Barbara Blake Hannah

Barbara Blake Hannah
Born (1941-06-05) 5 June 1941 (age 83)
Colony of Jamaica, British Empire
Other namesBarbara Makeda Blake-Hannah
Barbara Blake
Occupation(s)Journalist, author, film maker, politician
Known forOne of the first black on-camera reporters on British TV

Barbara Makeda Blake-Hannah (born 5 June 1941) is a Jamaican author and journalist known for her promotion of Rastafari culture and history. She is also a politician, filmmaker, festival organiser and cultural consultant. She was one of the first black people to be an on-camera reporter and interviewer on British television[a] when, in 1968, she was employed by Thames Television's evening news programme Today.[1][2] Hannah was sacked because viewers complained about having a black woman on screen.[3][4] She later returned to Jamaica and was an independent senator in the Parliament of Jamaica from 1984 to 1987.[1]


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  1. ^ a b Blake Hannah, Barbara (28 October 2008). "It wasn't Trevor or Moira - I was the first black British TV presenter". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  2. ^ Bree Johnson-Obeng, "Barbara Blake Hannah – the first black female journalist on UK TV" in Sky News (London, 2019)
  3. ^ Jolaoso, Simi (23 October 2020). "Barbara Blake Hannah: The first black reporter on British TV". BBC News. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. ^ Jones, Ellen E. (7 January 2021). "Barbara Blake-Hannah: how Britain's first black female TV reporter was forced off our screens". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 January 2021.