Join Stephen Bourne for the inaugural Dove Foundation Annual Lecture on overlooked Black British lives and why historical role models matter

Join The Dove Foundation for Global Change for its inaugural Annual Lecture with Stephen Bourne, a historian and author whose work explores the overlooked histories of Britons.

His books have explored figures including Alan Turing, Noël Coward and Ivor Novello, and pioneers such as Evelyn Dove, Elisabeth Welch and Adelaide Hall. Bringing together archival research, personal testimony and community history, Bourne has helped bring neglected lives and contributions to wider public attention. His new book, Thursday’s Child, turns to his own story and the experiences behind this work. Drawing on his research, Bourne will explore lives that reveal the breadth of Black British experience.

This Black History Month, the lecture will explore Black British history beyond suffering and recognise people whose achievements deserve a lasting place in our shared memory.

Black British history is too often presented primarily through slavery, empire and racial injustice. These are essential parts of the past, but they do not tell the whole story. Black Britons also held audiences, built careers, served their communities and shaped public life. Many of their achievements remain unfamiliar, leaving generations without the opportunity to discover people who could inspire them.

The lecture will also explore the work behind recovering these histories: finding people in archives, listening to personal testimony and recognising the value of experiences that conventional accounts have overlooked. Why do some lives become part of our shared memory while others remain at its margins? What do we lose when people are remembered only through the discrimination they faced? And what changes when young people can find role models in the history they learn?

About the Annual Lecture series

The Dove Foundation Annual Lecture is being established to bring overlooked histories and perspectives to a wider audience. The series will examine whose voices shape our understanding of the past and recognise people whose contributions deserve a lasting place in public memory.

This forms part of the Foundation’s commitment to advancing equity. Alongside changes to policy and practice, we must consider the ideas and assumptions that influence whose knowledge is valued, whose leadership is recognised and who is seen as capable of creating change.

What to expect

The evening will feature a lecture by Stephen Bourne, followed by questions from the audience and a book signing.

Location and directions

The lecture will take place at 20 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0RN, home to the Royal College of Nursing, just behind John Lewis on Oxford Street.

The venue is a short walk from Oxford Circus (Central, Bakerloo and Victoria lines) and Bond Street (Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines).

The lecture is open to all.

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Website - https://www.dovefoundationglobalchange.org

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Description supplied by the event organiser.