There's plenty of Black in the Union Jack

'But this time I want to open up 80 and even more importantly I would like the capital's Black communities to be greatly involved'.

I looked across the table with a resigned cynicism: so many main stream organisations want Black groups to be involved not because they are serious about genuine partnerships, but rather to 'hood wink' funders that they have an inclusive agenda.

Shock tactics usually sort out the serious from the impostors. 'The only contribution OBV can offer this project', I told Hammond forcibly, 'is to blacken the text. Black history is buried deep within these institutions, If I am to be involved I want to gloriously bring that to the surface of the String of Pearls.' To his credit Hammond never flinched. 'Fantastic. That's what I hoped you would say', was his reply.

I have always believed that if a more objective history was afforded British society, Black people would have a greater sense of belonging and white people a better understanding of the invaluable contribution Black people have made to the UK. I tell anyone who will listen: ' Much of our history is your history too'.

We chose seven institutions to begin a journey that takes us back to the future: Buckingham Palace, The Public Records Office, The Army Museum, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, City of Westminster, the Portrait Gallery and London Transport Museum.

Recent history tells us that Black people started working on the buses in during the fifties and sixties. Wrong. Although post war Britain did witness a large up-take of Caribbean workers to London Transport after officials undertook an aggressive recruitment campaign in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands, they were not the first.

London Transport records show that as early as 1908, almost when the first motorised buses were on the road, Black people were employed by London Transport. One such employee who became quite a character was Joe Clough. He drove the No. 11 bus from Liverpool Street to Wormwood Scrubs.

The records at the London Transport Museum tell us that when the First World War broke out Clough took his driving skills to the frontline to serve as an ambulance driver. Having survived the war Clough was to break new ground by setting up his own taxi company in Bradford. Joe Clough was an ordinary man from Jamaica whose contribution to the UK in both peace and wartime was invaluable. The Army Museum is another institution that like London Transport is teeming with Black history.

The loyalty, dedication and sacrifice African and Asian countries gave to Britain during wartime has to be seen to be believed.

During the First World War over one million people from the Asian sub-continent and Africa contributed to the war effort. During the Second World War that figure rose to three million.

But even before the great wars the archives at the Army Museum reveal an often hitherto hidden history. The 6th West Indian Regiment formed in Kingston, Jamaica in 1797 acquitted itself with distinction during the revolutionary wars against Napoleon. Recognising the tenacity of the 6th Regiment, the British sought to expand and export them to other war zones. Some of my favourite stories uncovered among the Sting of Pearls are to be found in the archives of the City of Westminster. I see myself as an activist, so when Raj Thind, our consultant researcher informed me of two Black activists from the 1700 and 1800s I became more than a little excited.

One of them was William Cuffay, the son of a former slave from St Kitt, West Indies - who in the 1840s became one of the leading figures in the Chartist movement - the first mass political movement. A thorn in the side of the ruling establishment, he demanded universal suffrage for all men, secret ballots and the payment of MPs.

In 1848 on the evidence of police spies Cuffay was arrested with others and charged with conspiring to burn down London buildings. Despite pleading not guilty and, citing the Magna Carta, and demanding to be tried by a jury of his working class peers he was sentenced to banishment to Tasmania for the rest of his life. Although given a pardon he refused to return to Britain, involving himself with the politics of the region.

Of the seven institutions explored the one that linked them all together was the Public Record Office (PRO). Without a doubt the PRO is a jewel among treasures. One needs to be a little tenacious and/or a bit of a swot. But if you are prepared to explore the archives of the PRO, you may not only find your own personal history, but also uncover historical gems that would inform and inspire Black pride.

With archives that date back to the 11th Century Central Government records, policy papers, commerce accounts and land deals are just some of the areas that are covered. How might they relate to Black history? Well, the commerce documentation for the Empire Windrush detail every one of the 492 Jamaican trailblazers along with their professions and much more.

Our involvement in this project has been to unveil and open a Pandora's box of historical possibilities; some tragic, some fantastic, some amusing. All of them British, all of them Black. The Black in the Union Jack therefore helps us understand our past, present and future. Having opened the box it is now for you to explore it, and unless it's very personal let me know what you find. It all becomes part of British history that just happens to be Black.

For more details see

String of Pearls - www.stringofpearls.org.uk