Black and British: An Illustrated History

Description

This beautiful hardback gift book is a stunning visual journey through Black British history for younger readers by award-winning historian and broadcaster David Olusoga and illustrated by Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor. The essential starting place for anyone who wants to learn about Black British History. David Olusoga's thought provoking text charts the forgotten histories of Black people in Britain from Roman times right through to the present day. From Roman Africans guarding Hadrian's Wall, to an African trumpeter in the court of Henry the Eighth, Black Georgians fighting for the abolition of slavery, Black soldiers fighting for Britain in the First World War, Windrush and right up today. These are the stories that brought us all together in this country. When did Africans first come to Britain? Who are the well-dressed black children in Georgian paintings? Why did the American Civil War disrupt the Industrial Revolution? These and many other questions are answered in this essential introduction to 1800 years of the Black British history. This children's edition of the bestseller Black and British: A Forgotten History is beautifully illustrated in full-colour with maps, portrait galleries, timelines, photos and portraits.

David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and BAFTA award-winning presenter and filmmaker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and a regular contributor to the Guardian, Observer, New Statesman and BBC History Magazine. His books include Black and British, which won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize and the Longman-History Today Trustees Award, The Kaiser's Holocaust and The World's War. He is also the author of Black and British: A Short Essential History, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize. He was also a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Black British History. In 2019 he was awarded an OBE for services to history and community integration. Jake Alexander is an illustrator from the South of England. In 2019 he won both the Macmillan Prize and the Creative Conscience Gold Medal with an early version of We Want Our Books. He often makes work based on popular culture and current events, having created a Star Wars-themed zine and portraits of public figures such as Taika Waititi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Melleny Taylor was a secondary school Art & Design teacher before becoming an illustrator. She enjoys working with a variety of materials - using a range of mixed media from pencil crayons to inks, from watercolours to sticks from the garden! In recent times she has moved into the digital world.

Olusoga's celebrated title is now available in a beautiful and absorbing illustrated format that invites readers from seven and up to pore over its pages. Maps and portrait galleries effortlessly convey how Black and British history have been woven together since the Roman invasion. * The Guardian * it truly sings in picture book form with the history made even more vivid via a trove of old paintings, maps and photographs combined with bold artwork by Melleny Taylor and Jake Alexander. -- Imogen Carter * Observer *