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Black British Lives Matter: A Clarion Call for Equality
'A book all should read, particularly white people.' Irish Times
'A powerful - and varied - portrait of the Black British experience.' Guardian
BLACK BRITISH LIVES MATTER is a clarion call for equality, from nineteen of the most prominent Black figures in Britain today.
Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder introduce an essential collection of essays arguing how and why we need to fight for Black lives to matter - not just for Black people, but for British society as a whole. Writing across a wide range of subjects, and drawing on personal experience, all nineteen writers explore the unique contributions, perspectives and importance of Black Britons to the UK and beyond. It is both a celebration of Black British lives and an urgent, agenda-setting manifesto for change.
Contributors include David Olusoga, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Kit de Waal, Dr Anne-Marie-Imafidon, Sir David Adjaye, Leroy Logan and Professor Kehinde Andrews.
'A powerful - and varied - portrait of the Black British experience.' Guardian
BLACK BRITISH LIVES MATTER is a clarion call for equality, from nineteen of the most prominent Black figures in Britain today.
Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder introduce an essential collection of essays arguing how and why we need to fight for Black lives to matter - not just for Black people, but for British society as a whole. Writing across a wide range of subjects, and drawing on personal experience, all nineteen writers explore the unique contributions, perspectives and importance of Black Britons to the UK and beyond. It is both a celebration of Black British lives and an urgent, agenda-setting manifesto for change.
Contributors include David Olusoga, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Kit de Waal, Dr Anne-Marie-Imafidon, Sir David Adjaye, Leroy Logan and Professor Kehinde Andrews.
11 pages, Audiobook
First published November 16, 2021
22 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Lenny Henry
53 books48 followersLenworth George "Lenny" Henry, CBE is an English actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter. Henry is known as the choleric chef Gareth Blackstock from the 1990s television comedy series Chef!, or from his 1999 straight-acting lead role in the BBC drama Hope And Glory. He was co-creator with Neil Gaiman and producer of the 1996 BBC drama serial Neverwhere.
His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces). He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show.
He co-hosted the children's programme Tiswas from 1978 until 1981, and subsequently performed and wrote for the show Three of a Kind, with comedians Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. Also in 1980, he teamed up with The Comic Strip where he met his wife, comedienne Dawn French. She encouraged him to move over to the fledgling alternative comedy scene, where he established a career as a stand-up comedy performer and character comedian. He introduced characters who both mocked and celebrated black British culture, such as Theophilus P. Wildebeeste (a homage to Teddy Pendergrass using the 'TP' initials), Brixton pirate radio disc jockey DJ Delbert Wilkins and Trevor MacDoughnut (a parody of Trevor McDonald). His stand-up material, which sold well on LP, owed much to the writing abilities of Kim Fuller.
The first series of The Lenny Henry Show appeared on the BBC in 1984. The show featured stand up, spoofs like his send up of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, and many of the characters he had developed during Summer Season, including Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and Delbert Wilkins. The Lenny Henry Show ran for a further 20 years in various incarnations.
In the early 1990s, Henry starred in the Hollywood film True Identity, in which his character pretended to be a white person (using make-up, prostheses, and a wig) in order to avoid the mob. The film was not commercially successful.
In 1991, he starred in a BBC drama alongside Robbie Coltrane called Alive and Kicking, in which he played a heroin addict, which was based on a true story.
In 2003, Henry was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy. In 2004, he was listed in The Sunday Times as the fifteenth funniest black performer of all time. Henry is associated with the British Comic Relief charity organisation, along with his former wife, comedienne Dawn French, and Griff Rhys Jones, and has hosted the show and also presented filmed reports from overseas on the work of the charity.
He was the voice of the "shrunken head" on the Knight Bus in the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and read the audio book version of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.
He was introduced to Shakespeare when he made the 2006 Radio 4 series Lenny and Will. Which saw him going "in search of the magic of Shakespeare in performance." In February 2009 Henry appeared in the Northern Broadsides production of Othello. He received widespread critical acclaim in the role.
Henry graduated in English Literature, (BA Hons), with the Open University in 2007. Henry studied for an MA at Royal Holloway, University of London in screenwriting for television and film, where he received a distinction and where he is now studying for a PhD on the role of black people in the media. Henry was made a CBE in the New Years Honours list in 1998 for his services to comedy drama and Comic Relief.
His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces). He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show.
He co-hosted the children's programme Tiswas from 1978 until 1981, and subsequently performed and wrote for the show Three of a Kind, with comedians Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. Also in 1980, he teamed up with The Comic Strip where he met his wife, comedienne Dawn French. She encouraged him to move over to the fledgling alternative comedy scene, where he established a career as a stand-up comedy performer and character comedian. He introduced characters who both mocked and celebrated black British culture, such as Theophilus P. Wildebeeste (a homage to Teddy Pendergrass using the 'TP' initials), Brixton pirate radio disc jockey DJ Delbert Wilkins and Trevor MacDoughnut (a parody of Trevor McDonald). His stand-up material, which sold well on LP, owed much to the writing abilities of Kim Fuller.
The first series of The Lenny Henry Show appeared on the BBC in 1984. The show featured stand up, spoofs like his send up of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, and many of the characters he had developed during Summer Season, including Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and Delbert Wilkins. The Lenny Henry Show ran for a further 20 years in various incarnations.
In the early 1990s, Henry starred in the Hollywood film True Identity, in which his character pretended to be a white person (using make-up, prostheses, and a wig) in order to avoid the mob. The film was not commercially successful.
In 1991, he starred in a BBC drama alongside Robbie Coltrane called Alive and Kicking, in which he played a heroin addict, which was based on a true story.
In 2003, Henry was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy. In 2004, he was listed in The Sunday Times as the fifteenth funniest black performer of all time. Henry is associated with the British Comic Relief charity organisation, along with his former wife, comedienne Dawn French, and Griff Rhys Jones, and has hosted the show and also presented filmed reports from overseas on the work of the charity.
He was the voice of the "shrunken head" on the Knight Bus in the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and read the audio book version of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.
He was introduced to Shakespeare when he made the 2006 Radio 4 series Lenny and Will. Which saw him going "in search of the magic of Shakespeare in performance." In February 2009 Henry appeared in the Northern Broadsides production of Othello. He received widespread critical acclaim in the role.
Henry graduated in English Literature, (BA Hons), with the Open University in 2007. Henry studied for an MA at Royal Holloway, University of London in screenwriting for television and film, where he received a distinction and where he is now studying for a PhD on the role of black people in the media. Henry was made a CBE in the New Years Honours list in 1998 for his services to comedy drama and Comic Relief.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 15, 2022
A brilliant collection of essays from Black Brits, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and David Olusoga. Each author has shared their personal experiences, thoughts and feelings and I'm so grateful for their honesty and openess.
I'm still quite new to my anti-racism journey (I really only started in 2019 when I completed the Me and White Supremacy workbook by Layla F. Saad). It's gutting to realise how much of Black history had been erased or hidden and how ingrained racism is in the UK - we seem to think it only happens in America.
I'd argue this is an essential read. I borrowed it from my local library but will be buying a copy for my bookshelf.
I'm still quite new to my anti-racism journey (I really only started in 2019 when I completed the Me and White Supremacy workbook by Layla F. Saad). It's gutting to realise how much of Black history had been erased or hidden and how ingrained racism is in the UK - we seem to think it only happens in America.
I'd argue this is an essential read. I borrowed it from my local library but will be buying a copy for my bookshelf.
July 25, 2022
A tough listen at times - particularly the section from
Doreen Lawrence - this was a fascinating book, held together by some interesting input from Lenny Henry. I found the chapter on comedy intriguing. Discussion on racism as often been US focused in recent years, this successfully brings the issues home.
Doreen Lawrence - this was a fascinating book, held together by some interesting input from Lenny Henry. I found the chapter on comedy intriguing. Discussion on racism as often been US focused in recent years, this successfully brings the issues home.
November 6, 2023
Written in late 2020 and early 2021, this eclectic set of essays on being Black British reflects its time while being able to make many wider and more general claims. They’re part of a recent move in Black British writing that recognises the distinctiveness of Black British experience and attempts to slough off some of the risks of universalizing a Black, post-enslavement tradition that draws exclusively on the USA. Despite the timing and the circumstances, the challenges and the long path ahead several of the essays are optimistic in tone, though often not content, but more are deeply personal, richly evocative of Black British experience as lived experience.
The poet June Jordan often spoke of ‘Black Studies’ as ‘Life Studies’, and so the personal in these essays has great power; it is almost always used to make points that resonate well beyond the individual, while still remaining personal. Doreen Lawrence writes of the ways her murdered son Stephen is part of her everyday, 30 years after his racist killing, yet also powerfully makes the point one of the dangers of the dominant image of the ‘strong Black woman/mother’ is the way she is expected to cope and be a rock for others, with all the mental health dangers that carries with it. This point shows the powerful ways these essays intersect, in that I can’t think of Lawrence’s point here without taking in the harrowing evidence Marverine Cole draws out in her essay on Black mental health.
Many of the essays accentuate the significance of representation – the MP Dawn Butler and former police inspector Leroy Logan most obviously, with Butler seeming to recognise the limits of representation by keeping focus on voices at the table in the legislative process, rather than wider transformational questions. Others stress the limits of representation. Barrister Alexandra Wilson, once mistaken as a defendant – three times in the same day in the same courthouse – stresses that representation is important, but only if it comes with wider active and knowledgeable engagement with Black worlds. Anne-Marie Imafidon, however, stresses while presence matters it’s not enough to bring about effect change in the tech industries, although her critique is also woven through with criticism of what might be called the ‘celebrity representative’ – the demand for the ‘famous’ talking head.
Others have a much more structural sense; Kehinde Andrews on struggles for education rather than schooling, David Adjaye on architecture and the significance of space, Derek Bardowell on charities, and Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff on journalism all put their pieces firmly into social-structural contexts, while also unpacking the form of and experience in their chosen areas. Aside for Adjaye’s (I confess to being a bit of a spatial studies geek), two essays really resonated with me; Henry’s interview with David Olosuga on doing history (as close to a home discipline as I have) and Michelle Moore’s on athletes (much of my work focuses on histories and cultures of sport). Here were two leading vices in their fields, deeply embedded in them, sharply critical of those fields, but also highlighting as part of their personal presence the importance of ‘mixed race’ families – both have white mothers, and that gave me cause to pause and wonder on the banality of multiple experiences of Othering in systems of oppression, what we might think of the empathy of intersectionality.
What’s more, I’m impressed that when I finally get to the collection, three years after the events that gave it its impetus, it still resonates, still has power, and still reminds us of the multiple ways Black Lives Matter.
The poet June Jordan often spoke of ‘Black Studies’ as ‘Life Studies’, and so the personal in these essays has great power; it is almost always used to make points that resonate well beyond the individual, while still remaining personal. Doreen Lawrence writes of the ways her murdered son Stephen is part of her everyday, 30 years after his racist killing, yet also powerfully makes the point one of the dangers of the dominant image of the ‘strong Black woman/mother’ is the way she is expected to cope and be a rock for others, with all the mental health dangers that carries with it. This point shows the powerful ways these essays intersect, in that I can’t think of Lawrence’s point here without taking in the harrowing evidence Marverine Cole draws out in her essay on Black mental health.
Many of the essays accentuate the significance of representation – the MP Dawn Butler and former police inspector Leroy Logan most obviously, with Butler seeming to recognise the limits of representation by keeping focus on voices at the table in the legislative process, rather than wider transformational questions. Others stress the limits of representation. Barrister Alexandra Wilson, once mistaken as a defendant – three times in the same day in the same courthouse – stresses that representation is important, but only if it comes with wider active and knowledgeable engagement with Black worlds. Anne-Marie Imafidon, however, stresses while presence matters it’s not enough to bring about effect change in the tech industries, although her critique is also woven through with criticism of what might be called the ‘celebrity representative’ – the demand for the ‘famous’ talking head.
Others have a much more structural sense; Kehinde Andrews on struggles for education rather than schooling, David Adjaye on architecture and the significance of space, Derek Bardowell on charities, and Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff on journalism all put their pieces firmly into social-structural contexts, while also unpacking the form of and experience in their chosen areas. Aside for Adjaye’s (I confess to being a bit of a spatial studies geek), two essays really resonated with me; Henry’s interview with David Olosuga on doing history (as close to a home discipline as I have) and Michelle Moore’s on athletes (much of my work focuses on histories and cultures of sport). Here were two leading vices in their fields, deeply embedded in them, sharply critical of those fields, but also highlighting as part of their personal presence the importance of ‘mixed race’ families – both have white mothers, and that gave me cause to pause and wonder on the banality of multiple experiences of Othering in systems of oppression, what we might think of the empathy of intersectionality.
What’s more, I’m impressed that when I finally get to the collection, three years after the events that gave it its impetus, it still resonates, still has power, and still reminds us of the multiple ways Black Lives Matter.
January 31, 2023
A must-read I did t enjoy all of the essays, but they're all important. I loved the arts, cried with mothers, was angered by the glaring holes in my education, realising I spent three years of a degree, not one learning about anyone black.
If you don't get inequality, this will spell it out in a measured and evidenced way. It will highlight the things you didn't know or see before and encourage you to look again.
If you don't get inequality, this will spell it out in a measured and evidenced way. It will highlight the things you didn't know or see before and encourage you to look again.
May 29, 2023
4.5 ⭐️
'Black British Lives Matter' is an extremely enlightening and emotive collection of essays from a diverse range of some of Britain's most prominent Black figures in art, history, television and more. I thought every essay was painfully honest and well written, even if some points were repeated a few times (which really just shows how prominent these points are) and I was completely floored by Doreen Lawrence's in particular. A really essential read to any British person!
'Black British Lives Matter' is an extremely enlightening and emotive collection of essays from a diverse range of some of Britain's most prominent Black figures in art, history, television and more. I thought every essay was painfully honest and well written, even if some points were repeated a few times (which really just shows how prominent these points are) and I was completely floored by Doreen Lawrence's in particular. A really essential read to any British person!
September 18, 2022
5🌟 brilliant! really recommend the the audiobook if you can get it as it’s great to (mostly) hear the authors reading their own work. really important read in the context of the murder of Chris Kaba
November 18, 2024
come talk books (and other things) with me over at my twitter!
brilliant compilation of essays that are all (almost) equally as strong as each other, touching on a myriad of aspects of black british lives that are often less (or not) spoken about. i feel like the discussion around race and black lives matter is so often heavily centred on the african-american experience, and so black british lives matter was a much-needed new viewpoint. i would highly recommend picking up this book as there's truly something for everyone, and plenty to broaden your understanding of how racism affects us black brits.
brilliant compilation of essays that are all (almost) equally as strong as each other, touching on a myriad of aspects of black british lives that are often less (or not) spoken about. i feel like the discussion around race and black lives matter is so often heavily centred on the african-american experience, and so black british lives matter was a much-needed new viewpoint. i would highly recommend picking up this book as there's truly something for everyone, and plenty to broaden your understanding of how racism affects us black brits.
March 31, 2023
Lenny Henry & Marcus Ryder (2021) BLACK BRITISH LIVES MATTER: A CLARION CALL FOR EQUALITY (AUDIOBOOK)
BorrowBox - Faber & Faber
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars
The sleeve reads, "Featuring essays from David Olusoga, Dawn Butler MP, Kit de Waal, Kwame Kwei-Armah and many more. In response to the international outcry at George Floyd's death, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder have commissioned this collection of essays to discuss how and why we need to fight for Black lives to matter - not just for Black people but for society as a whole. Recognising Black British experience within the Black Lives Matter movement, 19 prominent Black figures explain why Black lives should be celebrated when too often they are undervalued. Drawing from personal experience, they stress how Black British people have unique perspectives and experiences that enrich British society and the world; how Black lives are far more interesting and important than the forces that try to limit it."
=====
Not an easy listen. But a bloody important listen. For everyone. White supremacy, systemic racism, systemic failures have to end. White people created racism. It's therefore White people who are responsible for dismantling racism and killing it once and for all. Every essay in this book is confronting. So buckle up Snowflakes. And mobilise.
=====
#LennyHenry #MarcusRyder #BlackBritishLivesMatter #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads #Audiobook #Audiobooks #BorrowBox
BorrowBox - Faber & Faber
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars
The sleeve reads, "Featuring essays from David Olusoga, Dawn Butler MP, Kit de Waal, Kwame Kwei-Armah and many more. In response to the international outcry at George Floyd's death, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder have commissioned this collection of essays to discuss how and why we need to fight for Black lives to matter - not just for Black people but for society as a whole. Recognising Black British experience within the Black Lives Matter movement, 19 prominent Black figures explain why Black lives should be celebrated when too often they are undervalued. Drawing from personal experience, they stress how Black British people have unique perspectives and experiences that enrich British society and the world; how Black lives are far more interesting and important than the forces that try to limit it."
=====
Not an easy listen. But a bloody important listen. For everyone. White supremacy, systemic racism, systemic failures have to end. White people created racism. It's therefore White people who are responsible for dismantling racism and killing it once and for all. Every essay in this book is confronting. So buckle up Snowflakes. And mobilise.
=====
#LennyHenry #MarcusRyder #BlackBritishLivesMatter #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads #Audiobook #Audiobooks #BorrowBox
June 24, 2022
Thought provokign and with some memorable areas, asking why do Black People have to die in order for change to happen; why don't people believe the stories of Black People without video evidence. I didn't realise that my education (in which the British Empire, Slave Trade and US Civil Rights were all parts of history lessons) was not the common way that History is taught in schools, and that these are elective parts of the curriculum.
A lot of the essays recap similar events, the slave trade, the death of George Floyd; a lot of issues are traced back to Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome. The ways that intergenerational health, wealth and society has been shaped by the slave trade. It could have gone into some more detail about the Windrush generation as it's a touchstone that many essays mention but none of them go into much details about. Whilst the title is about how Black British Lives Matter there's a lot of coverage on USA issues "When America sneezes Britain catches a cold" which despite some essays talking about the difficulties in institutional racism in the UK it spends a lot of time on US racism.
An interesting collection of essays told from a lot of different points of view.
A lot of the essays recap similar events, the slave trade, the death of George Floyd; a lot of issues are traced back to Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome. The ways that intergenerational health, wealth and society has been shaped by the slave trade. It could have gone into some more detail about the Windrush generation as it's a touchstone that many essays mention but none of them go into much details about. Whilst the title is about how Black British Lives Matter there's a lot of coverage on USA issues "When America sneezes Britain catches a cold" which despite some essays talking about the difficulties in institutional racism in the UK it spends a lot of time on US racism.
An interesting collection of essays told from a lot of different points of view.
April 14, 2025
An essential read or listen for anyone wanting to live in an equal society. The issues are so much more complex than any headline. And micro aggressions that might look to be minor and unintentional can lead to that awful, death from a thousand cuts. This collection of essays looks at several areas of society from the individual to the structure of institutions, from family life to education to work to health to the arts. And although no individual can undo the evil of institutional racism, there are lots of ways that we can change attitudes, behaviour, habits, supporting arts and businesses and investments.
October 27, 2022
I did some quick research on the black deaths in police custody and the amount of blatant inaccuracies is frightening. If I could find proof of this with a few quick searches online surely the authors should have been able to find out the same facts.
The only reason I can think of making such a dishonest book is to create friction between black and white people.
The only reason I can think of making such a dishonest book is to create friction between black and white people.
January 1, 2023
An important collection of essays by black British individuals discussing different aspects of Black British life. Each essay was thought provoking and at times required pause for thought. I had an emotional response to the essay by Baroness Lawrence which brought tears to my eyes.
This book should be read by all regardless of race, gender or social economic background.
This book should be read by all regardless of race, gender or social economic background.
October 27, 2025
Overall a good book, with some thought provoking an informative essays. However many of the chapters seemed to cover the same statistics, events and theorists - with little differentiation based on the topic of the essay. As with most anthologies, some of the chapters were incredibly written, and some less so.
March 12, 2022
Good and informative. Obviously with a collection of essays by various contributors I preferred some to others, but overall, a good read, highlighting some issues that I had never really thought about.
March 24, 2022
Favourite essays:
1. “Historians”
2. “Mothers”
3. “Fathers”
4. “Education”
5. “Comedians”
6. “Lives”
Honourable mention for “Charities” as Derek Bardowell succinctly captured my distaste for the exclusionary, white saviour tendencies present in many major charities.
1. “Historians”
2. “Mothers”
3. “Fathers”
4. “Education”
5. “Comedians”
6. “Lives”
Honourable mention for “Charities” as Derek Bardowell succinctly captured my distaste for the exclusionary, white saviour tendencies present in many major charities.
June 29, 2022
Brilliant. Thoughtful and spanning multiple industries and professions - when Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder get together to create a book, you know it's going to be good. Must-read for people in the UK.
June 23, 2023
A must read.
Each essay analyses and helps deconstruct a different aspect of our society and how racism is everywhere, stressing the discrimination against and the value of black people in all areas of society
Each essay analyses and helps deconstruct a different aspect of our society and how racism is everywhere, stressing the discrimination against and the value of black people in all areas of society
January 7, 2024
An essential read covering a real cross-section of British society and institutions, from parenting to criminal justice, sport to education, business to history.
Each essay is very different and all very readable.
Each essay is very different and all very readable.
January 10, 2024
Format: Audiobook
A superb collection of essays from Black British people from a variety of backgrounds, all of whom contribute on the subject of different, varied topics - mental health, the place in the family and several different careers - and in doing so highlight how entirely far reaching in all aspects racism is in Britain.
A superb collection of essays from Black British people from a variety of backgrounds, all of whom contribute on the subject of different, varied topics - mental health, the place in the family and several different careers - and in doing so highlight how entirely far reaching in all aspects racism is in Britain.
June 28, 2025
Read as part of work. Emotive and challenging, but, in parts, frustrated me
June 2, 2024
Great book, all white people should read it! I really believe that this book should be on a school reading list so that everyone reads it.
December 30, 2024
This is a very insightful book backed with statistics and data on being black and British in Britain from some influential people, or those top in their industry/ different fields so valid points were made. I read this at the right time and what a good way to work towards wrapping up 2024.
December 27, 2023
I liked the different topics and the fact that they were presented by different people from their perspective. Quite a few things I'd not really thought of or been aware of. Sad in places, thinking about absent fathers, for example, and shocking in many. I'd be keen to read it again.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews