Mixed Race Studies

Census 2011: Leicester ‘most ethnically diverse’ in region

BBC News
2012-12-11

Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in the UK and the largest in the East Midlands, the latest census shows.

Information from the 2011 survey shows there are 329,000 people living in the city, 24,000 more than in Nottingham, while 250,000 live in Derby. [See Leicester details here.]

Half of Leicester’s population describe themselves as white British, compared with 80% nationally and 63.9% in 2001.

Deputy Mayor of Leicester Rory Palmer said they viewed its diversity as a major strength.

The details emerged in the latest round of information released from the 2011 census taken in March.
 
Leicester was widely tipped to be the first city with a minority white population but just missed out on the landmark with 50.6% describing themselves as white.

But it does have one of the lowest rates of residents who identify themselves as white British, at 45%, and the highest proportion of British Indians, at 28.3%…

Mr. Palmer, deputy city mayor, said: “What it means is that we have a very diverse population and we view this as a great strength and something the city can be very proud of.

“We saw the Queen and the royal family kick off their Diamond Jubilee in March this year here in Leicester, probably because Leicester is a very real reflection of modern, vibrant, multi-cultural Britain.”

While Nottingham’s population remains smaller than Leicester’s at 305,680 – 38,692 more than in 2001 – it does have a higher than average mixed race community.

About 6% are mixed ethnicity, with 4% white and black Caribbean…

Read the entire article here.

Canada’s Métis win 142-year-old land ruling

BBC News
2013-03-08

Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled the government failed to hand out land grants properly to the Métis indigenous group 142 years ago.

In a 6-2 ruling, the top court said the failure was “not a matter of occasional negligence, but of repeated mistakes and inaction”.

The Métis are descendants of indigenous people and European immigrants.

The land was promised in a 1870 law, to settle a rebellion of existing Métis amid a wave of settlement in Manitoba.

After delays, it was eventually distributed via a lottery that largely benefited European settlers.

The Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF), which brought the suit, celebrated the end of three decades of legal challenges over the land-grant provision…

Read the entire article here.

Inauguration Day: Obama sworn in for second term

BBC News
2013-01-20

Barack Obama has officially been sworn in for his second term as US president in a small ceremony at the White House.

Although the US Constitution requires the oath of office to be taken by noon on 20 January, that falls on a Sunday so the public inauguration will take place on Monday.

Mr Obama took his official oath in the White House’s Blue Room.

The public ceremony with pomp and circumstance will follow on Monday.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to Mr Obama, witnessed by First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia as well as some family members and reporters.

Resting his hand on a bible used for many years by his wife’s family, Mr Obama vowed “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

He will repeat those words during Monday’s public inauguration, in which he will set out his plans for the next four years.

Vice-President Joe Biden was sworn in for a second term at a small ceremony at his official residence earlier on Sunday morning…

…In 2009, nearly two million people crammed into Washington to witness President Obama’s first inauguration.

Four years on, the mood is unlikely to match that excitement, says our correspondent.

But, he adds, the second inauguration of America’s first black president is a moment many will not want to miss….

Read the entire article here.

President Barack Obama defeats Romney to win re-election

BBC News
2012-11-07

President Barack Obama has been re-elected to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

America’s first black president secured more than the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win.

In his victory speech before supporters in Chicago, Mr Obama said he would talk to Mr Romney about “where we can work together to move this country forward”.

Mr Obama prevailed despite lingering dissatisfaction with the economy and a hard-fought challenge by Mr Romney…

Read the entire article here.

Britain’s first black community in Elizabethan London

BBC News Magazine
2012-07-19

Michael Wood

The black trumpeter John Blanke played regularly at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII

The reign of Elizabeth I saw the beginning of Britain’s first black community. It’s a fascinating story for modern Britons, writes historian Michael Wood.

Walk out of Aldgate Tube and stroll around Whitechapel Road in east London today, and you’ll experience the heady sights, smells and sounds of the temples, mosques and curry houses of Brick Lane—so typical of modern multicultural Britain.

Most of us tend to think that black people came to Britain after the war—Caribbeans on the Empire Windrush in 1948, Bangladeshis after the 1971 war and Ugandan Asians after Idi Amin’s expulsion in 1972.

But, back in Shakespeare’s day, you could have met people from west Africa and even Bengal in the same London streets.

Of course, there were fewer, and they drew antipathy as well as fascination from the Tudor inhabitants, who had never seen black people before. But we know they lived, worked and intermarried, so it is fair to say that Britain’s first black community starts here.

There had been black people in Britain in Roman times, and they are found as musicians in the early Tudor period in England and Scotland.

But the real change came in Elizabeth I’s reign, when, through the records, we can pick up ordinary, working, black people, especially in London…

Read the entire article here.

Barbosa made Brazil’s first black Supreme Court leader

BBC News
2012-10-10

The judge overseeing a major corruption trial in Brazil has been appointed president of the Supreme Court, the first black person to hold the post.

Judge Joaquim Barbosa, who was born into a poor family, has been praised for his judicial independence.

He will take over the post once the “Mensalao” corruption trial ends.

Brazil has the largest black population after Nigeria, many of them descendants of African slaves, but black people rarely achieve high office.

Judge Barbosa, who is 58, has been appointed by other judges, following the Court’s tradition of nominating its most senior member…

…In 2003, he became a household name in Brazil when he was appointed by then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the Supreme Court.

Two mixed-race judges had previously been members of the court, but Mr Barbosa said he was the first one who could be “widely recognised as a black man”.

“This act has great significance, as it indicates to society the end of certain visible and invisible barriers,” he said at the time…

Read the entire article here.

Cuban surrealist Wifredo Lam fetches record price

BBC News
2012-05-24

A painting by Cuban surrealist artist Wifredo Lam fetched a record personal price at a Latin American art sale at auctioneers Sotheby’s in New York.

An unnamed South American collector paid $4.5m (£2.9m) for Lam’s 1944 Idol (Oya/Divinite de l’Air et de la mort), well above the $2m-3m guide price…

…But Diego Rivera’s 1939 painting Girl in Blue and White, considered the main attraction, remained unsold.

The work by the Mexican artist had been expected to sell at a price between $4m and $6m.

In contrast, Lam’s piece, which had been in private hands since 1947, sold for more than double the previous top price for his paintings.

An Afro-Cuban, Lam died in 1982 and was heavily influenced both by surrealism and by santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yorùbá and Roman Catholic beliefs…

Read the entire article here.

Plaque honour for ‘first black star’ Elisabeth Welch

BBC News
2012-02-27

The singer Elisabeth Welch is to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque in south-west London.

She is the second black woman to be honoured with a blue plaque in London.

It will be unveiled in Ovington Court, Kensington, which was her home during the 1930s when she rose to fame on the cabaret circuit.

The performer died aged 99 in 2003 and has been described as “Britain’s first black star”.

Paul Reid, Director of Black Cultural Archives said it was “an important moment for black heritage”.

Welch was born in New York in 1904, but lived in London for 70 years…

…The first black woman to be honoured with a plaque was the nurse Mary Seacole in 2005…

Read the entire article here.

Black people ‘least satisfied of UK population’

BBC News
2012-02-28

Black and mixed-ethnic Britons are less satisfied with their lives on average than the UK population as a whole, a survey suggests.

Some 80,000 people across the UK, polled by the Office for National Statistics, produced an average life satisfaction rating of 7.4 out of 10.

But black Britons averaged 6.6, while mixed-ethnic Britons scored 6.9.

The survey, in April to September 2011, was part of the ONS’s ongoing Measuring National Well-being Programme.

The average rating for life satisfaction was also lower than the national figure for those of Pakistani origin – 7 out of 10 – and Bangladeshis – 7.1.

The four questions posed by the survey also included one seeking ratings for people’s overall happiness, with answers nationwide producing an average of 7.3 out of 10.

Again, black Britons reported the lowest level of happiness – 6.9 on average – followed by mixed-ethnic and Pakistani respondents, with both of those groups averaging 7 out of 10…

Read the entire article here.

Dominican Republic Country Profile

BBC News
2011-12-06

Once ruled by Spain, the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a former French colony.

OVERVIEW…

…The Dominican Republic is inhabited mostly by people of mixed European and African origins. Western influence is seen in the colonial buildings of the capital, Santo Domingo, as well as in art and literature. African heritage is reflected in music. The two heritages blend in the popular song and dance, the merengue.

No blending of fortunes, however, is evident in the distribution of wealth between ethnic groups.

The Dominican Republic is one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor, with the richest being the white descendants of Spanish settlers, who own most of the land, and the poorest comprising people of African descent. The mixed race majority controls much of the commerce. …

Read the entire profile here.