Calling Una Marson: Breaking Barriers, One Broadcast at a Time

by June Sarpong

A powerful biography shining a light on the incredible forgotten legacy of the BBC’s first Black female broadcaster

The forgotten legacy of an icon, brought to light for the first time.

Una Marson was a true she made history by becoming the first Black female broadcaster at the BBC and paved the way for Black women and the amplification of Black voices in the media. Despite all this, though, her story has been all but forgotten by history.

A journalist, poet, playwright, broadcaster and activist, Una Marson played a pivotal role in bringing Caribbean culture to audiences in the UK, smashing glass ceilings and fighting against the racism and misogyny she faced.

Marson was a fierce political activist throughout her life, and in this rigorously researched and deeply personal biography, the life and achievements of this extraordinary, complex and multifaceted person will be told in full for the first time.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 27, 2025

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una Marson was born in 1905 in Jamaica, then a British colony, a place still reeling from the aftermath of slavery; plagued by high levels of unemployment and poverty for many years to come. A situation that had a profound impact on Marson’s later political beliefs. After leaving home, Marson settled in Kingston, trained as a typist but rapidly cycled through a range of potential careers including social and community work, before carving out a role in magazine editing and publishing. In 1932, Marson relocated to London where she became a prominent figure in the Black British activist community, partly through working with organisations like the League of Nations. Clearly a tireless, questing individual Marson produced plays and poetry, befriended fellow writers like Winifred Holtby, developed an interest in budding anti-colonialist movements, and promoted the cause of Black Jamaican women through her involvement in wider feminist circles.

Marson briefly returned to Jamaica in 1936 but was back in London by early 1938 where through happenstance her journalism attracted the attention of a BBC producer. Initially a TV researcher she segued into radio when the outbreak of WW2 led to the shuttering of British television. There Marson debuted as a programme maker and on-air broadcaster, the first Black woman ever to do so. Marson produced and presented the Caribbean Voices segment of the series Calling the West Indies – devised as a morale booster and bridge between wartime England and the West Indies. Through Caribbean Voices Marson promoted emerging West Indian writers airing a diverse selection of their poetry and short fiction. The programme was a great success and Marson forged close ties with other writers at the BBC including George Orwell and T. S. Eliot. But her time there was often exhausting and sometimes turbulent – some of which likely stemmed from her isolated position as a woman of colour in an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated institution. Marson had some kind of major mental health crisis which was labelled as ‘schizophrenia’ and was sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. She never returned to broadcasting. Her later years were markedly difficult, made more so by intermittent mental health crises. Marson lived in Jamaica, but spent some years in America scrabbling for a living and grappling with the grim realities of segregation. Eventually returning to Jamaica, Marson travelled for a short time but declining health led to her death aged 60.

Details of Marson’s personal life are relatively obscure, she wasn’t a diarist, few of her personal papers remain intact. So, June Sarpong and Jennifer Obidike’s biography often relies on a complex process of recuperation, drawing on what little archive material’s available, Marson’s interactions with public figures and groupings provide a framework through which to reconstruct her personal journey. So that this becomes as much an historical account of the events in Jamaica, England, and elsewhere, that shaped Marson’s era. It’s an intentionally accessible piece although the blend of dry fact and novelistic elements could be frustrating and distancing. But as a slice of Black history and an overview of Marson’s life and work it’s invaluable. It’s also the first title from newly-formed imprint Akan Books. Overseen by June Sarpong, Akan’s explicitly dedicated to writers from “underrepresented communities with a focus on giving a voice to unpublished writers from ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as authors from working-class backgrounds and those with disabilities.”

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Akan Books for an ARC

Rating: 3/3.5

[Haxxunne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unearthing a trailblazer
—
In this first release from Sarpong’s Akan Books imprint at HarperCollins, Sarpong and Obidike undertake a piece of literary and cultural archeology, bringing back to life a trailblazing cultural icon that even broadcaster Sarpong did not know. Una Marson was the first Black woman to present on the BBC, and brought Caribbean culture right into pre-war British homes. She was also an activist, a journalist, a poet, a playwright: really, it’s a wonder that her legacy has been so thoroughly lost to time. This might be a function of her times, at the BBC from 1938 onwards, when Britain was very much still the head of a global empire and when authority lay in only the hands of upper class white men. Marson may not have got out of the whole thing alive, suffering from mental illness and unable to work, but it is amazing that even within living memory, her legacy has been hidden for so long.

Without much primary material to rely on, Sarpong and Obidike have had to be creative in their sleuthing to bring Marson’s life back in to focus. This is a passionate and readable biography that brings the times alive, and most of all, the woman herself. Jamaica is rendered in all the senses and Marson’s forthright pursuit of her ideals in her home country is as heartbreaking as her later time in London, and yet she did it. Clearly, Marson was a woman before her time and her hard work laid the path for others to continue, but why have we only now re-discovered her? They say that history is written by the winners, and in Marson we have the very model of a winning personality.

And on a final note, this is a brilliant first release from Akan Books, and I will be looking forward to many more.

Four and a half stars.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary woman Una Marson was – and why is she not better known? I hope this excellent biography will bring her back into the prominence she so clearly deserves. I’d never heard of her and I hazard a guess that not too many other people have either, even though she was so often in the public eye in her time. She was a pioneer, a trailblazer, always pushing boundaries, way ahead of her time and this long overdue tribute is a must read. Born in colonial Jamaica in 1905, she was ambitious right from the start, and soon began to make a name for herself through her writing. She made her way to London – the mother country – where against all the odds she got a job with the BBC where she became the first Black woman broadcaster. She was an activist for gender and racial equality, travelled the world, was in demand as a speaker and her achievements and contributions are many. She was also a poet and I see that a book of her poems is available on Amazon. What a shame that she has been so much neglected. The authors have managed to reconstruct her life although she left few personal papers. Although at times they have had to speculate about her thoughts and feelings, they do this sympathetically and with insight, not least because she suffered from mental health problems through much of her life. She could also be very difficult and tried the patience of many of those who befriended and employed her. The authors also set her against the political and historical background to great effect, so that the book becomes as much a history of the era as well as a fascinating biography. Highly recommended.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone unfamiliar with black British culture, it was refreshing to learn about Una Marson through this book. I liked that Calling Una Marson was such a concise yet insightful snapshot of who she was and what drove her. It didn’t shy away from the criticisms she faced, while also highlighting her many strengths and contributions.

Considering that Akan books was created to amplify underrepresented stories, it was truly fitting that one of the first books published was about a woman whose mission was to amplify the voices of black women.

Many thanks to Akan books for this gem 💚