Black History Features

2SXGA55 Roberta Flack at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. October 1981 Credit: Walter McBride/MediaPunch

Remembering Roberta Flack (1937–2025)

The world has lost one of its greatest musical voices, Roberta Flack, who passed away on February 24,…


2M0FXCW Sir Geoff Palmer, leader of Edinburgh's Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group, stands alongside a plaque commemorating the historic Scottish slavery case, Knight v Wedderburn, during an installation ceremony at the Court of Session at Parliament House in Edinburgh, to mark the case's contribution to tackling slavery. Picture date: Tuesday December 6, 2022.

Joseph Knight v. John Wedderburn: A Defining Moment in Scotland’s Struggle with Slavery

The story of Joseph Knight isn’t simply the story of a man seeking his freedom in an 18th-century…


2EJ522N Claudette Colvin (b.1939). Portrait of the pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement, taken in 1954. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. This occurred nine months before the more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks, helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.

Claudette Colvin: The Teenage Revolutionary Who Ignited a Movement

In the spring of 1955, when the streets of Montgomery, Alabama, were still divided by the sharp lines…


MB65FY Foster mother Mrs Sybil Phoenix with some of her children in Lewisham in January 1973 the year she became the first black woman to receive an MBE.

The Inspiring Legacy of Reverend Sybil Phoenix OBE

In a world where the winds of history often blow harshly on those least able to protect themselves,…


Videos & Film VIEW ALL

Black History Month

2025 LISTINGS

Victoria Avery. Photo © Fitzwilliam Museum
Cambridge Saturday 15 March

Curator Highlights Talk

Find out more about Rise Up in this introductory talk with curator Victoria Avery, our Keeper of European…

Cambridge Monday 17 March 2025

Mike and The Mechanics

Direct from the West End, The London Palladium, and the iconic Royal Albert Hall, Whitney – Queen of…