People and Lives

Olaudah Equiano made his life story part of the campaign against slavery. His 1789 book joins seafaring, commerce, faith and political argument, while continuing debate about…

Walter Tull was a footballer, a brother, a printing apprentice and an Army officer. Family papers, club records and his commission application reveal the relationships and…

Mary Seacole’s life connected Jamaica, Central America and Britain through medical care, travel and business. Her own account reveals a resourceful Victorian woman whose Crimean work…

Ignatius Sancho’s letters open a window onto Georgian London: its shops, friendships, literature and political arguments. A composer and Westminster voter as well as a writer,…