OBV Graduate: History Making

Pamela Roberts is a name to remember. I met her many years ago when I interviewed her for OBV’s Magistrates Shadowing Scheme. Not only did she successfully become a Magistrate, but she has also now served on the Bench for 15 years and is the Presiding Justice. That is a huge achievement. However, Pamela hasn’t stopped there.

Pamela is an award-winning historian and illuminates the contributions made by Oxford University’s Black Scholars. To most, the phrase, ‘Oxford University’s Black Scholars’ appears as a juxtaposition. It shouldn’t, but it does.

Pamela is determined that this wrongful perception is replaced by an indelible imprint of the numerous contributions of Black changemakers. That these compelling, yet untold stories are acknowledged and celebrated. In her latest book, ‘The Adventures of a Black Edwardian Intellectual: The Story of James Arthur Harley’, Pamela’s outstanding research, reveals Harley as a polymath with expertise as a scholar, reverend and politician.

Pamela Roberts writes about History Makers and in so doing, she has become one herself.

Francine Fernandes
Former OBV Deputy Director