Posted on: 11/10/2023
On Monday 9th October, the Literacy Tree team were invited to the book launch of J.T. Williams’ exciting new book Bright Stars of Black British History.
We have been huge fans of J.T. Williams’ writing for a while, so much so that we were lucky enough to work with her in developing writing resources (a Writing Root and a Spelling Seed for Year 5/6) to accompany her book Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger. She has also spoken at several of our training events for teachers and subject leaders. The gravitas of her research and her erudite delivery are always incredibly inspiring and full of hope.
We were over the moon then to head along to the Waterstones on Gower Street, a venue special to Williams as she frequented this bookshop as a small child with her father (the shop was then known as Dillons). As she elucidated on the evening, Bloomsbury is steeped in Black British history. Figures like Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano, leading abolitionist writers, walked and campaigned on those streets. Equiano, who was a founding member of the ‘Sons of Africa’, was buried in a cemetery next to the former Whitfield’s Tabernacle in Tottenham Court Road and Mary Prince, who was the first Black British woman to publish her autobiography, escaped enslavement in this part of London before petitioning parliament for her freedom.
The walls of the venue displayed many of Angela Vives’ original paintings and illustrations from the book. Poignant and proud portraits of historical figures such as Claudia Jones, who published the West Indian Gazette in London after WW2, and Ira Aldridge, a Shakespearean theatre actor in the 19th century, amongst others illuminated the walls of the bookshop.
It was a joy to hear both J.T. Williams and Angela Vives talk about their work and collaboration on such an important book which shines a light on and illuminates so many important figures from Black British History – a book that we feel needs to be in primary schools across the country. Williams concluded her talk with the following quote from the introduction of the book:
‘When we look up at the night sky, some stars appear to shine more brightly than others. But look closely and you will catch glimpses of other stars in between, stars that join the bright stars together to make up the constellations. There are always people, brave and bold, whose light may be hidden from us, people whose names may not appear in the history books, but whose contribution is key. The difference is simply distance – move closer to a star and it will shine more brightly in your view.’
This book certainly brings those stars sharply into focus.
