This Black History Month, we are celebrating figures whose lives and work continue to inspire.
The Revd Wayne Simmonds, Diocesan Racial Justice Officer, said: “This year’s theme, Standing Firm in Power and Pride, is a call to embrace identity with confidence and strength.
“It encourages us to recognise the struggles that have been faced, while celebrating the resilience and achievements that continue to shape black communities today.
“It is about valuing heritage, taking pride in culture and standing tall against inequality.
“To understand where we are now as black communities, we need to honour those who helped to pave the way.
“Black history is never just a list of dates.
“It tells of lives lived with courage, of barriers challenged, of dreams pursued against odds.
“It shows us how society has changed and how much work still lies ahead.”
Bryan Mackey is generally credited with being the first Black British clergyman in the Church of England.
He was born in Jamaica in 1770 to a white father and a Black mother, and was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he read a BA degree.
He was ordained a deacon in May 1793 and as a priest a year later.
He became curate of the Anglican parish of Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire in May 1793.
Subsequently, he became the rector of the parish of Coates in Gloucestershire in July 1799 and additionally the curate of neighbouring Sapperton parish in June 1813.
Bryan died in 1847 in Southampton.
Wilhelmina Tokcumboh “Mina” Smallman, pictured right, served as the Church of England’s first female archdeacon from a black and minority ethnic background.
She served as the Archdeacon of Southend in the Diocese of Chelmsford from September 2013 until her retirement in December 2016.
Following the murder of two of her daughters in 2020, she became a campaigner for women’s safety and police reform.
Wilfred Wood is the first black bishop in the Church of England.
Wilfred was born in Barbados in 1936.
Wood initially planned a career in Barbados politics but felt called to the priesthood and entered Codrington College.
He was ordained a deacon on the island, then in England as a priest in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in 1962, first serving as curate at St Stephen’s Church Shepherd Bush.
Wilfred served as Bishop of Croydon from 1985 to 2003.
Eve Pitts, pictured left, was the first black woman to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England.
Pitts was born in Jamaica in 1956, and migrated to England at the age of 8.
Pitts worked in the civil service for many years before responding to a call to ministry.
She trained for priesthood in 1988, and ordained as deacon in 1989.
In 1994 Pitts was ordained as a priest, and went on to serve in several parishes in the Diocese of Birmingham.
She retired in 2023.