20 Facts About Peter Blackman

Peter Blackman was a Caribbean communist, scholar, civil rights activist, and Christian missionary.

Peter Blackman was a key member of the Negro Welfare Association and the League of Coloured Peoples, and an active member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Peter Blackman worked as a radio broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Company during the Second World War for their Caribbean services; however, in 1950 he was fired from his job for having communist beliefs.

Peter Blackman was born in Saint John, Barbados, in 1909, his mother was a laundress and his father was a stonemason, all of whom lived in one of the poorest parts of Barbados.

Peter Blackman later attended Durham University where he obtained a degree in divinity.

Peter Blackman became an Anglican in 1933, and was sent as a missionary to the country of Gambia in 1935.

Peter Blackman attempted to fight this racist rule, though he did not succeed in overturning it.

In 1937, Peter Blackman moved back to Britain and chose to live in London, where he threw himself into African-related political issues.

Peter Blackman became the editor of The Keys, the journal of the League of Coloured Peoples.

Peter Blackman joined the communist-led Negro Welfare Association and the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Peter Blackman spent much of his time at the CPGB headquarters on King Street, London, and was asked to work on the party's Colonial Information Bulletin.

Peter Blackman continued to work on BBC radio broadcast services until 1950, when he was fired for his political beliefs.

Peter Blackman gained fame within the NUR for helping workers with learning difficulties write letters.

Peter Blackman continued to work as an active member of the CPGB throughout the 1940s and 1950s; however, at an unknown date during the 1960s, he left the party, due to feelings that his talents were not being fully utilised.

Blackman accompanied Robeson on his travels across Europe, and the two attended the World Peace Congress in Paris, France, where Blackman met American black civil rights leader, W E B Du Bois.

Peter Blackman wrote the long poem My Song Is For All, during these travels across Europe, after being inspired by his visit to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In homage to fellow communist and civil rights leader Claudia Jones, Peter Blackman wrote "In Memory of Claudia Jones", and in a tribute to the Soviet Red Army wrote "Stalingrad".

In 1979, Peter Blackman read his poem "Stalingrad" to an enthusiastic audience that included Jack Dash, a famous communist trade unionist and leader of many British dock workers.

Peter Blackman's recording of "Stalingrad" was the B-side of Wyatt's 1981 single "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'", a cover of a Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet song that was originally released in the 1940s during World War II.

In 1994, a conference was held in honour of Peter Blackman, attended by teachers, local historians, activists and students.