Issue 95 / Dec18/Jan19

Words and Illustrations: Varaidzo / varaidzo.com
BLACK
HISTORY
FOREVER
LILIAN BADER
Lilian was born in Liverpool to an Irish mother in 1918. Her
father Marcus was from Barbados and had served in the British
Merchant Navy during WWI. By the age of eight, both of her
parents had passed away and she was raised in a convent where
she was the only mixed-race girl. When WWII broke out, she
was adamant she’d join the British armed forces and joined an
organisation at Catterick Camp in Yorkshire, but after finding out
her father was black they asked her to leave, allegedly because
officials were regarding anyone foreign looking as suspicious.
On the radio, she’d heard an interview with some West Indian
men who had wanted to do their bit for the armed forces but had
been rejected by the army and so joined the air forces instead.
Hearing this, Lilian joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
which was two years before black women in the Caribbean
were permitted to join. She was the first black woman to do so.
Eventually she was promoted to acting corporal and married
a tank driver of English and Sierra Leone heritage. In 2018,
The Voice newspaper listed her as an influential black woman
who changed Britain. What I find interesting about Lilian’s life
is it shows the wildly hypocritical U-turn that British forces
did in both WWI and WWII when it came to accepting black/
Caribbean men and women to serve, and seeing them as part
of the British nation. Honestly, personally I would not have
bothered getting involved if they ain’t want me like that, but
shout outs you, Lilian.
IRA ALDRIDGE
Ira Aldridge was born in New York and educated at the African
Free School, an institution established by abolitionists specifically
for the children of free or enslaved black people. In 1821, six
years before the abolition of slavery in NYC, the African Grove
Theatre was founded by William Alexander Brown, a free black
man from the Caribbean (who had come to New York after
working in Liverpool on a ship for many years). The casts and
audiences were mostly black, and the African Company – the
theatre company that operated out of the African Grove – was
where Ira got his start in acting. However, the theatre failed
because of constant complaints about ‘boisterous’ behaviour,
and making a living as a black actor in racist America was a
struggle. So, Ira moved to Liverpool himself in 1824 with another
actor, and married an English woman that same year. The couple
moved to London and Ira began touring across the country
performing on stage, and eventually became the first African-
American to establish himself as an actor in another country.
The role he is most famous for is playing Shakespeare’s Othello,
and he is one just 33 actors to have a bronze plaque at the
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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