PRESENTING A SPECIAL ARRAY OF INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE, FROM A HUGE MIX OF ROLES AND FIELDS, THAT HAVE INFLUENCED HISTORY AND FORGED THE LIVES WE LEAD TODAY…
Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955.
Her actions inspired the leaders of the local Black community to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) in full Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, nicknamed Madiba, born July 18, 1918, Mvezo, South Africa.
He was a Black nationalist & the first Black president of South Africa (1994–99). His negotiations in the early 1990s with South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk helped end the country’s apartheid system of racial segregation and ushered in a peaceful transition to majority rule. Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993 for their efforts.In April 1994 the Mandela-led ANC won South Africa’s first elections by universal suffrage, and on May 10 Mandela was sworn in as president of the country’s first multiethnic government.
Bessie Coleman (1892 – 1926) Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilot. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman’s nicknames were; “Brave Bessie,” “Queen Bess,” and “The Only Race Aviatrix in the World.” Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams. Unfortunately, her career ended with a tragic plane crash, but her life continues to inspire people around the world.
Only two years into her flight career, Coleman survived her first major airplane accident. In February of 1923, her airplane engine suddenly stopped working and she crashed. She was badly hurt in the accident and suffered a broken leg, a few cracked ribs, and cuts on her face. Thankfully, Coleman was able to fully heal from her injuries.
This accident did not stop her from flying. She went back to performing dangerous air tricks in 1925.
Olaudah Equiano (1745 – 1797): Olaudah Equiano published one of the earliest and most compelling arguments against slavery. Born in Nigeria circa 1745, he spent eight years as a slave before he bought his freedom and eventually settled in the UK.
Here, he published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. Equiano’s words were so popular his book sold out immediately and ran through nine English editions. Equiano is widely regarded as the pioneer of the slave narrative and a prominent abolitionist.
Mary Seacole: Mary Seacole spent her formative years in Jamaica. Her father was a white Scottish army officer, while her mother was black. Seacole’s mother was a healer who used traditional Jamaican medicines, and as a youngster, Seacole inherited this passion.
She used her dolls to practise medicine and became her mother’s keen student. In 1821, she began to travel the world, soaking up medical knowledge at each stop. She sailed to England and asked to be an army nurse to wounded British soldiers in Crimea (now part of Ukraine).
The War Office refused her request. Undaunted, she funded her own trip and set up the British Hotel – a place of respite for sick soldiers. She also nursed the wounded on the battlefield. The soldiers dubbed her ‘Mother Seacole’ and back in Britain, her popularity rivalled Florence Nightingale.
Walter Tull, In 1888, Walter Tull was born in Kent to a Barbadian man and English woman. Both parents died when Tull was aged nine-years-old, so he and his brother were brought up in an orphanage.
From 1908, Tull took to football. He was soon signed by Clapham FC, then in following years by Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. When the First World War hit, Tull gave up his sporting career and enlisted.
He had a successful career fighting in France. In 1916, Tull returned to England and trained to be an officer – the first black person ever to do so. Two years later, aged 29, he was killed while leading an attack on German trenches. Tull was recommended for a Military Cross after his death, but never received one.
Claudia Jones, A prominent feminist and communist, Jones was deported for her political activities in 1955. She moved to the UK, where she launched Britain’s first major black newspaper, the West Indian Gazette.
Jones became a leader in the emerging black equal rights movement. In 1959, she helped to found Notting Hill Carnival, with the hopes that showcasing Caribbean culture and heritage would empower her community. Jones died aged 49, leaving quite a legacy – Notting Hill Carnival is currently Europe’s biggest street festival.
Diane Abbott, was born in London in 1953. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Abbott worked as a civil servant, a reporter & a Labour party press officer. In 1987, Abbott decided to run as Labour’s candidate for the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency.
She made history as the first black woman to be elected to Parliament, and she is currently the longest-serving black MP in the House of Commons.
Rose Hudson-Wilkin, was born and raised in Jamaica. Aged 18, she travelled to the UK to train as an evangelist (a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching) at the Church Army College.
She was ordained (make someone a priest or minister; confer holy orders on) as a deacon in 1991, after initially being discouraged by the Church because she was a wife and mother. For almost 17 years, she served as a priest in Hackney. 10 years ago, she became the first female Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, where she leads daily prayers.
Last year, Hudson-Wilkin was hired as the new bishop of Dover. She’s the first black British woman to become a bishop, though she told The Guardian she “longs for the day when we stop having firsts”.
Sir Trevor McDonald, was born in Trinidad in 1939. He cut his teeth at local media outlets, before moving to London and joining the BBC World Service as a producer.
In 1973, he became a reporter for ITN, then went on to become a presenter. During this time, Sir Trevor was one of the few black faces in broadcast television.
He interviewed figures from Nelson Mandela to Saddam Hussein, and became the first sole presenter of News At Ten. In 1992, Sir Trevor received an OBE in the Queen’s Honours List, followed by a knighthood in 1999. He retired from News at Ten (for the second time) in 2008. By then, he had received more awards than any other news broadcaster in Britain.
Lewis Hamilton, 35-year-old Lewis Hamilton was born Stevenage, Hertfordshire. He began his driving career aged eight and won the British Kart Championship when he was 10. Five years later, he became the youngest-ever driver to be ranked number one in the sport.
Hamilton joined McLaren F1 in 2007 – racing for the team had been a childhood goal of his. The following year, Hamilton won his first F1 world drivers’ championship, becoming the first Black driver to capture the title. Hamilton currently holds six Formula One world titles and is in striking range of Michael Schumacher’s record collection of seven.
Martin Luther King, was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family’s long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor.
He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, “l Have a Dream”, he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
Malorie Blackman, 58 years old was born in south London. She began her career as a computer programme, but eventually enjoyed astronomical success as the author of fiction for children and teenagers.
Her first published book was Not So Stupid! (1990), a book of short stories. Since then she has written numerous books and has continuously advocated for the representation of black children within fiction.
Blackman’s most well-known books form the Noughts and Cross trilogy, which was recently adapted to a BBC television series. In 2013, Blackman became the first black Children’s Laureate.
Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu, was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. His father was a teacher, and he himself was educated at Johannesburg Bantu High School. After leaving school he trained first as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and in 1954 he graduated from the University of South Africa.
Desmond Tutu has formulated his objective as “a democratic and just society without racial divisions”, and has set forward the following points as minimum demands:
1. equal civil rights for all
2. the abolition of South Africa’s passport laws
3. a common system of education
4. the cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called “homelands”
Tutu propagated the idea of South Africa as “the Rainbow Nation,” and he continued to comment on events with varying combinations of trenchancy and humour. In 1995 South African Pres. Nelson Mandela appointed Tutu head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated allegations of human rights abuses during the apartheid era.
Ruby Bridges. At the tender age of six, Ruby Bridges advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South.
Born on September 8, 1954, Bridges was the oldest of five children for Lucille and Abon Bridges, farmers in Tylertown, Mississippi. When Ruby was two years old, her parents moved their family to New Orleans, Louisiana in search of better work opportunities.
In 1959, Ruby attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten. A year later, however, a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. The school district created entrance exams for African American students to see whether they could compete academically at the all-white school. Ruby and five other students passed the exam.
Her parents were torn about whether to let her attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, a few blocks from their home. Her father resisted, fearing for his daughter’s safety; her mother, however, wanted Ruby to have the educational opportunities that her parents had been denied.
Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school every day that year. She walked past crowds screaming vicious slurs at her.
A lifelong activist for racial equality, in 1999, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In 2000, she was made an honorary deputy marshal in a ceremony in Washington, DC.
Selsdon - Year 5 