Rodell's design responds to the theme ‘Mother Africa’, which explores the richness and reality of Africa before the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans; the impact of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and European colonialism on Africa; and considers and celebrates Africa’s present and future.

My inspiration for this piece was a combination of painting and photographs redrawn and repainted. I have created a montage of paintings, drawing and paper works using spray paint, Posca pens and photocopies.

My intention was to create an image that was stark and bold with facts and quotations for the viewer to ponder and consider about the ramifications of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its damming legacy. I wanted something more graphic and poster-like, with the use of paintings and photographic mash ups.

Rodell Warner (b. 1986) is a Trinidadian artist working primarily in new media and photography. His works have been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art in the 2016 Dreamlands exhibition as part of the collective video project Ways of Something, and at The National Gallery of Jamaica in the 2016 exhibition Digital, and at the 10th Berlin Biennale in 2018 in I’m Not Who You Think I’m Not #14. Rodell is a recipient of the 2011 Commonwealth Connections International Arts Residency, and the 2014 summer residency at NLS Kingston, and was commissioned in 2017 to create the Davidoff Art Edition, a series of five artworks printed onto a limited edition of five thousand boxes of luxury cigars and presented and sold at Art Basel in Hong Kong, Miami, and Basel. Rodell lives and works between Port of Spain in Trinidad, Kingston in Jamaica, and Austin, Texas, in the US.

http://www.rodellwarner.com

Mussarat's design responds to the theme ‘The Reality of Being Enslaved’, which makes real the experience of those people who were enslaved, from their capture, captivity and voyage to lives and deaths enslaved in different contexts, places and generations.

My globe was influenced by the ancient roots of Mother Africa, and their legacy, spiritual roots and ancestral connections to the cosmos. My artwork engaged though placemaking with the key elements such as the heads, the hands, and the movement on the globe. Since the beginning of humanity's ability to travel across the seas, Africa has always captured the imagination. But this led to the murder and enslavement of a continent – fragmenting each country – by white men who distorted the purity, history and culture of Africa itself; bringing death, dis-ease, and fracturing societies instead of acknowledging the continent’s inherent beauty.

The hands represent the countries, nations of Africa, and show the multiculturalism and the rich tapestry of people who live there. The heads represent the powerful lineage of women and men whose roots can be traced through their ancestry. The guns represent power –when you can't control a nation, guns are used. The bullets represent the brutalisation of a nation; for the white man's greed how much blood has been shed? Here you can see the guns have a double element – the candle flames – which represent peace after conflict.

The head inside a head represents recognition of the ancestral links, connecting into a deep inner wisdom that is intergenerational, passed down by mother to child. Both heads represent the passing on of ancestral wisdom of the elders making a connection to the younger generations who will take up the mantle and champion the rights of Mother Africa; a call to its warriors of wisdom, always seeking the flame of truth.

The flame represents innate spiritual wisdom, truth, justice, harmony and peace – burning eternally for Mother Africa.

Mussarat Rahman is a community artist and poet. For the last few years she has been experimenting with 3D art and installations with a variety of community groups and festivals. She runs social action projects, and delivers community programmes with different communities, and in particular with refugees and asylum seekers. Her work addresses themes of migration and movement, religion, spirituality, materialism, politics, and gender. She designs projects around local and global issues which affect society and particularly affect communities. Her projects are designed to create a reaction and be interactive to engage audiences.

https://www.saatchiart.com/mussaratrahman

Marcia's design responds to the theme ‘Stolen Legacy: The Rebirth of a Nation’, which brings to life how Britain was transformed and enriched as a result of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and the free labour of the enslaved. It explores the legacy of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans in building the financial and trading power of Britain; strengthening the Church and the might of universities; and establishing dynastic influence and power.

My work is an inquiry into the relationship between the church's mindset toward the enslaved African people and the church’s role in society. 

I am fascinated by the art of stained-glass windows and Biblical narratives.  New stories are reworked to reveal an alternative and hidden agenda from a different point of view. The shape of church window panels is a thread throughout my work. The  window panels of this globe act as a gateway into a personal investigation about the history and Stolen Legacy of a people. 

I strived to find a way to tell this story visually and create a different mode of pictorial language and image making. My creative process involved sketching, thin wash-like paint layering and blending techniques to build up the colour, alongside the use of symbols, words, images of African artefacts and iconic people from the African diaspora.

The viewer is invited to open their mind and connect to the world of storytelling and the notion of spirituality and visual dialogue.

Marcia Brown M.A (QTLS) is a Multi-disciplinary Community Artist and Teacher based in West Yorkshire. She graduated from Leeds Beckett Park University with a master’s degree in Contemporary Fine Arts Practices. She is a recipient of the Edna Lumb Travel Scholarship and the Black Achievers awards for her work in Community Arts. 

Originally trained as a painter, she taught herself to play the guitar and became a music maker. Her passion for Roots Reggae Music is at the core of her creativity and informs her paintings, digital artworks and music production ideas. The retention of her cultural heritage using the lyrical content of Roots Reggae Music and photographic images is paramount to her art practice. Her vibrant paintings seek to explore the relationship between music and colour and the annihilation and lost function of African Artefacts/objects held in Museum Collections throughout the world. Her mission is to create art and music that inspires, empowers, and educates.

https://www.marciabrown.co.uk

Gherdai's design responds to the theme ‘Abolition & Emancipation’, which shares the story of the campaign for abolition, its key events, heroes and allies. It also lays bare the full, messy motivations and process of abolition, which were not as pure as often represented.

The ship ‘The Enterprise, en route from Alexandria, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina, encountered a storm, and washed onto Bermuda's harbour with cargo of mainly mothers with suckling babies and children aged five or six. More than fifty of the enslaved people on the ship were children, most of whom had been kidnapped by raiders from their Washington and Maryland plantain homes. 

After emancipation in the British colonies, the price of enslaved people in the southern states of the US were at a premium. The children and mothers on board the ship, were to be re-sold into slavery in South Carolina. The ship’s captain was informed that slavery was already abolished in Bermuda, so in Bermuda waters the people would be considered free. The people were not listed in the ship’s manifest; it only included tobacco, bricks and feed. A legal battle ensued. 

The captain argued that the people were not Bermudian, they were American, and the ship was not intentionally in Bermudian waters since the boat was headed from a Northern US port to a southern one. A Bermudian organisation, The Colored Family Society heard about the ship, and advocated for their immediate release. All 78 persons on board the ship appeared in court and were permitted to decide for themselves if they wanted to remain in Bermuda or return to the ship. All chose freedom except one woman and her five children who chose to return to the US. 

This globe is in honour of the children of The Enterprise, who chose freedom for themselves and became Bermudian by way of the ocean.I construct and deconstruct identity, revealing layers of history and the complexities of post-colonial and Afro-Caribbean heritage. Currently my research work is investigating the onion and its relationship to Bermuda archives. I use the onion as a metaphor for identity. 

In Bermuda, the people are affectionately referred to themselves as ‘onions’, which dates back to the island’s production of onions during slavery. Black women were ‘minders’ of the onion seed, meaning the main caretakers of the cash crop that made Bermuda wealthy. I am using the layers of the onion in parallel with the layers of my Alibii figures, who represent the mothers on board The Enterprise.

Gherdai Hassell is a Bermudian born, China trained, multidisciplinary contemporary artist, writer and storyteller, based in Manchester, UK. Her work investigates memory and nostalgia to construct and deconstruct identity. She uses collage and painting to thread and weave histories, and tales of transformation passed down through family lineages. Her work typically centres female bodies, simultaneously existing within realms of past, present, and future. Her work is ultimately about migration, a gradual process of being and becoming the future. Her multimedia work reimagines relationships with the body as avatar, social space and the invisible world. Her artwork is a part of public and private collections across the world.

https://www.gherdaihassell.com

Shivanee's design responds to the theme ‘A Complex Triangle’, which explores the complexity of Britain’s relationship with Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean across generations, and the legacy of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans on the UK’s role and reputation in the world.

Shivanee Ramlochan is a Trinidadian writer. Her first book of poems, Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting (Peepal Tree Press, 2017) was a finalist for the People's Choice T&T Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Forward Prize for Best First Collection. “The Red Thread Cycle”, the central suite of seven poems from her debut collection, won a Small Axe Literary Competition Prize for Poetry (second-place), and was on audiovisual display at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. 

Shivanee has received residencies and fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Millay Arts, and Catapult Caribbean Arts Grant. She has served as a poetry reader and judge for Commonwealth Writers, Honeysuckle Press, Moko Magazine, Forward Prizes and others. 

A Spanish-language edition of Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting is to be published soon. Her second book, Unkillable, on Indo-Caribbean women’s disobedience, is forthcoming from Noemi Press in 2023. 

Larry's design responds to the theme ‘Echoes in the Present’, which focuses on how the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its related history has present day negative consequences: systemic inequalities and injustice; entrenched racism and prejudices; and the generational echoes which have traumatic physical, behavioural, psychological and material impact.

The fight for freedom, equality and justice is the longest, most demanding, draining and dangerous of global wars to have ever been fought, and yet again, the most necessary battle for Black peoples. We can only afford to advance (for we have a lot at stake) and therefore to retreat or surrender is out of the question, for there is a cause! Sometimes, due to the brutal injustices we continue to experience as a people, we tend to forget or undermine the tremendous progress we have achieved as a minority group subjected to centuries of suppression. 

Hold The Line is a work made to remind every descendant of the enslaved, the suppressed, the colonised and our allies of the deadly battles we have fought in this war, how long it has taken for us to get here – and the need to defend what we have attained so far. It also clarifies our responsibility to push for the best for the following generations by uniting more than ever today, in order to pave more ways for further progress. It also encourages openness, peace and love; keeping our hope for a utopian future alive. 

A future in which difference is considered the key ingredient which holds and strengthens us together, rather than a tool for division. There’s no going back – we must take our place and own the space. We must tilt the ground and build things up. For out of the knowledge of holding a stake in a country, hope emerges. And with hope, we can build a better future that is diverse and inclusive, fair and just for everyone. 

I believe the fight for racial harmony and equality is the one fight every person alive today must be concerned with, as we will truly do well as a people when every one of us does well. Therefore let’s not stop hoping for that utopian world we imagined from the start – our lives depend on it and no matter what happens we must always remember to hold the line!

Larry Amponsah (b. 1989, Accra-Ghana) is a multimedia artist whose practice investigates traditional modes of image-making whilst employing unconventional strategies of production to look at the contemporary politics of imagery. Through the language of painting, Amponsah creates collages made of archival images, objects, and stories from various cultures in order to negotiate systems of power and create new ways of transcending boundaries.

Amponsah transforms, prints and cuts into archival images, which he assembles in collages that are further worked upon using mechanical processes and his honed skills as a trained painter. In this succession of strategic moves about image-making techniques, dynamic compositions emerge, as well as compelling narratives or portraits that reference his own African upbringing within a greater global narrative.

Larry Amponsah is an Associate Lecturer at the Camberwell College of Art - UAL and received his MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2018) after studying at Jiangsu University China (2016) and at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi in Ghana (2015). Larry was a Trustee of The Kuenyehia Art Trust in Ghana, got shortlisted for the 2019 Dentons Art Prize and won the Be Smart About Art Award in 2019.

Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘Genesis, The Plan & The Promise’, The Breeder Gallery, Athens (2022); ‘When A Stone Cracks, We Don’t Stitch’, 50 Golborne, London (2019); ‘The Open City of Many Gods’ Billboard, Bloc Projects, Sheffield (2019) and ‘Imaginary Direction of Time’, The Fine Art Gallery, CSU-Pueblo Hoag Hall, Colorado (2018). 

Recent group exhibitions include: ‘DEAR’, Dyson Gallery, RCA Battersea, London (2019); ‘DAMNED IF I DO... DAMNED IF I DON’T’ for Open Space: Of Hosts & Guests, Pushkin House, London (2019); ‘FBA Futures Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London (2019); ‘SURGE’, East Wing Biennial 13, Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2018); ‘YOUNG GUNS’, Sulger-Buel Lovell Gallery, London (2018); ‘Open House CCA’, Delfina Foundation, London (2017); ‘What is your local word for 'Smile'?’, ArtXanady's Pop-up Gallery, Labone, Ghana (2016); and ‘The Gown Must Go To Town’, Museum of Science and Technology, Accra (2015), amongst others.

https://thebreedersystem.com/activity/larry-amponsah_genesis-the-plan-the-promise/

Kwaku's design responds to the theme ‘Still We Rise’, which recognises and honours the enslaved and their descendants who resisted, who succeeded, and who broke new ground. We honour the well-known and celebrated, and shed light on untold legacies and events.

This globe looks to recognise how even when faced with adversity, cooperation and sacrifice within the Black community has led to the conquering of obstacles and barriers throughout history. From our darkest times in slavery and colonialism, to problems faced today, people of African descent have somehow managed to thrive, excel and ascend into a reimagined future.

My design focuses on themes of sacrifice and cooperation to rise and excel through adversity. The kneeling figures holding up the path above represent those who have sacrificed so much to overcome obstacles in their journey; laying a firm foundation from which their descendants can build on and continue to climb higher.

Despite this narrative starting in darkness, the figures are adorned with golden halos to show that this is not the beginning of our story – in fact the destination at the top of the globe is one they have been to before. Whilst each step signifies a new generation, the figures are shown helping each other ascend from the darkness and towards a brighter future.

Kwaku Anokye is promising young artist from Ghana and Dominica. He was born in Hong Kong and has lived in Tokyo, London and Ghana. Working primarily with acrylic, spray and oil paint; Kwaku has also worked digitally and in fashion.

Despite his classical and figurative background in portraiture and live drawing; Kwaku’s work has become more abstract, drawing from his diverse upbringing to inform his artistic style. He combines elements of traditional African art and hip-hop culture to graffiti and Japanese Manga, using simplistic figures and bold colours to explore his past experiences.

Through his art, Kwaku strives to understand, and reconcile the different thoughts, episodes and emotions which continue to define him as a person and as an artist; creating complex, abstract compositions to highlight how perceived dichotomies within the human experience can work together in harmony.

This sentiment is best illustrated by the two Adinkra symbols which act as his signature, and appear on his globe: Nkonsonkonson (a chain link), a symbol representative of the strength which results from unity; and Ese ne tekrema, a proverb explaining that like teeth and tongue within the mouth, elements that coexist may have conflict, but must work together for the entity to thrive.

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The work of making racial justice a reality must be rooted in community – in our individual and collective experiences, hopes and contributions. Rosanna’s design was created in response to dialogue and workshops with local communities.

PLEASE NOTE THAT UNFORTUNATELY DUE TO VANDALISM, WE HAVE HAD TO REMOVE THIS GLOBE FROM THE TRAIL TO BE REPAIRED AND RECEIVE SOME TLC! WE HOPE IT WILL BE BACK SOON!

This globe evolved from work with local communities in Leeds and responded to the notion of being connected to place. 

Through conversations it became clear that a sense of movement and journeys were deeply rooted in the experience of community members in Leeds. For example, the migration journeys which people made to be here. These journeys often represent tensions and conflicts whilst also documenting family, belonging and a sense of home. 

My intention was to try and encapsulate this through a series of mark making, colour choices and allow for the notion of ‘push and pull’ to organically emerge. Through the continued discussions and in the creation of the globe, it has been encouraging to hear a wide range of interpretations. Many have commented on the sea and how it moves, and this echoes back to the idea of migration; others saw dancing feet and related this to Carnival and dancing; while others have commented on the green spaces that are a prevalent and beloved feature of our city. 

This city hosts people to whom migration and movement are part of their daily experience. I hope this globe will create conversations around those experiences. Furthermore, I hope it can inspire them to think about what their sense of place is and how it can progress into our shared futures.

Rosanna is a multidisciplinary artist and teacher based in Leeds, Yorkshire. She uses a playful approach to mark-making, incorporating elements of collage, drawing and experimental painting to explore shifting cultural representations of everyday life.

Emmanuel's design responds to the theme ‘Expanding Soul’, which celebrates the spirit and culture of the African diaspora that, even in the face of incredible suffering, has endured and found vibrant expression across the world in music, art, food and so much more.

Parallel Empires, Ancestral Kingdoms presents the notion that mythological energy of African ancestral nobility appears to manifest in contemporary culture; avenues such as music, fashion, sport, academia, carnival and more.

Speaking to the heart and soul of nations, these successful individuals come as one, but stand as ten thousand; expanding the mind through their respective mediums and celebrating the visible integration of cultural exchange into a globalised world. 

Fragmented faces signify fragments of known history collaged with multimedia hand-drawn and painted layers to interpret their subjects' emotion and metaphysical reflection. An inverse ode to cubism highlighting a silent conversation between European masters and African sculptural aesthetics.

Rhythm and blues breathes in lines and colours; purples and blue symbolise the bruises of the past that are not visible on black skin. Illustrative leaf motifs inspired by Ankara fabric patterns and red leaves reference African griot storytelling traditions through sound. 

This design pays homage to the synergy of griot storytellers, specifically African American singers; Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, Nina Simone, and Kanye West’s Blood on the Leaves.

Emmanuel Unaji was born in 1994 in London. He studied fashion design and completed a degree in Fine Art at Kingston School of Art, London in 2020. Dubbed by British GQ as the Nigerian Artist reinterpreting fashion illustration, Unaji’s a polymath who’s multidisciplinary practice is a wide spectrum, spanning fine and commercial artforms freely combining painting, drawing, collage and product design with adept experience in High Fashion, modelling for Brands such as Gucci, British GQ, Adidas amongst others. Emmanuel has carved out his own space, at the junction of luxury, performance and fine art, where he mechanically deconstructs select images and identities that the media offer up to us. Emmanuel is interested in engaging the viewer in a conversation, by exploring what lies beneath the surface of content that we consume. The essence of Emmanuel’s art practice navigates the socioeconomic dichotomy of creativity and business, investigating the intersection of autonomy and public persona, self and celebrity.

https://www.emmanuelunaji.com/

Ali's design responds to the theme ‘Reimagine the Future’, which gives us free rein to imagine the society we can create when we have a full understanding of our shared history; the place the UK can hold in the world when it acknowledges its past; and who we can be as people and a country when we give full dignity to all.

Represented through the art of quilting, this design celebrates the vividly complex stories of pain, oppression, freedom, and power of African American culture.

Originally African textiles were made by men, the slave division of work according to Western patriarchal practices in the United States meant women took over the tradition. A combination of traditional African appliqué techniques mixed with traditional European quilting styles brought African American quilts to life. These quilts tell stories, documenting family trees, remembering departed loved ones, and sharing faith. Using discarded scraps from cloth, quilts were made from gunny sacks to old blankets and worn clothes. The use of symbols, bright colours, vertical pieces, enlarged graphic designs, and asymmetry originated from African textile styles. 

A break in a pattern symbolised rebirth in ancestral power with a break in a pattern helped keep spirits away. Evil was believed to travel in straight lines and this break confused the spirits and slowed them down. Many of the incorporated symbols remain unknown. 

Stories exist about the role quilts may have had in the Underground Railroad, although researchers have found little actual evidence of codes in the quilt blocks or messages in quilts hanging on clothes-lines. Fact or myth, the idea of a quilt code is compelling: instead of a pen and paper, the quilts use a needle and scraps of fabric to provide a unique history of lives and culture. Stitch by stitch, bringing together a larger picture, articulating a rich and complicated story of our shared history.

The extraordinary needlework skills in these quilts undoubtedly tell human stories, some not easy to tell, but each deserving a platform. My design explores these ideas, choosing no single unifying style, but celebrating the uniqueness and individuality of each quilt maker.

Ali is a Northumberland based professional artist who studied and worked in the fashion and textiles industry. Her artworks observe the composition of patterns as an artform. Using the irregularities found in the everyday she builds a repetition of elements that begin to tell a story. 

Ali has previously painted her designs onto a variety of large scale sculptures and is a published illustrator, helping create books that have become best sellers. As an environmental artist, her current work is inspired by the textures and the chaotic patterns of the underwater world. With an emphasis on illustration, her work blends traditional painting with digital techniques. Her work is commissioned commercially by clients in the UK, USA, Europe and Australia.

Founded in 1967 by Arthur France MBE, the Leeds Carnival celebrated its 50th year in 2017. In Arthur's words, the Leeds Carnival was 'the first in the UK to incorporate all three essential elements of authentic West Indian carnival – costumes, music and a masquerade procession.' The festival has built up an illustrious following, going from around 1,000 attendees to over 100,000. The kaleidoscopic procession of music and costumes begins at Potternewton Park and snakes its way via Harehills Lane, Roundhay Road and back up Chapeltown Road back to Potternewton Park. The Leeds Carnival is the highlight of many people's calendars. It offers a recurring opportunity for people to celebrate the food, music and cultures that bind so many people together in the Caribbean-majority community of Chapeltown.

Born in Chapeltown, Barber B (Brian Swarray) is a master barber, MD, assessor and educator. He has been cutting hair in Leeds for 30 years. Fascinated by a mysterious Jamaican called Gary and his ability to cut patterns in hair, Barber B did his first haircut on his brother after finding a pair of clippers in a skip. Since then, he has had several shops, won countless competitions, become an international authority on barbering and developed a unique method of training barbers. His team prides themselves on their excellent unisex Afro and European haircuts and as such, his barber shop is a multi-cultural hub. Along with Piranha Hair Studio, Barber B runs the Piranha Barber Academy and uses his barbering to help raise money and awareness for several charities. He was recently awarded a grant by The World Reimagined to collaborate on a play about his life and profession as a mixed-race barber in Leeds.

Image obtained from https://nicelocal.co.uk/leeds/beauty/piranha_hair_studio_and_training_academy/

Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) was a writer and Black activist who campaigned for equality through his writings, most notably his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. The book follows Olaudah's life from being enslaved in Nigeria at age 11 to his prominence as a free man in English society. The Leeds Library has an old and rare edition of Equiano's work, which helped gather empathy from the British public by recounting the realities of enslavement. This particular edition of Olaudah's work was printed in Leeds in 1814. It remains a powerful work and an ongoing testament to Olaudah Equiano's skill as one of the first Black authors to be published in Europe.

Image  obtained from: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-life-of-olaudah-equinao

The oldest Black resident in Leeds is Nesyamun, an Egyptian mummy, whose remains are housed within the Leeds City Museum. The 3000-year-old Nubian priest, of the religion Maat, was alive during the reign of pharaoh Ramses XI (c.1099–1069 BC). His mummified remains and casket, which survived a bombing in the Leeds Blitz, have been on display since 1823. Nesyamun's well-preserved remains have drawn crowds for 200 years. In 2020, researchers brought a part of Nesyamun back to life. Using 3D printing, a nationwide team from several universities, constructed a synthetic recreation of Nesyamun's vocal tracts. This enabled the researchers to generate a vowel sound that Nesyamun would have made in his lifetime. Speaking on Egyptian beliefs, Curator of Archaeology Katherine Baxter explained, ‘to speak the name of the dead is to make them live again’. That people still marvel at and know Nesyamun gives this belief a poignancy 3000 years later.

Image obtained from: https://news.leeds.gov.uk/news/leeds-museums-and-galleries-object-of-the-week-coffin-of-nesyamun

In 1973, after facing many struggles to transform what they felt was a racist school system, the Caribbean parents of Cowper Street School organised a strike. In the early 1970s, concerns were growing amongst parents about the education of their kids and racism they were subjected to in the classroom. They consulted the United Caribbean Association (UCA) and t he West Indian Afro Brotherhood, who recorded complaints about the school’s headteacher who was known to have stated that ’black pupils have lower foreheads and less cranial capacity than the white pupils’. Discussions led to parents demanding: the removal of the headmaster; more Black governors ;better contact between the headmaster, parents and staff; improved facilities; a reduction in teacher turnover; more black teachers; and members of the Black community to be invited to speak to the children to give them more motivation. However, these demands were unsuccessful and a strike ensued.

Image obtained from: https://leedsmasmedia.wordpress.com/tag/leeds-west-indian-carnival/page/4/

Becoming bright and valued members of the community, Veryl and George Harriott moved to Leeds in 1960 from Jamaica. George was an accomplished musician who played backing for greats such as Fats Domino, Sam Cooke and Harry Belafonte. In England, he continued his musical path and is often credited by many Black Leeds musicians as the person who taught them guitar. Veryl became a keen activist in Leeds. Along with her work teaching Black history classes from their Harehills home, Veryl helped the homeless and was an engine for community empowerment. Veryl was instrumental in the formation of the Chapeltown Citizen's Advice Bureau and the 1968 Race Relations Act. She wass the first Black person to become managing director of a Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Image obtained from: https://www.jamaicasocietyleeds.co.uk/back_to_life/george-solomon-harriott-1926-1999-and-veryl-alletta-harriott-nee-cruise-1934-2018/

The Jamaica Society launched in 1977. It has since gone on to become one of the most respected of all such societies in the Jamaican diaspora. The renowned group keeps Jamaican culture alive, celebrating both the integration and diversity of Jamaica and Leeds. Since its foundations, created by six first-generation Jamaicans, the society has tackled a broad range of welfare issues, including, initiatives related to health and crime, cultural activities, children’s events and community fundraising. Since 1989, the society has been based at Jamaica House, 277 Chapeltown Road. The Society is a bastion of community spirit and remains an enduring pillar of resilience and connection within the Afro-Caribbean community of Leeds.

Image obtained from: https://jamaicasocietyleeds.wordpress.com/

The Mandela Garden was created in 1983 in support of Nelson Mandela's stand against South African apartheid. Dedicated to Mandela on 10th December 1983, the garden opened whilst he was still in prison. During a rededication ceremony on April 30, 2001, when he visited the gardens, Nelson Mandela was made an Honorary Freeman of Leeds. The event was attended by over 5000 people. In 2004, the gardens were put forward as an entry into the Chelsea Flower Show, with plants indigenous to both Britain and South Africa adorning the flower beds. The gardens are a celebration of Nelson Mandela's monumental contribution to human rights and racial equality.

Image by Immanuel Giel ( Creative Commons CC0 1.0 )

Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is an esteemed alumnus of the University of Leeds. Following his time as a student at the university, Soyinka began a promising career as a playwright in London. Moving back to Nigeria to continue his development as a writer, Soyinka was caught up in the currents of conflict between Nigeria and Biafrans. His political activities meant at the outbreak of the civil war, he was imprisoned. Although he spent 22 of the 26 months of his incarceration in solitary confinement, Soyinka managed to generate an impressive body of poetry, either through memory or on scraps of paper, which condemned the Nigerian government. Following his release in 1969, Soyinka continued his work as a writer and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. It was the first Nobel Prize awarded to an African writer.

(Image By Frankie Fouganthin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Arriving in Hull from Nigeria as a stowaway in 1949, David Oluwale was arrested and sent to prison. A transfer to Armley prison brought David here to Leeds. He went on to spend the next 20 years in the city, which was not always welcoming. An altercation resulted in a two-month prison sentence for David. In prison, his behaviour was deemed strange. Ultimately, David was sectioned in Menston Asylum for 8 years. On David's release, his mental health had deteriorated. Sleeping rough he was repeatedly harassed by two police officers, Ellerker and Kitching. They would urinate on him, beat him and set fire to the newspaper on which he slept. On 4 May 1969, David was found dead in the River Aire. The two officers were tried and convicted of actual bodily harm but acquitted of a manslaughter charge. This blue plaque acknowledges David's human worth and commemorates his repeated resistance against the brutality which eventually took his life.

Image obtained from: https://www.bam.com/en/press/press-releases/2022/3/key-milestone-as-stunning-david-oluwale-tribute-bridges-the-gap?position=0&list=8nOQP45KXwrhqBAQfAYCeiIDmli_S7zR-eb8IhzuifU

Pablo Fanque was a circus performer, horse trainer and the first Black man to own a circus in England. Born in Norwich in 1810, William Darby took on the stage name Pablo Fanque, performing in many cities and often in Leeds. An adept equestrian, he would teach horses to dance. A tragic accident during a circus performance, where 600 people fell through the wooden floor to the ticket office, crushed Pablo's wife, Suzannah Darby, to death. Suzannah had a monument erected and following his illustrious career, Pablo ensured he was buried in Leeds next to her. His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people. Pablo's story resonated long after his death. He inspired a song appearing in the lyrics of ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite!’ by The Beatles.

(Image By Betty Longbottom, CC BY-SA 2.0)