News & Views

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a Black British composer, whose father was from Sierra Leone. He rose to acclaim during the 20th cen

Justin Fashanu – the first openly gay male professional footballer & first Black British footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee

Pearl Alcock - the outsider artist who provided a queer safe space for London's Black gay community

Yvonne Conolly - Britain's first Black female headteacher

Pablo Fanque – master horseman and first Black circus owner in Britain

John Richard Archer – the first Black mayor a borough in London and founding President of the Africa Progress Union

Ira Aldridge - the UK's first Black Shakespearan actor

Vivian Anderson- first Black Briton to play for the senior men's England national football team

Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) is widely considered to be the first Black professional footballer in the world.

Laurence Paul Cunningham was an English professional footballer and first British footballer signed by Real Madrid

Emma and her sister are known to be the earliest known Black women footballers in the UK

Lieutenant Walter Tull was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of African-Caribbean descent.

Ulric Cross was nicknamed 'The Black Hornet' and was a highly decorated RAF Squadron Leader who flew 80 operational flights over Germany