Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow (15 April 1929 – 9 April 2020)"Tributes pour in to Dame Jocelyn Barrow, a ‘true champion of racial equality’"
'' The Voice'', 11 April 2020. was a British educator, community activist and politician, who was the Director for UK Development at Focus Consultancy Ltd. She was the first black woman to be a governor of the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC) and was founder and Deputy Chair of the

Broadcasting Standards Council Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

Early life and career

Jocelyn Barrow, daughter of

Barbadian Barbadian may refer to: * anything related to Barbados * Barbadians, people from Barbados or of Barbadian descent ** Afro-Barbadians ** Barbadian Americans ** Barbadian Brazilians ** Barbadian British ** Barbadian Canadians ** White Barbadian * C ...

father Charles Newton Barrow and Olive Irene (''nee'' Pierre),Elizabeth Sleeman (ed.)
"BARROW, Dame Jocelyn (Anita), DBE, FRSA"
in ''The International Who's Who of Women 2002'', Psychology Press, 2001, p. 43. was born in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

(her mother's native land), where she was active politically as a member of the

People's National Movement The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active Politics of Trinidad and Tobago, political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's hist ...

. She undertook training to become a teacher, and in 1959 travelled to Britain for postgraduate studies, attending the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

,Angela Cobbinah
"‘Life is a two-way street’"
''Camden New Journal'', 24 October 2019."Dame Jocelyn Barrow , HonLLD"
Honorary Graduates, University of Greenwich. where she read English."Boards and senior staff at 1 November 1988"
''Annual Report & Accounts 1987–88'', BBC. Barrow was a founding member, general secretary and later vice-chair of

Campaign Against Racial Discrimination The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) was a British organization, founded in 1964 and which lasted until 1967, that lobbied for race relations legislation. The group's formation was inspired by a visit by Martin Luther King Jr. to Lond ...

(CARD) – the organisation that between 1964 and 1967 lobbied for race relations legislation and was responsible for the Race Relations Act of 1968. Barrow said in a 2019 interview: "Card was a very effective organisation though it wasn’t as grassroots as I would have liked it to have been. It was led by people like me, Lord avidPitt and Anthony Lester, a QC. The people at the bottom were too busy trying to survive though some did join." Barrow was also a leading member of the North London West Indian Association (NLWIA), set up in 1965 as a major component of the West Indian Standing Conference, which had been founded in 1958 after the Notting Hill riots to speak out on behalf of West Indians; among other activities, the NWLIA responded to prejudice against black children in the state education system, which was exposed in a leaked report. In 1968, she was appointed vice-chair of the International Human Rights Year Committee, and from 1968 to 1972 was a member of the

Community Relations Commission The Race Relations Act 1968 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom making it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to a person on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origins in Great Britain (although n ...

. Barrow also held the post of vice-president of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds. As a senior teacher, and later as a teacher-trainer, at Furzedown Teachers College and at the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

in the 1960s, she pioneered the introduction of multi-cultural education, stressing the needs of the various ethnic groups in the UK. She was a member of the Taylor Committee of School Governors. In 1984, she co-founded Arawidi Publications, a children's publishing house, with Yvonne Collymore. Named after a Caribbean sun-deity, Arawidi published children's books in a variety of language forms including West Indian dialects and Glaswegian. Between 1981 and 1988, Barrow served as a governor of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, the first black woman to have been appointed to the board of the corporation, which in 2001 was controversially described by its then director-general

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing " t ...

as still "hideously white". Barrow was also founder and deputy chair (1989–95) of the Broadcasting Standards Council, forerunner of

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

. She was chair of the 2005 Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage (MCAAH), set up by then

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...

, that produced the report ''Delivering Shared Heritage'', about which she said: "Our findings and resulting recommendations, far from being of interest only to African and Asian communities, set out a code of values for delivering inclusive and healthy heritage management practice for everyone." She was instrumental in the establishment of the North Atlantic Slavery Gallery and the

Merseyside Maritime Museum The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater M ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. She was a Trustee of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and a Governor of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, as well as the first patron of the

Black Cultural Archives Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is an archive and heritage centre in Brixton, London, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Also known as BCA, it was founded in 1981, by educationalist and historian Len G ...

(BCA). Acknowledging the key influence she had in the founding of BCA, their tribute to her stated: "Also known as the African People's Historical Monument Foundation, Dame Jocelyn recognised the need for a national monument like BCA to educate future generations."

Personal life

Jocelyn Barrow was married in 1970 to barrister Henderson (Hendy) Downer (d. January 2023) of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

and the Jamaican Bar, and they lived in Long Yard,

Lamb's Conduit Street Lamb's Conduit Street is a street in Holborn in the West End of London, West End of London. The street takes its name from ''Lambs Conduit'', originally known as the ''Holborn Conduit'', a dam across a tributary of the River Fleet. Lamb's Cond ...

. She died aged 90 on 9 April 2020, having been admitted to

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...

Honours and legacy

In 1972, Barrow was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for work in the field of education and community relations. In 1992, her work in broadcasting and her contribution to the work of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

as the UK member of the

Economic and Social Committee The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of representatives from employers' associations, workers' unions (trade unions) and c ...

was recognised by her being appointed DBE, the first black woman thus to be honoured as a "Dame". She was voted one of the "

100 Great Black Britons ''100 Great Black Britons'' is a poll that was first undertaken in 2003 to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in a campaign initiated by Patrick Vernon in response to a BBC search for ''100 Greatest Brito ...

" in the campaign launched by Every Generation Media in 2003, and in the 2020 relaunched list and accompanying book. She received honorary doctorates from the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along wi ...

in 1993 and from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

in 2007. She was listed in June 2023 as one of the

Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa. ...

who struggled for civil rights in the UK.

Other affiliations

* Governor of the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

(for eight years) * Council Member of

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

* Vice-president of the

United Nations Association A United Nations Association (UNA) is a non-governmental organization that exists in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of member states and the United Nations to raise public awareness of the UN and its work, to promo ...

in the UK * National vice-president of the

Townswomen's Guild Members representing their Federation at the 2009 AGM in Birmingham The Townswomen's Guild (TG) is a British women's organisation. There are approximately 30,000 members, 706 branches and 77 Federations throughout England, Scotland, Wales and N ...

* Patron of the

References

External links

Jocelyn Barrow's biodata

Notice of Barrow's damehood in ''London Gazette''

Interview in 2018
with

Patrick Vernon Patrick Philip Vernon (born 1961)"Patrick Vernon"
, Sankofa 2013: Teachers' R ...

"Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow"
by Sal Idriss,

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

"Jocelyn Barrow"
''Drawn Out Thinking'', 24 October 2017. * Debbie Jacob
"Tributes pour in for champion of equality"
''

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday ''Trinidad and Tobago Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago. ''Newsday'' is the newest of the three daily papers after the ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian'' and the '' Trinidad and Tobago Express'' respectively. The newspaper was f ...

'', 13 April 2020.
"BTWSC 2015 Dame Jocelyn Appreciation Presentation".
* Kwaku
"Dame Jocelyn Barrow: More Needs To Be Done On Her Lifetime Work On Racial And Multi-Cultural Awareness"
''Black History 365'', 17 April 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrow, Jocelyn 1929 births 2020 deaths Alumni of the University of London BBC Board members Black British schoolteachers Black British women politicians British community activists British educators British ethnologists British people of Barbadian descent Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Schoolteachers from London Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United Kingdom Trinidad and Tobago people of Barbadian descent Governors of the British Film Institute