Welcome: Dear friends and supporters, here’s the eighth excerpt from the Society’s souvenir booklet which was issued to all guests at the recent Recognition Awards event rolled out on Saturday, 29th October 2022.

It is entitled “Our Milestones,” and it is a collation of some milestones for the modern Black community starting from 1948 (when the Windrush Generation began arriving in the UK) and spanning almost eight decades. The Society hopes that this information will stimulate discussions about the arch of progress made since the community began to establish itself in the UK.

Our milestones: On the 22 June this year the national Windrush monument was unveiled by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Waterloo station in the presence of a small group of guests, most of whom were of Caribbean background. The unveiling was a public statement or tribute from the government to the Windrush generation and their descendants for their contributions to the UK since the 2^nd World War. Many people across the country witnessed this event via livestreaming.

This moment of history for the Black community inspired the question about other significant moments in the UK’s modern Black community since 1948. Outlined below are a few more of the significant moments, or milestones if you will, from the 7^th and 8^th decades of the modern Black community.  

Decades Seven and Eight (2008 to 2027)

1. In 2018 Impact X Capital was started by Eric Collins. Its founding members also included Ursula Burns, Richard “Ric” Lewis and Sir Lenny Henry. The venture capital fund was inspired by the poor level of investment in companies led by people from the Black community. This increased access to capital is expected to have a big effect on Black led ventures.

2. The 22 June 2018 Windrush Day was announced by the government for a national commemoration of the contributions to the UK of the Windrush generation and their descendants. The first such day was marked by a service in Westminster Abbey which was attended by Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London (on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen), MPs from all major parties, and more than 2,000 guests from the modern Black community, most of whom had Caribbean backgrounds.

The next issue of the newsletter will address some more milestones from the 7^th and 8^th decades of the modern Black community.