against the Bristol bus Company in 1963 protesting its refusal to employ black or Asian bus crews which resulted in the creation of the Race Relations Act of 1965, prohibiting racial discrimination in public areas.

Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped and enslaved as a boy from Nigeria before being sold to a merchant in Montserrat who bought his freedom, moved to London, and wrote an autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, one of the first books ever published in Britain by a Black writer, which enlightening British society about the cruel horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and helped propel the abolition movement.

Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship and brought to England by his owner as an orphan, where he worked as a butler while writing plays, poetry and music, and eventually ended up setting up his own shop in London and as a property owner, was eligible to vote and was the first known black British voter.

Ira Aldridge was one of the highest paid actors in the world, becoming the first major Black Shakespearean actor in Europe.

John Edmonstone gained his freedom from slavery and moved to Scotland where he met a man called Charles Waterton, who taught him the skill of taxidermy. After this, he became a teacher of taxidermy at Edinburgh University, where he taught a 16-year-old Charles Darwin.

Paul Stephenson was Bristol's first black social worker and an important part of writing Britain's Race Relations Act in 1965 which forbade discrimination on the grounds of colour, race or national origins, and was expanded three years later to include both housing and employment.

John Blanke was one of eight royal trumpeters who played at the funeral of Henry VII in May 1509 and at the coronation of Henry VIII in June that same year. In 1511 he played at the special tournament in Westminster to celebrate the birth of Henry’s first son.

Walter Tull was the first professional black outfield footballer in Britain, playing for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town and also the first known black officer in the British army, leading white soldiers into battle for the first time in the history of the British army.

Each person here has opened doors and created opportunities for the generations that followed, making these individuals important historical figures in black history.