March is Women’s History Month, and the theme this year is “Give to Gain.” For me, the name that immediately comes to mind is Olive Morris. Born in 1952 in Harewood, Jamaica, she moved to south London at nine years old. From a young age she saw Britain’s inequalities and, by her teens, she was already giving to her community. At 17 she intervened when police brutally harassed a Nigerian diplomat in Brixton and was herself beaten and arrested. Instead of backing down, she joined the youth wing of the British Black Panthers and dedicated herself to fighting for housing, education and justice. Olive gave everything she had, her youth, her courage, her labour, in order for her community to gain rights and dignity.

Olive’s own journey shows why we celebrate her today. In an era when Britain’s feminist movement often ignored race and class, Olive insisted that Black women be front and centre of liberation. She once cautioned that “if we don’t speak for ourselves, we’ll always be spoken for“. A statement anticipating the term intersectionality. She shifted the conversation from glass ceilings to the urgent issues Black women faced: police brutality, substandard housing and immigration law.

Building Black Feminism

In 1973 Olive co-founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group (BBWG). This was one of the UK’s first organisations specifically for Black women, and it created a space free from the racism of mainstream feminism and the sexism of male-dominated Black politics. Through study circles, newsletters and community projects, BBWG highlighted issues like childcare, education, domestic violence and workplace discrimination that white-led groups had ignored. In practice, BBWG put children’s centres, supplementary schools and housing justice at the heart of feminism.

Later Olive helped launch the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) in 1978. This national network brought together Black and Asian women activists from across Britain to build solidarity and share strategies. Hundreds attended OWAAD’s first conference, a watershed moment in UK Black feminism. Olive and her comrades made it clear that any genuine women’s movement must fight racism and class exploitation as fiercely as patriarchy.

Housing as a Human Right

Olive’s activism in the 1970s proved that direct action could change lives. In 1972 she and friend Liz Obi squatted 121 Railton Road in Brixton to house homeless youth and community groups. They resisted multiple eviction attempts, even staging the famous scene of Olive on the roof refusing to come down. The flat became a hub for Black organising and eventually hosted Sabarr, one of Britain’s first Black community bookshops. Olive made clear her politics: housing is a right, not a privilege. She often said a “roof over your head isn’t a privilege – it’s a right”. This principle still drives tenants’ campaigns today. As Britain once again faces a housing and rent crisis, activists still invoke her example of squatters’ resistance and mutual aid for decent homes.

Confronting Police and ‘Sus’ Laws

Police harassment was another battlefield for Olive. After her own 1969 beating by the police, she refused to let that violence go unchallenged. In 1978 she returned to Brixton as a law student and worked at the local Community Law Centre, campaigning to scrap the infamous ‘sus’ laws that allowed officers to stop and search people on mere suspicion. Olive exposed how those racist laws terrorised the Black community – a problem that echoes today’s debates over stop-and-search. Her leadership meant that resistance to police brutality was rooted in Black women’s organising and legal struggle. Olive’s message was clear: Black women cannot rely on others to lead for them, because history shows they would be sidelined otherwise. She insisted working-class Black women must take charge of their own freedom.

Legacy: Giving to Gain

Olive Morris died at just 27 years old, but her impact was far beyond her years. In less than a decade of activism she built community centres, bookshops, schools and legal projects that still exist today. She gave her youth and safety to build movements that benefit us all. In the words of Women’s History Month’s theme, she truly gave in order for future generations to gain. By investing every ounce of her energy in collective struggle, she gained a blueprint for Britain’s future that we still follow.

As we honour women’s history this month, Olive Morris stands out as a perfect example of “give to gain.” She reminds us that leadership and sacrifice know no age limit. Her story, from squatting homes to forming feminist networks, has been under-told, but every Black activist today draws on the foundations she built. Everyone reading this should know her name and carry forward her legacy. How will we give to gain in our time?

Many people think of Black British history in terms of London events like the Windrush arrival or Notting Hill. But important stories happened all over Britain. Black communities in cities like Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle have reshaped the country culturally, politically and socially. Let’s explore some inspiring tales: a bus boycott in Bristol, Martin Luther King Jr’s visit to Newcastle, ancient Roman soldiers in Cumbria, and Britain’s first Caribbean carnival in Leeds.

Bristol’s Bus Boycott of 1963

In 1963 Bristol’s bus company refused to hire Black or Asian people as drivers. Youth worker Paul Stephenson and others led a protest against this “colour bar”. For four months local activists and the West Indian community boycotted the buses until the company finally agreed to hire drivers of all races. Their victory made headlines. It inspired Britain’s first Race Relations Act (1965), which made racial discrimination in public life illegal. The Bristol Bus Boycott is remembered as one of Britain’s earliest and most powerful Black-led campaigns for equality.

Martin Luther King Jr in Newcastle, 1967

In the north of England, Newcastle has its own civil rights moment. On 13 November 1967, Dr Martin Luther King Jr crossed the Atlantic for a one-day visit to receive an honorary doctorate from Newcastle University. (It was the only UK university to honour him in his lifetime.) During the ceremony, King gave an unexpected speech warning against racist ghettos and poverty in Britain. He told the audience that “Racism is … the coloured man’s burden and the white man’s shame”. Decades later, King’s brief visit links Britain’s struggle for equality with the American Civil Rights Movement, showing how ideas crossed the ocean.

African Soldiers in Roman Cumbria

Black British history goes back far beyond the twentieth century. In north west England, at a Roman fort called Aballava (near modern Burgh by Sands, Cumbria), archaeologists found evidence of North African soldiers in Britain. A Roman altar dating to around AD 253 records that Caelius Vibianus, commander of the Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum (a unit of Berber soldiers from Mauretania, now Morocco and Algeria), was stationed there. In fact, Cumbria is home to Britain’s first recorded African community, some 1,800 years ago. These findings show that people from North Africa lived and had families in Britain in the third century. It is a striking “did you know?” story: Black people were part of Britain’s story long before most of us think.

Leeds’s First Caribbean Carnival, 1967

In 1967 Leeds became the site of Britain’s first Caribbean-style carnival parade. Community leader Arthur France, a student from St Kitts-Nevis, organised the very first West Indian carnival in Chapeltown, Leeds. Hundreds of people in colourful costumes and steel bands marched from Potternewton Park to Leeds Town Hall as part of the new “West Indian Carnival” procession. About 1,000 locals watched that inaugural event. This Leeds carnival set the trend for later festivals – including London’s famous Notting Hill Carnival. Today the Leeds West Indian Carnival is a huge annual celebration of Caribbean culture and community. In other words, a party in Leeds in 1967 helped reshape British culture.

Across Britain

These stories show that Black history in Britain is not confined to London. From Roman soldiers in Cumbria to activists in Bristol and Newcastle, to cultural pioneers in Leeds, Black people have made their mark across the country. Each event helped change Britain – overturning racism, inspiring hope, and celebrating identity. As one writer notes, these Black communities outside London “have reshaped the country, culturally, politically and socially”. By learning these local stories, we get a fuller view of Black British history – one that truly reaches from coast to coast.

Every February, the United States observes Black History Month. It grew from historian Carter G. Woodson’s 1915 call to preserve Black heritage. In 2026 the theme “A Century of Black History Commemorations” marks a century since the first Negro History Week.

Inspired by that theme, BLAM UK highlights African‑American radicals whose activism in Britain forged connections that continue to influence Black life on both sides of the Atlantic.

Frederick Douglass: freedom forged in Britain

A former slave turned leading abolitionist, Douglass crossed to the British Isles in 1845. Over nearly two years he toured England, Scotland and Ireland delivering powerful lectures against American slavery. His speeches drew large audiences and raised funds for the abolitionist cause. Douglass said he could dine with parliamentarians and feel “a human being”. The welcome sharpened his critique of American racism.

Ida B. Wells: internationalising anti‑lynching

Journalist Ida B. Wells travelled to Britain in 1893 and 1894 to denounce lynching. University of Chicago archives record that she spoke to large crowds about the “crime and terrorism of lynching” and helped establish the London Anti‑Lynching Committee. Wells argued that lynching enforced racial subjugation. Newspapers reported packed halls in Aberdeen and Edinburgh where she described the continuing oppression of Black Southerners. Her tours internationalised the anti‑lynching struggle and rallied British allies to pressure U.S. authorities.

James Baldwin: transatlantic dialogues

James Baldwin used Britain to debate racism and freedom. At the University of Cambridge in February 1965 he debated conservative commentator William F. Buckley, declaring that the “American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro”. The audience sided with Baldwin. 4 years later the film Baldwin’s Nigger (1969) captured him and Dick Gregory in conversation with young Black Brits about imperialism and race. These encounters linked Black American radicalism with Britain’s Black diaspora.

Sarah Parker Remond: pioneering lecturer

Sarah Parker Remond, a free Black American, sailed to Liverpool in 1859 seeking refuge and a platform for abolition. Her Manchester lectures condemned the denial of political and social rights to free people of colour and described enslaved people as treated like “things with no rights – political, social, domestic or religious”. She continued speaking in London to enthusiastic applause and joined the London Emancipation Committee. Remond studied at Bedford College and became the first Black woman to lecture to mass audiences in Britain.

W.E.B. Du Bois: Pan‑Africanism in London

London hosted the first Pan‑African Conference in July 1900. Organised by Trinidadian lawyer Henry Sylvester Williams, the meeting brought delegates from Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Britain. W.E.B. Du Bois chaired the committee that drafted the “Address to the Nations of the World,” urging European powers to end racism and permit self‑government for colonised peoples. Du Bois warned that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the colour‑line”, linking Pan‑Africanism to London.

Malcolm X: confronting British racism

In 1964–65 Malcolm X brought his uncompromising message to Britain. On 3 December 1964 he addressed the Oxford Union, arguing that “extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice” and insisting that Black people were justified in defending their freedom. He also spoke to students at the London School of Economics and visited Smethwick, a town notorious for racist housing policies, to highlight discrimination. His tour exposed British racism and linked Black liberation struggles across continents.

Interconnected struggles and remembrance

From Douglass’s liberation campaign to Malcolm X’s solidarity visit, these stories show that Black history is not solely American or British but a shared struggle forged through travel, speeches and alliances. As we celebrate A Century of Black History Commemorations, BLAM UK invites readers to honour the transatlantic partnerships that nurtured Black freedom. Remembering these connections is a radical act: it affirms that our histories are entwined and that the fight against racism transcends borders.