Black History Month Firsts: Lilian BaderPosted in Articles, Biography, History, Media Archive, United Kingdom, Women on 2015-10-18 22:46Z by Steven |
Black History Month Firsts: Lilian Bader
Black History Month 2015
2015-10-13
Omar Alleyne Lawler, Editor
 Lilian Bader, Photo Credit courtesy of the Imperial War Museum |
The contributions and efforts of Lilian Bader to World War Two for the Caribbean community actually starts before her birth, with her Fathers contribution in World War One.
Marrying in 1913, Marcus Bailey was a Barbadian born migrant who found himself in England, coupled with an English born, Irish raised woman* on the outbreak of war. The possibility of a happy family was postponed as war broke out in 1914 and Marcus would find himself serving in the Royal Navy as a Merchant Seaman until the war finished.
However, upon the wars end, the Baileys would parent three children, one of which would be Lilian Bader. Born in 1918, she would go onto be quite possibly the first Black woman to join the British Armed Forces…
…The reality of being a Mixed Raced Woman, in Britain in the early 1930’s, would be one her intelligence and popularity would never be able to escape and at the age of twenty, Lilian would still be at the Convent she joined as a nine year old, simply because nobody was willing to hire her for work…
Read the entire article here.