Peter Blackman

In 1994 a conference was held in honour of Blackman, attended by teachers, local historians, activists and students.

Blackman died in 1993. After his death a book containing a collection of his works titled Footprints was published.

In 1979, Blackman read his poem Stalingrad (about the Soviet Union's fight against Nazi Germany during the Battle of Stalingrad) to an enthusiastic audience that included Jack Dash, a famous communist trade unionist and leader of many British dock workers. After hearing Blackman perform Stalingrad, the musician Robert Wyatt, convinced him to record it. Blackman's recording of his poem Stalingrad was the B-side of Wyatt's 1981 single Stalin Wasn't Stallin', a cover of a Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet song that was originally released in the 1940s during World War II, a song Wyatt covered to remind the Western world that while they were that although they were foes of the Soviets during the Cold War during the 1980s, they were allies of them against the bigger enemy of the Nazis during World War II in the 1940s when the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet wrote and recorded the original Stalin Wasn't Stallin, the lyrics of which includes praise to the Soviet people and especially Joseph Stalin (then Soviet leader and namesake of the city of Stalingrad, where the battle took place) for their deeds during the Nazi invasion of their country. Blackman's poem Stalingrad was included to further drive the message home. Stalingrad later ended up on the album Nothing Can Stop Us in 1982 which compiled Wyatt's singles from the early 1980s.

During World War II, Blackman worked in a factory that made parts for Vickers Wellington airplanes for the Royal Air Force, where he was promoted to the position of factory floor manager. Blackman's skills as a writer were noticed by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) who hired him to help the BBC's Caribbean radio broadcast services in the West Indies. Blackman continued to work on BBC radio broadcast services until 1950 when he was fired for his political beliefs.

In 1949, American entertainer and civil rights leader Paul Robeson toured Britain, during which the CPGB suggested that Blackman organise Robeson's tours and that the two black civil rights activists travel together. Blackman accompanied Robeson on his travels across Europe, and the two attended the World Peace Congress in Paris where Blackman met American black civil rights leader, W. E. B. Du Bois. Blackman wrote the long poem My Song Is For All (Published by Lawrence & Wishart, 1952), during these travels across Europe after being inspired by his visit to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Blackman continued to work as an active member of the CPGB throughout the 1940s and 1950s, however at an unknown date during the 1960s he left the party due to feelings that his talents were not being fully utilised by the party. Despite leaving the CPGB, he remained a lifelong socialist and trade unionist.

In 1937, Blackman moved back to Britain and chose to live in London where he threw himself into African-related political issues. Blackman became the editor of The Keys, the journal of the League of Coloured Peoples. He also joined the communist-led Negro Welfare Association and the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Blackman spent much of his time at the CPGB headquarters on King Street, London, and was asked to work on the party's Colonial Information Bulletin.

Blackman became an Anglican 1933, and was sent as a missionary to the country of Gambia in 1935. Soon he realised that black priests such as himself were being paid less than their white counterparts as a part of a racist rule upheld by church officials. Not only were black priests paid less but they were also being forced to sit at the back of churches during services. Blackman attempted to fight this racist rule, though he could not succeed in overturning it. As a result, he returned to Barbados and resigned from the priesthood.

Peter Blackman (1909–1993) was a Caribbean communist, scholar, civil rights activist, and Christian missionary. After challenging a racist rule in which white missionaries earned more than their black counterparts, Blackman resigned as a priest and dedicated himself to both communism and black civil rights activism. He was a key member of the Negro Welfare Association and the League of Coloured Peoples, and an active member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). During his career as a communist party activist, he became close friends with American civil rights leaders Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. He worked as a radio broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) during the Second World War for their Caribbean services, however in 1950 he was fired from his job for having communist beliefs. Afterwards he joined the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and volunteered to write letters for people with learning disabilities. In his later life he dedicated his time to writing poetry.

Blackman was born in Saint John, Barbados in 1909, his mother was a laundress and his father was a stonemason, all of whom lived in one of the poorest parts of Barbados. Their family lived on the grounds of a Caribbean Anglican Church, which influenced Blackman's religious beliefs at a young age.