Black History in Westminster

Did you know...

This year, 60 years after the arrival of SS Empire Windrush remember the rich and vital contributions made to the UK by men and women who came to rebuild the country following the end of the second world war.

Throughout October, there will be a wealth of activities: lectures, exhibitions, concerts, dedicated web pages and specialist activities in our communities, schools and libraries. Here are a few well known and not so well known, significant contributors to our lives from around the world.

India

Q. Who invented Hotmail?

A. Sabeer Bhatia

Sabeer Bhatia-co-founder of Hotmail, was born in Chandigarh and one of few to be successful in America's Silicon Valley. He graduated from Caltech and went to Stanford to pursue his MS in Electrical Engineering. After completing his Masters, he joined Apple computers. He left Apple soon after and teamed up with his partner to create a web-based e-mail system. Microsoft bought Hotmail on December 30th, 1997, for a reported sum of $400M. Bhatia has won many awards. Among the notable ones include the "Entrepreneur of the Year" awarded by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1997, the "TR100" award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years.

USA

Q. Who invented the blood bank?

A. Dr Charles Drew

Charles Drew developed a technique which allowed the long-term preservation of blood plasma. Prior to his discovery, blood could not be stored for more than two days because of the rapid breakdown of red blood cells. Drew had discovered that by separating the plasma (the liquid part of blood) from the whole blood (in which the red blood cells exist) and then refrigerating them separately, they could be combined up to a week later for a blood transfusion. He also discovered that whilst everyone has a certain type of blood (A, B, AB, or O) and thus are prevented from receiving a full blood transfusion from someone with different blood, everyone has the same type of plasma. In certain cases where a whole blood transfusion is not necessary, it was sufficient to give a plasma transfusion which could be administered to anyone, regardless of their blood type. He convinced Columbia University to establish a blood bank and soon was asked to go to England to help set up the UK’s first blood bank.

USA

Q. Who performed the first successful Open Heart?

A. Dr Daniel Hale Williams

Dr Daniel Hale Williams is credited with having performed open heart surgery on July 9, 1893 before such surgeries were established. In 1913, Dr Hale Williams was the only African American member of the American College of Surgeons. Daniel Hale Williams successfully operated on James Cornish, the victim of a knifing. The operation was considered at the time a ground-breaking procedure. The doctor opened the patient's chest revealing a beating heart to stitch a small wound in the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart. He also utilised many of the emerging antiseptic sterilization procedures of the day.

Australia

Q. Who was the first female Australian Aboriginal to win a gold medal at an international athletics event?

A. Cathy Freeman 

Olympic Athlete Catherine (Cathy) Astrid Salome Freeman was born on 16th February in Mackay, Queensland. Cathy won her first gold medal at a school athletics championship when she was eight years old. Catherine Freeman’s stepfather, Bruce Barber, coached her until 1989. It was when she was just a young girl that she began to dream about being the World’s greatest female athlete and being Olympic Champion. A dream that kept her focused on her training and helped her go on to achieve her dream. In 1987 Catherine won a scholarship to Fairholme School but moved on to Kooralbyn International School to be coached professionally by Mike Danila. She moved to Melbourne in 1990 after winning a gold medal in the 4×100m relay at the Auckland Commonwealth Games, she became the first female Australian Aboriginal to win a gold medal at an international athletics event. 1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain – Cathy Freeman become the first Australian Aboriginal to represent Australia at an Olympics. Cathy went on to win Olympic medals in1996 Olympics Games Atlanta - Silver, 1997 World Athletic Championships, Athens, Greece – gold 400m, 1999 World Athletic Championships Seville, Spain – Gold 400m, 2000 Olympic Games – Gold medal 400m. Catherine had the honour of lighting the Olympic flame at these games.

Guyana

Q. Who was Britain’s first Black councillor?

A. Bernie Grant

Labour MP Bernie Grant was born February 17, 1944 in British Guiana, now Guyana, Bernie came to Britain in 1963, and worked as a British Railways clerk, a National Union of Public Employees area officer, and as a partisan of the Black Trade Unionists Solidarity Movement. Grant served for a decade as local councillor in the London Borough of Haringey, of which he was elected Leader in 1985. He was the first black head of a local authority in Britain, and was responsible for the well-being of a quarter of a million people, many of them black and ethnic minorities. Grant joined the Labour Party in 1975 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Tottenham in 1987. Bernie Grant brought to parliament a long and distinguished campaigning record. He was a founder member of the Standing Conference of Afro-Caribbean and Asian Councillors and a member of the Labour Party Black Sections. He convened major conferences of politicians, activists, researchers and academics to shape black agendas. Grant also helped tackle racism on a European wide level, in association with members of the European Parliament and anti-racist groups. Grant inspired the Parliamentary Black Caucus, co-founded with his fellow "first black parliamentarians" elected in 1987 and Lord Pitt. Grant continued work as an MP despite undergoing a heart bypass operation and kidney failure in 1998.

Belgium

Q. Who did King Edward III marry?

A. Queen Phillipa, mother of “the Black Prince”

Philippa was the daughter of William of Hainault, a lord in part of what is now Belgium. Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. She was betrothed to him and in 1327, when she was only 14, she arrived in England. The next year, they married and were crowned King and Queen in 1330 when she was heavily pregnant with her first child and only 17. This first child was called Edward, but is better known as the Black Prince. Many say that he was called this because of the colour of his armour, but there are records that show that he was called 'black' when he was very small. The French called him 'Le Noir'. Philippa was a remarkable woman. She was very wise and was known and loved by the English for her kindliness and restraint. She would travel with her husband on his campaigns and take her children as well. When the King was abroad she ruled in his absence. Queen's College in Oxford University was founded under her direction by her chaplain, Robert de Eglesfield in 1341 when she was 28. She brought many artists and scholars from Hainault who contributed to English culture. When she died, Edward never really recovered, and she was much mourned by him and the country. King Edward had a beautiful sculpture made for her tomb which you can see today at Westminster Abbey.