Black History Month in the Library 2023

Saluting sisters: celebrating the impact of Black British women

This Black History Month, we are focusing on the history, legacies and lasting impact of Black women. With so much online content focused on Afro-Americans, I have tried to centre Black British women and I was spoiled for choice over who to include. So if your greatest heroine is missing, I apologise in advance but do tell us about them in the comments!

Popular history would have us believe that Black people are recent arrivals to Britain, with mythical tales of everyone Black arriving on the one ship, the Windrush, in the 1950s but Black people have been living here since at least the time of the Roman occupation. For all that time, Black women have helped inform our culture and held positions of prominance in Britain.