'Influential Black Londoners' returns to Sutton House!

Regular readers of this blog might remember that this time last year, I wrote a series of letters to nine Influential Black Londoners as part of an exhibition at the National Trust's Sutton House in Hackney.

This Black History Season, the letters have returned to Sutton House: 

I headed over there last week, with Patrick Vernon OBE, who had overseen the research last year, and it was great to see the letters on display again. 

Patrick & I with the letters...

Last year, when we were putting the exhibition together, John Blanke was the only individual featured not to have his own entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This has now been rectified, and his entry appeared in the September 2014 update.

He is the earliest Londoner featured in the exhibition- alongside  Ignatius Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, Dido Elizabeth Belle, George Bridgetower, Francis Barber, Mary Seacole and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. 

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Jane Porter's stamp

This year, the original nine were joined by Doreen Lawrence, who was voted in as the most Influential Black Londoner of the 1980s/90s by visitors and schoolchildren in 2013. 

So I had to write a new letter to her, which was quite daunting, as it's quite different writing to a living correspondent! 

A tree has also been planted in her honour in the new Breaker's Yard garden. 

We also decided to substitute the Indian shampooing surgeon and restauranteur Sake Deen Mahomed for the Lascars, which as a group were rather the odd ones out before. 

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A Hiawatha-style headress inspired by the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor- one of many creative activities on the activity trail.

Jane Porter, who did all the fantastic artwork for the exhibition last year, has created an activity trail for kids to enjoy this year. They can design a magical healing plant for Mary Seacole, decorate a paper boat for Olaudah Equiano, or draw up a campaign poster inspired by Doreen Lawrence, and much more.

Sutton House is also staging a play inspired by one of the 'Influential Black Londoners'- Total Insight Theatre Company's Olaudah Equiano: The Enslaved African will be performed in the house from 26th-29th November 7.30pm-9pm. You can buy tickets via Eventbrite or on the door. 

Influential Black Londoners is at Sutton House, 2&4 Homerton High Street, Hackney, London, E9 6JQ, now until the end of November. The house is open Weds – Sun, 10.30am-4.30pm.

Hope you get a chance to see it- do report back and tell me what 
you think!

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