Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great War

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In 2014 Bourne’s acclaimed book Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War was published by The History Press to coincide with the centenary of Britain’s entry into World War I. Prompted by this, we thought we'd look in the archive to see to what extent the contemporary magazines of the time acknowledged the role of black soldiers.

An easy-purchase topic pack of children's books to support the topic of First World War and Remembrance. Stephen is proud that he nominated and then campaigned for George to receive a Southwark Heritage Blue Plaque which was unveiled in September 2016 outside his former home in Warner Road, Camberwell. The alarm bells become deafening when you realise she was aged two when the first World War broke out. Hundreds of newspaper reports of the First World War period mention Cassie’s stage appearances and reveal that she was extremely popular with audiences. She said: 'Stephen Bourne is a hero of our history, who has published countless books, always accessible to all, on the hidden stories of our presence on these shores.He was killed in France in March 1918 during the Spring Offensive and yet there is no inkling of him, even in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News which each week ran a 'Sportsman's Roll of Honour'.

After meeting Stephen’s Aunty Esther, we hear the story of Walter Tull, who led soldiers in some of history’s bloodiest battles and died in the fighting just weeks before the conflict would end.You can find help on how to download and listen to our podcasts in our quick guide to getting started. You push that bayonet in there and hit with the butt of the gun – if he is dead he is dead, if he live he live. We know, for example, that Eugent Clarke, a Jamaican, served in combat at Ypres, in the Somme; and at Seaford Cemetery in East Sussex, where there are 300 soldiers’ graves, 19 are definitively those of black soldiers from the BWIR. Marvellously plucky as they were over physical injury, they were most incapable of a long fight against dysentery or pneumonia. Such was their renown, the welcome home parade around the streets of New York in 1919 saw hundreds of thousands of Americans, black and white, line the streets to cheer their heroes.