Celebrating Black History Month 2023

I chose to work at MST as it was a new and exciting project, a trial to find out if MST could be adapted to work in the UK.  Cathy James, myself and other colleagues like Nick Benefield and Helen Jones all helped to set up 10 MST teams across the country - it was a very exciting time! 

What does black history month mean to you? 

It is a time when people find out more about the history of black people and this year, the history of strong black women. As a second generation of Windrush, I am especially interested in the time when people came from all over the Caribbean to England on the Windrush boat to help build up the workforce in the UK after the war. 

What more could be done to celebrate black history? 

I think we could do more to educate people about black history in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace.  

Is there a black woman from history who particularly inspires you? 

Maya Angelou and her poem “Still I Rise” 

Other strong black women who have inspired me include: 

Mary Seacole – Nurse & Entrepreneur. 

Rosa Parks – Activist. 

Shirley Bassey – Jazz Singer. 

Tessa Sanderson – Javelin Thrower. 

What about a black woman from today? 

Michelle Obama, who is seen as a strong, educated black women, and here in the UK, Doreen Lawrence* whose determination is outstanding. I worked in the Department of Health where the Inquiry was taking place and the alleged perpetrators who had killed Stephen Lawrence attended. This affected me and a lot of my colleagues at the time, the arrogance and the entitlement they felt, even lashing out at bystanders was shocking at the time, but I feel we have come a long way since then. 

*Doreen Delceita Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE is a British Jamaican campaigner and the mother of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in South-East London in 1993. She promoted reforms of the police service and founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust