Many of us are out there doing the best we can for very little 
financial return.
Do not imagine that secondary school teachers earn anything to write 
home about.

If my initial criticism seemed harsh do bear in mind that
1. it was sent at around 5am!
2. there are so many websites out there which feature 
incorrect/uncontextualised information that teachers and students 
become a little cynical

It was not a personal attack

BTW: My name is Angela - not Allison


On 5 Mar 2009, at 20:19, STEPHEN BOURNE wrote:

> Thanks, Allison, for your reply.
>  
> I was asked to compile a timeline for Black actors in British cinema 
> only. I was given very short notice, and I turned it around in about 
> three days! I was also asked to include some important events from 
> British history - an almost impossible task. I did my best.
>  
> For your information, I have had a proposal for a book about the 
> early, formative years of Black British theatre going the rounds. Deep 
> Are the Roots - The Black Presence on the British Stage from 
> 1825-1975 has been rejected so often by publishers and literary agents 
> that I have (temporarily) put it away because of the hurt and distress 
> it causes when another rejection letter or email is received. The last 
> literary agent I approached took less than 24 hours to reject the 
> proposal by email. It is disheartening and I will not compromise so 
> please do not ask me to bring the time scale up to date, or post the 
> information on a website, or self publish! I'm not interested.
>  
> By the way, please think carefully before posting criticisms of others 
> work on JISCMAIL. It isn't helpful. In your original posting you 
> criticised me for alleged errors, but said nothing positive about the 
> Timeline until after I had corrected you ("I appreciate your 
> timeline"). Neither have you enquired about purchasing my book Dr. 
> Harold Moody for your school (it was written for young people and only 
> costs £2!) unless, of course, you have already done so - in which case 
> - I apologise!
>  
> Yes, we should be correcting factual errors when they occur, but we 
> should also be supporting each other.
>   
> As I have explained before on JISCMAIL, I earn next to nothing for my 
> Black history work and I have to hold down a part-time job in order to 
> pay my rent and bills.
>  
> Best wishes, Stephen
>   
>
> --- On Thu, 5/3/09, Angela Allison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: Angela Allison <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Timeline of Black Film Actors
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Thursday, 5 March, 2009, 7:40 PM
>
> I appreciate your timeline and I agree that British Black History 
> needs to be
> promoted but accurate contextualisation is essential, which is why, 
> though your
> timeline relates to cinema - establishing the context of black actors 
> in theatre
> is important - especially as black theatre was crucial in developing 
> the skills
> of many who went on to have careers in cinema
>
> It is also important that figures such as MLK should be set in the 
> context of
> those who came before eg. Marcus Garvey & Harold Moody.
>
> Youngsters need to understand that such figures didn't come out of 
> nowhere
> - but that there has been a continuous line of resistance/rebellion 
> since the
> enslavement of Africans began
>
> as a secondary school teacher I know how easily students get the wrong
> impression if the information they access is not contextualised.
>
> Angela
>
> On 5 Mar 2009, at 13:42, STEPHEN BOURNE wrote:
>
> > Dear Angela Allison
> >  
> > Thank you for your comments.
> >   
> > In relation to Dr. Harold Moody I agree that my use of the word
> "answer" to Dr. Martin Luther King may suggest that they lived at the
> same time, and may mislead some people who are not aware of the 
> periods in which
> they lived. I apologise for that. However, all I was trying to do was 
> help
> raise the profile of the ignored Dr. Moody by drawing comparisons to 
> someone who
> is better known, and documented. For the record, this comparison was 
> first made
> by Edward Scobie in his book Black Britannia in 1972. And as far as I 
> am
> concerned, Dr. Moody impacted greatly on this country, and has never 
> been given
> the recognition he deserves. Dr. King is included in the British school
> curriculum, Dr. Moody is not. In the library where I work, during 
> Black History
> Month school children are encouraged by their teachers to enquire 
> about Dr.
> King, not Dr. Moody. In the children's section of thelibrary where I
> work we have about 3 or 4 books  abour Dr. King, but only one about 
> Dr. Moody,
> written by me, which I had published by my local authority (Southwark 
> Council)
> last year, but only after several educational publishers turned it down
> (including Heinemann). 
> >   
> > Re: Edric Connor. I said he was the first black British actor to 
> play a
> Shakespearean role [on the professional stage]. As yet, no evidence 
> has come to
> light to suggest an earlier name, though I am aware of a few 
> non-professional
> appearances, including Rudy Evans in scenes from Othello for the Negro 
> Theatre
> Company in 1948. For the record, before Edric's historic appearance, 
> Robert
> Adams played the first Shakespearean role on British (BBC) television 
> in 1947,
> followed by Gordon Heath in 1955.
> >  
> > I only mentioned The Wandering Negro Minstrels (the title of a film)
> because it was seen so early - in the Victorian era (1896). For more 
> detail see
> my book Black in the British Frame.
> >  
> > Ira Aldridge's acting career pre-dated cinema. He died in 1867 and 
> the
> birth of cinema is popularly accepted as 1896. 
> >  
> > The Timeline spans from 1896 (in the Victorian era) to 2009.
> >   
> > Best wishes, Stephen Bourne
> >  
> >  
> >
>
>