Dentons celebrates Black History Month

The forerunner to Black History Month was “Negro History Week”, inaugurated in the USA in 1926.

Black History Month was first officially Council. It is observed all those who have worked so hard to recognised by the US government in the UK during the month of October positively change the treatment in 1976 and is celebrated during the each year. of Black people, both in the UK month of February. In the UK, Black and abroad. History Month was launched in 1987. Dentons’ Black Professional Network It was spearheaded by Ghana-born (BPN) is proud to present this display, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, at the time a to highlight key milestones in UK Black special projects coordinator for the history and to remember and honour

2nd century AD African soldiers who served as part of the Roman army are stationed at Hadrian’s Wall.

Emperor Septimus Severus, (born in Libya) spends three years in Britain before his death in York in 211AD.

1562 Between 1562 and 1567 John Hawkins, England’s first slave trader, and cousin Sir Francis Drake, enslave around 1,400 Africans. The profit from selling slaves is so huge that Queen Elizabeth I grants Hawkins a special coat of arms. In Plymouth, to date, there are numerous public monuments to his “achievements”, including Sir John Hawkins Square.

16 - 19th Century Transatlantic Slave Trade occurs. Approximately 1.2 – 2.4 million Africans die in transit alone.

1660 King Charles II grants a royal charter to The Royal African Company (led by James, Duke of York (King Charles II’s brother)). Initially set up to exploit gold fields in Gambia, it quickly becomes a key player in the slave trade.

The first Royal African Company ships sail from Liverpool and Bristol to develop their commercial activity along the West African coast. Over the next two centuries, these two cities grew from DRAFTthe profits of the slave trade.

1787 - 1807 The first meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade takes place bringing like-minded British Quakers and Anglicans together in the same organisation for the first time. William Wilberforce joins the committee in 1791. The society begins a long campaign in raising public awareness and support of the abolition cause.

1788 Slave Trade Act passed to improve transport conditions for slaves. 1788 - c. 1833 Mary Prince writes and publishes an autobiography ‘The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave,’. It is a powerful account of the horrors of life on the plantations, and is instrumental in galvanising public support of the abolition of . Mary Prince is also the first black woman to present an anti-slavery petition to Parliament around the same time.

1792 The House of Commons votes in favour of a gradual abolition of slavery.

1807 Parliament outlaws the African slave trade (this prevented slavers from exporting any more slaves out of Africa, however, it did not alter the status of millions of existing slaves).

1807 Parliament outlaws the African slave trade (this prevented slavers from exporting any more slaves out of Africa, however, it did not alter the status of millions of existing slaves).

1833 The Slavery Abolition Act is passed and abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire. It costs an astronomical £20M (this equated to £69.93 billion in 2013).

These funds are paid out of the public purse as compensation to slavers. The names listed in the returns for slave compensation show that ownership was spread over many hundreds of British families.

William Wilberforce, influential abolitionist, passes away, just three months after the Slavery Abolition Act is passed.

1913 John Richard Archer (1863-1932) becomes London’s first Black Mayor on 10th November 1913. Elected as mayor of Battersea.

1914 - 1918 WW1. British Caribbean persons volunteer to fight alongside Britain in WW1. One such example is the British West India Regiment (BWIR). Over 15,500 West Indians joined the BWIR and experienced military service in England, Italy, Egypt, India, France, Belgium, Palestine, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and East Africa.

1939 - 1941 WW2. Many Black persons from the Caribbean and arrive in small groups as wartime workers, merchant seamen, and servicemen from the army, navy, and air forces.

1939 - 1946 Hattie McDanial wins an Academy Award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

Una Marson (1905-1965) is the first Black female broadcaster at the BBC. Born in Jamaica in 1905, she was a poet, publisher and activist for racial and sexual equality.

1950s “Windrush”. A large influx of Black persons, largely from the West Indies, occurs. Empire Windrush discharges passengers at Tilbury port in 1948. Non-white population in Britain increases from less than 20,000 to over a quarter of a million in less than 10 years. Black immigrants face significant amounts of . Conflict between the white majority and Black minorities results in a distinct Black British culture and identity.

1954 - 1968 US Black Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat in the coloured section of a bus to a white passenger on December 1, 1955. Her act of defiance becomes a symbol of the modern Black Civil Rights Movement.

1955 The first Black fire-fighter, Frank Arthur Bailey, is accepted to join the UK Fire Brigade.

2 dentons.com 1963 Martin Luther King gives his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. on 28 August 1963.

1964 The first Carnival, Europe’s largest street party, is held.

1965 The Race Relations Act 1965 is the first legislation in the UK to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of “colour, race, or ethnic or national origins” in public places.

1970’s Moira Stuart OBE, begins a career at the BBC as a production assistant. She will go on to have a career in radio and television spanning over two decades.

1989 Lenny Henry is the first British comic to make a live stand-up comedy film – “Lenny Henry Live and Unleashed”.

1992 Black writer, Derek Walcott is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1997 Baroness Amos becomes a life peer, taking the title Baroness Amos, of Brondesbury in the London Borough of Brent. She is the first Black woman to become leader of the .

She is also the First black woman to sit in Cabinet (Sec. of State for International Development) and to lead a British university (London School of Oriental and African Studies).

1999 Sir Trevor McDonald is Knighted.

Liverpool City Council passed a formal motion apologizing for the City’s part in the slave trade.

2002 Halle Berry is the first and only Black female to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. Monster’s Ball (2001).

2004 Mary Seacole is voted the “Greatest Black Briton” of all time. She was also posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. She acquired knowledge of herbal medicine in the Caribbean. When the Crimean War broke out, she applied to the War Office to assist but was refused. She travelled independently and set up her hotel and assisted battlefield wounded. Read her autobiography the “Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands” here.

2005 The Nobel Peace Centre, designed by David Adjaye OBE, is completed. David Adjaye also lead the team that designed the Museum of African-American History in Washington DC which was opened by Barak Obama last week.

2006 British Prime Minister makes a partial (heavily criticised) apology for Britain’s role in the African slavery trade.

2007 Ken Livingstone () apologises publicly for London’s role in the slave trade. He has stated that “you can look across there [London’s financial district] to see the institutions that still have the benefit of the wealth they created from slavery”.

2008 Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the first Black man to be elected as president of the United States.

Benjamin Zaphaniah, British Jamaican writer, is included in the Times list of Britain’s top 50 post-war writers.

3 dentons.com 2010 The Equalities Act 2010 codifies numerous anti-discrimination laws in the UK.

2011 2011 Census records 1,904,684 Black residents in the UK, accounting for 3 per cent of the total UK population.

2013 Solomon Golding is the first Black British male dancer to join the Royal Ballet.

2014 Steve McQueen, CBE, is the first Black filmmaker to win an Academy Award for Best Picture (12 Years a Slave).

2016 Mo Farrah becomes the second man in history to win long-distance doubles at successive Olympics and World Championships, and the first in history to do the quadruple-double.

Dentons celebrates Black History Month!

© 2016 Dentons. Dentons is a global legal practice providing client services worldwide through its member firms and affiliates. This publication is not designed to provide legal or other advice and you should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on its content. brand-527-Black History Factsheet – 21/10/2016

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