Una Marson

Una Marson was a Jamaican poet, playwright, journalist, feminist, and anti-racist. After growing up in Jamaica, she went on to be the first woman editor in her home country by the age of 21. She ran "Cosmopolitan," a monthly feminist magazine where she published pieces advocating for woman's employment and suffrage. She also used her publication to advance literary awareness.

In 1932, she moved to London. She became secretary to the League of Colored Peoples, a civil rights organization that was established to fight racial inequality. She also continued her literary career, writing multiple works of poetry focusing on Black women's identity in England.

Upon her first return to Jamaica, she became reimmersed in nationalist, decolonizing politics. She stressed the role of Black women in the fight for freedom and socio-political change. Continuing to write, she produced some of her most influential works. She promoted Black beauty and confidence, pushing back on the norm of Black inferiority in media. And she experimented with writing verse in Jamaican Creole. During this time in Jamaica, she founded the Jamaica Save the Children Fund.

When she moved back to London, she was hired by the BBC and became their first Black woman broadcaster. She evolved the program "Calling the West Indies" into "Caribbean Voices" which became responsible for the rise of West Indian literature in Britain.