New information
Here we have collected additional information about Black lives in the North East.
North Shields
Mary Ann Macham
Mary Ann Macham arrived in North Shields in 1831, after escaping slavery in Virginia. She was welcomed by the Miss Spences, a prominent Quaker family, working in their household until her marriage to a local rope-maker. She died in 1893, and has recently been commemorated with a memorial stone in Preston Cemetery, Tynemouth.
Charles Udor Minto
Activist, MBE and community leader, Charles Udor Minto was a tireless campaigner who created safe spaces for North Tyneside's burgeoning black community in the 1930s and 40s.
A champion boxer in Nigeria, his career as a seaman brought him to North Shields where he continued fighting - this time on a political stage.