United Kingdom

"She would have expected people to name figures such as Quintus Lollius Urbicus, who became governor of Roman Britain; the formerly enslaved Olaudah Equiano, who became an abolitionist and writer; Mary Seacole, who provided sustenance and care for British soldiers during the Crimean war, and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor."

I've literally never heard of any of these people.. schools don't cover them - I couldn't name any white romans either from the UK.. Obviously I've heard of some of the emperors, but that's it.

Probably because historically there weren't many black British people? Especially not amongst those who wrote most history books, ie, the aristocracy and bourgeoisie.

Not wishing to diminish the headline, but I think your average Brit probably has a pretty poor understanding of British History that falls outside of the 'WW2' years.

Ultimately we know what we're taught, and unless it's changed significantly in the last 15 years then you're basically taught about the Cold War and Vietnam, some random WW2 things and that's about it?

The fact that most people don't know the name of James Somerset is a sad indictment of how history is taught in this country. Somerset had been brought to Britain from Massachusetts against his will as a slave by a Scottish slaver called Charles Stewart. After he got here, Somerset ran away and then, when Stewart tried to re-enslave him, he sought to assert his freedom with the support of abolitionists.

The Somerset vs Stewart case of 1772 - in which the court found that there was not and never had been a common law institution of slavery in England and Wales, and therefore that a black man setting foot here would instantly become a free man - was a monumental moment in our country's history and set the scene for Britain eventually taking a global lead in combating the scourge of slavery in the 19th century. There were supposedly around 15,000 black people living in Britain at the time, many of them living in some form of de facto slavery, and the court's ruling was a cause for great celebration among the black community, and remains a proud moment in British history centuries later.

Children should learn James Somerset's name in school.

Lenny Henry

I could name a couple of local ones to me, plus Mary Seacole because she comes up a fair bit in these discussions.