Nubian Jak Community Trust
Blue Plaques and people of African Heritage | Video
Remembrance Day 13 November 2022
At the national monument of African and Caribbean service personnel who served alongside Great Britain and its allies in both world wars.
From middle left to bottom left: Niel Flannigan MBE. War Veteran | 7th Day Adventist Drummers | Helen Hayes MP | His Excelency Euvrard Saint Amand – Haiti Ambassador | Leondrew Campbell – Jamaican Embassy | Dr Faisal Aziz Ahmed_ Pakistani High Commission | Councillor Sarbaz Barznji – Deputy Mayor | Brixton Line Drummers | Walter Tull’s family receive the Military Cross after his death many years ago
Latest Blue Plaque (18 August 2022): Sculptor Edmonia Lewis
In an age when many statues and sculptures in the public realm are being scrutinised due to their links with colonialism, it is refreshing to discover the work of Edmonia Lewis, a 19th century African America female sculpture who achieve international acclaim at a time when slavery was still legal.
Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as “Wildfire” was born free on July 4th 1844 in Albany, New York to an African America father and Chippewa Indian mother.
Unsurprisingly, most of the early sculptures by Edmonia Lewis are of abolitionists, one of which – featuring Colonel Robert Gould Shaw – made her enough money to travel to Rome where she studied classical sculpture. She converted to Catholicism and she started to produce devotional pieces mainly in marble, which led to her talents becoming even better known in Europe.
156 Blythe Road, Hammersmith, London, W14 OHD
The Windrush & Commonwealth NHS Nurses and Midwives Memorial
A project of:
- Nubian Jak Community Trust,
- Whittington Hospital, North London
- the NHS.
Whittington Hospital in North London, known to have employed the most significant number of nurses and midwives from an African, Asian and Minority Ethnic (AAME) background, was the logical place.
Made possible through support of Siobhan Harrington, CEO of Whittington Hospital Trust, and all her staff, in particular senior nurse Michelle Johnson MBE.
The project was funded by EY – Ernst & Young, with Mduduzi Mswabuki (EY Race and Ethnicity Network Partner) giving a speech at the ceremony, as well as the above interview.
This was the previous collaboration of Peter de Vries (Sustainable News), Courtenay Harewood (Jomaya Progressive International) and Dr Jak Beula (Nubian Jak), in order to raise the funds and support needed for the memorial.
Nubian Jak Community honours violinist George Bridgetower with blue plaque on his 244th anniversary
Charlotte Edgeworth, Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact at Sony Music UK:
“Sony Music UK are thrilled to support the creation of this plaque commemorating George Bridgetower, who had a profound influence on classical music. Bridgetower was a highly talented violinist whose career took him from playing solo at Drury Lane Theatre to performing alongside Beethoven in Vienna. We’re delighted he is getting appropriate recognition and hope to introduce him to a new audience with this blue heritage plaque at the house where he once lived.”
This is the first of five plaques Sony Music UK’s Social Justice Fund has sponsored, commemorating Black contributions to music culture and history. These will be installed in different locations across the UK over the next 12 months.
Sony Music UK’s Social Justice Fund will finance five plaques commemorating Black contributions to our rich music culture and history
Sony Music Group’s Global Social Justice Fund was created in June 2020 to support social justice, equal rights and anti-racist initiatives around the world, and is part of the global Sony Music Group commitment to support communities and help address structural inequality for lasting change.
Through the Social Justice Fund we aim to help provide and broaden opportunities for individuals in under-served communities and to improve education, skills and life chances.
Revani Manicum - Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
In line with the International Decade for People of African Descent | 2015-2024 (UN Proclamation).
