Biographer Delia Jarrett-Macauley stumbled across Marson's name while doing research for another book. The book has been well-received throughout Britain. Copies have sold out during every one of Jarrett-Macauley's book-signings and scheduled talks. "I saw this clipping that said, `Una Marson, the well-known BBC producer is now on holiday in Jamaica.' And I said: `What! You mean we had a black woman producer at the BBC as early as 1945 and we don't know about it.' I decided her story must be known," she said. Marson joined the BBC in 1936 and made an immediate impact, rising rapidly through the ranks. In 1942 she became the West Indies producer and created the Caribbean Voices programme, which won exposure and respectability for Caribbean writers and poets.
"Nothing can bring back those days," Mrs [Letitia Rose] declared. "Everything has changed. Nowadays, I don't bother to do a lot of shopping because it is not as enjoyable." "The party was usually held in a big park," she recalled. "There would be lots of food and music playing until late into the night. While the big people danced we used to have our little secret boyfriends and a group of us would to go off and play hide and seek. "As children in Jamaica, we used to organise parties and collect gifts for needy children in the community," said [Iris Gordon], who helped set up the Jamaica Heart Foundation. "Making children happy is what I enjoy most about this time of the year."
Occasionally, a rare talent emerges, such as Lauryn Hill or Maxwell, whereas previously the talent came in hordes. Look at the way Lauryn Hill has gone back to Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder for inspiration and technique. She's still a rap artist but here is a woman who has learnt her trade. It's a question of feeling basically unsafe around a generation that has no respect for its elders.
Culture is a powerful tool for inspiring human beings and bringing them together in a concerted `family' action, says Prof [Marimba Ani], adding: "Our cultural roots are the most ancient in the world." This is very true and it is accepted that Egyptian science and technology laid the foundations for the development of Europe. It is also true that the finance to fund this development came from the proceeds of the barbaric slave trade. Black history is rich and diverse and knowledge of African achievements in education, politics, art, agriculture, medicine, science, religion, metallurgy, engineering, music and sports can help to boost our self-confidence no end. Records refer to the small population of `Negras' in Elizabethan London and even stretch back to the Roman Empire's occupation of Britain, when Africans were marooned at Hadrian's Wall in the third century AD. In the mid-'50s the Transport and General Workers' Union, now headed by Jamaican-born Bill Morris, insisted that no more than 52 of Wolverhampton's 900 bus workers should be black. This kind of colour bar was prevalent in many city transport companies from West Bromwich to Bristol.