This page has video and documentary evidence of unsung heroes. New Heroes will be added monthly. The Heroic Black Women video was created to counter the images of females normally seen in music videos
The Black War Heroes was homemade recording of a presentation of the same name given to a 300 strong audience at Stratford Circus in 2006. Add yourself to our mail list http://www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk/contact-us.html for advance notice of events
Ben Bousquet was an amazing man who co-wrote the only British book on Black women in World War 2
St Lucian Ben Bousquet was an incredible historian who inspired many with his knowledge and passion. He campaigned against Apartheid, was one of the first black councillors in Kensington and Chelsea, raised funds for victims of the 1958 Notting Hill riots, founded the Labour party Black sections in the 1980's, co-wrote West Indian Women at War and worked with Claudia Jones and Julius Nyerere
Ben Bousquet died, peacefully, at home in South Africa in the company of his beloved wife Mary in June 2006. Over almost two decades, we had worked together on a number of articles and lectures on West Indian history, with our biggest joint project being the book ‘West Indian Women at War’ which was published in 1991.I knew Ben as a man of two core passions.
First, a remarkable passion for people. His desire to engage in conversation with everyone he met resulted in him accumulating acquaintances at a staggering pace. These were frequently turned into friends.
His second passion was a hatred of injustice. It shaped his political life. His life-long campaign against apartheid South Africa was fuelled by this passion. Many of his constituents during his years as a Labour councillor in Kensington and Chelsea, and his clients when he worked in community relations at Lambeth Council, benefited from his staunchness as a champion for the victimised. And the Labour Party Black Section, which he co-founded in the 1980s, stemmed from a sense of injustice at the lack of representation of Black people in Parliament and senior ranks of the Party.
These two passions were not separate from his enthusiastic commitment to Black history. As an important African-Caribbean historian, Ben’s passion for history was inspired by the people that populate it (often ordinary people doing extraordinary things), and the constant struggle for justice which weaves through it like an unbroken thread. In short, it was about the people and the struggle for justice.
That is what our annual lectures at the Imperial War Museum, and our book ‘West Indian Women at War’, were about. And that is what the many other books that we discussed at length, but never got round to writing, would have been about. I, and his legion of friends, will miss him dearly.
A memorial service for Ben is being held at St Mary Abbots Church, off Kensington High Street in West London on 31 August 2006 at 11.30am. If you wish to attend, please email
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Colin Douglas
10 August 2006
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