Barbara Blake Hannah

Barbara Blake-Hannah is a Jamaican journalist, festival organiser and cultural consultant. She was the first black news presenter on British television, in 1968 as an on-camera reporter and interviewer on Thames Television's evening news program Today.[1]

Television and journalism career

In Jamaica, Blake had read news bulletins and written for a monthly news magazine managed by her father, Evon Blake. She arrived in Britain in 1964 to work as an extra on the film A High Wind in Jamaica (1965). In the next few years she wrote for The Sunday Times, Queen and Cosmopolitan.[2] Hannah was appointed in 1968 as a reporter on Thames Television's Today, then presented by Eamonn Andrews. In the role, she interviewed prime minister Harold Wilson and actor Michael Caine.[1] After nine months she was dismissed without formal explanation, although her producer said the company was under pressure from a negative response from viewers for them having a black woman on television.[2] Blake Hannah then worked for the local news programme broadcast by ATV in Birmingham. She was unable to find a hotel which would allow her to stay, and had to commute from London each day until she found a room at the YWCA. She was deliberately kept away from the studio on a day when Enoch Powell was being interviewed. Following this, she worked as researcher on the BBC's documentary series Man Alive.[1]

Later life

Chris Blackwell and Perry Henzell offered her a job in 1972 as public relations officer The Harder They Come, the first Jamaican feature film. She returned home to Jamaica permanently.[1]

She has written five books, including one in 1982 about the Rastafarian religion, which she is an adherent of. Blake-Hannah's memoir Growing Out: Black Hair and Black Pride in the Swinging Sixties charts her life and career in Britain.

In April 2020, Blake Hannah gave an interview to Bryan Knight's Tell A Friend podcast, where she candidly spoke about her experience working in Britain. She spoke of the racism prevalent at the time and her journey to black consciousness.[3]

The British media periodical Press Gazette launched the Barbara Blake-Hannah prize in 2020 to recognise emerging talented journalists from minority backgrounds.[4]

References
  1. Blake Hannah, Barbara. "It wasn't Trevor or Moira - I was the first black British TV presenter". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  2. Johnson-Obeng, Bree (31 October 2019). "Barbara Blake Hannah - the first black female journalist on UK TV". Sky News. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  3. Knight, Bryan. "Living Legend (feat. Barbara Blake Hannah)". YouTube.
  4. "Barbara Blake-Hannah prize launched as Press Gazette bids to improve British Journalism Awards diversity". Press Gazette. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
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