Patrick Philip Vernon [ "Queen's birthday Honours list in full", The Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2012.] (born 1961)[ "Patrick Vernon" , Sankofa 2013: Teachers' Resource Pack, p. 41.] is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector. He is a former Labour councillor in the London Borough of Hackney. His career has been involved with developing and managing health and social care services, including mental health, public health, regeneration and employment projects. Also a film maker and amateur cultural historian, he runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign.[ "Every Generation Media Timeline".] He is also an expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK.
Vernon led a successful campaign for 22 June to be recognized annually as Windrush Day, a national day acknowledging the migrant contribution to UK society,[Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, "Annual day of celebrations for the Windrush Generation" (Press release), UK Government, 18 June 2018.]
In 2019, he was appointed associate director of Communities at the Centre for Ageing Better,
Biography
Education and early years
Patrick Vernon was born in
Wolverhampton,
Staffordshire (now in the West Midlands), England, to Norris and Avis Vernon,
[ "Patrick Vernon" , Black History & Heritage Wolverhampton.] who had migrated to the UK from
Jamaica in the 1950s.
Vernon traced his lineage as far back as the 1800s,
to a village in
Senegal called Kédougou.
He grew up in the All Saints and Penn Fields areas of Wolverhampton,
He later undertook postgraduate studies at Warwick University.[ "5 Minute Interview – Patrick Vernon – Chief Executive, The Afiya Trust", ReConnect Africa.] He moved to London in 1989.
Health and social care work
Vernon initially worked in health and social care, where he was a manager for Citizens Advice Bureau and a civil servant at the Department of Health and Local Government Association. He later served as director of the Brent Health Action Zone (Brent Primary Care Trust), and Regional Director for charity MIND. He later worked in the third sector for a number of organisations focussing on the mental health of refugees, immigrants and prisoners.
[ Patrick Vernon profile at The Guardian.]
He was associate member for the Department of History of Medicine at Warwick University,[ "Exposed: The Truth About Policing", The Voice, 25 May 2013.]
Every Generation Media and family history work
In 2002, Vernon founded Every Generation Media
to develop education programmes, publications and films on cultural heritage and family history,
[ "Patrick Vernon OBE", Specialist Speakers.] with the Every Generation website becoming one of the main sites on family history for African and Caribbean communities in Britain.
In 2003, he launched the successful "100 Great Black Britons" campaign, in response to a television series broadcast by the BBC called
100 Greatest Britons (a list topped by Winston Churchill through public nomination), in order "to raise the profile of the Black contribution to Britain and to challenge the notion of Britishness."
[ "100 Great Black Britons Campaign" , Every Generation Media.]
The campaign received wide coverage in the national print and television media, with Mary Seacole eventually announced as having been voted the greatest Black Briton.
Windrush Day and community activism
Vernon was among the first to call for the national celebration of "
Windrush Day" on 22 June, to recognise the migrant contribution to UK society, marking the day in 1948 when the
Empire Windrush docked at
Tilbury, bringing the first big group of post-war migrants from the West Indies to Britain.
He was appointed an OBE in 2012, in recognition of his work to promote health equality for Black and minority ethnic communities.
In 2017, Vernon was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society (RHS)
In May 2018, following his earlier campaign for Windrush Day and his 2013 petition to the British government, Vernon relaunched a petition asking the Prime Minister to recognise 22 June as a national day to commemorate and celebrate migration and migrant communities in Britain.[ "Former Hackney councillor renews call for national Windrush Day", Hackney Citizen, 21 May 2018.]
In April 2020, after his sister's partner died from the COVID-19 virus, Vernon set up a fundraising initiative called "The Majonzi Fund" which will provide families from Black & Minority ethnicities with access to small financial grants that can be used to access bereavement counselling and organise memorial events and tributes after the social lockdown has been lifted.
Vernon featured on the August 2020 cover of British Vogue as one of 20 activists "ready to change the world".
Vernon played a pivotal role in obtaining a Blue Plaque in memory of British immigrant rights activist Paulette Wilson, a member of the Windrush Generation.
Political career
Vernon served for eight years as a Labour councillor for the Queensbridge ward in the London Borough of Hackney, stepping down in May 2014, when the ward was abolished.
[ "Councillor Patrick Vernon OBE", Hackney Council.] He was appointed as chair of the Labour Party's Race Equality Advisory Group in December 2015.
[ "Patrick Vernon OBE appointed as Chair of Labour Party's Race Equality Advisory Group", Race on the Agenda (ROTA), 14 December 2015.]
Controversy
In 2015, Vernon was caught up in controversy after he asserted that the design of the flag of the Black Country, which features a chain motif, was offensive and insensitive.
Vernon has claimed that this led to him being "dragged into an online hate campaign after saying that the flag's chain motif represents an image of an industry which profited from the transatlantic slave trade."
[Brady, Poppy (17 July 2015), "'Slave Flag' Row Historian Gets Invite To Black Country", The Voice. .]
Cultural contributions
As a film-maker, Vernon's work includes directing and producing
A Charmed Life, a documentary about the Caribbean contribution in the UK during World War II, focusing on Jamaican ex-serviceman Eddie Martin Noble.
[ "Eddie Noble: A Charmed Life (2009)", IMDb.][ "A Charmed Life (2008)", BFI, Film Forever.][ "About", A Charmed Life website.]
Among the outlets for which Vernon writes are The Guardian, The Voice,[ Patrick Vernon page at Media Diversified.] In 2017, the 30th anniversary of Black History Month in Britain, he was appointed as guest editor for Black History Month Magazine.[ "Black History Month 2017 | As Black History Month celebrates its 30th Anniversary", Black History Month 365.]
As MC Patrick Vernon, he presents Museum of Grooves, a podcast that explores Afrofuturism.[ "Revolution 600 Revisited: Imaginary Futures Revolutionary Pasts", The List.]
Publications
Books
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With Angelina Osborne, 100 Great Black Britons, Robinson Press. 2020; .
-
Editor, with Yansie Rolston, Black Grief and Healing: Why We Need to Talk About Health, Inequality, Trauma and Loss, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, September 2024, .
[ "Black Grief and Healing", Jessica Kingsley Publishers.]
Selected articles
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"Charmed life", The Guardian, 4 November 2009.
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"Windrush Day: a fitting way to celebrate our immigrant population", The Guardian, 25 January 2010.
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"Put race equality in mental health back on the agenda", The Guardian, 1 March 2011.
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How I Tried To Trace My Roots Back To Africa, The Gleaner (Jamaica), 18 May 2011.
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"Why we must tackle racial inequality in mental health services", The Guardian, 18 January 2012.
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"Pieces Of The Past?", The Voice, 26 June 2012.
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"The problem of Black ephemera", Operation Black Vote (OBV), 29 June 2012.
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"Obama Puts Black Britain In The ‘Yes We Can’ Mood" , The Voice, 28 January 2013.
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"Windrush Day: Time For A Public Holiday To Celebrate", The Voice, 22 June 2013.
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"Origins Of Black History Month In Britain", The Voice, 10 October 2013.
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"Remembrance Sunday: Don't Forget Our West Indian Heroes", The Voice, 10 November 2013.
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"How Nelson Mandela Inspired Black Britain", The Voice, 9 December 2013.
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"What 12 Years a Slave tells us about 21st century black mental health", The Guardian, 5 February 2014.
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"As Caribbean nations call for compensation, it's time for Britain to examine its own history in the slave trade", The Independent, 12 March 2014.
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"The Price Tag on Slavery is Beyond Pounds and Dollars", Media Diversified, 28 March 2014.
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"The Words 'Lest We Forget' Are Not Always Enough", The Voice, 15 March 2015.
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"Protecting The Legacy Of The Windrush Generation", The Voice, 17 June 2015.
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"Where are all the Black historians?", Media Diversified, 30 March 2016.
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"Rubbishing Mary Seacole is another move to hide the contributions of black people", The Guardian, 21 June 2016.
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"Black History Month: A Time To Celebrate", The Voice, 8 October 2016.
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"We hoped to see more black lives on our screens. Our hopes were dashed", The Guardian, 18 November 2016.
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"Is 2017 The Year Of Action For Black Britons?", The Voice, 7 January 2017.
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"The Windrush shaped Britain. Why not recognise that?", The Guardian, 9 May 2018.
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"Scandals Like Windrush Show Why Black History Month Must Be Celebrated", HuffPost (UK), 5 October 2018.
Selected awards and recognition
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2003: CRE Race in the Media Awards for New Media
-
2003: Buckingham Palace recognition as "Pioneer of the Nation" for Cultural History
[ "Patrick Vernon OBE", Cultural Compounds.]
-
2004: Windrush Awards winners for Internet and Technology and Community Champion
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2005: National Ethnic Minority Social Enterprise Award
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2006: CRE Race in the Media Awards runner-up in New Media
-
2007: Clore Leadership Fellow
[ "Clore Fellows", The Clore Leadership Programme.]
-
2009: a community space in the Chalkhill Health and Community Centre, near Wembley Stadium, was named "Vernon Hall" in 2010, in recognition of his work locally as a former senior NHS manager in Brent.
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2012: awarded OBE in Queen's Birthday Honours for services to the reduction of health inequalities in ethnic minorities
-
2013: Visiting Fellow, Centre for History of Medicine, Warwick University
-
2014: Health Service Journal, BME Pioneer for 2014
[ "Healthwatch England Committee member one of top 50 BME health pioneers", Healthwatch, 7 November 2014.]
-
2014: Jamaica Times UK, Political Representative of the Year
[ "The Jamaica Times Awards 2014", June 2014.]
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2017: Elected to Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society
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2018: Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, University of Wolverhampton
[ "University announces honours list", University of Wolverhampton, 9 August 2018.]
Other
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"Letter to My Brother" in Encounters with James Baldwin: Celebrating 100 Years. London: Supernova Books. 2024.
External links
