H&F's open-air Black History Month King Street exhibition

Gener8te is a multi-award-winning, dyslexic-led Community Interest Company (CIC), driving innovation and growth in dyslexia-friendly and WIDE-A solutions across the borough.

Through inclusive training and consultancy, Gener8te empowers communities with lived experience at the heart of its approach.

Gener8te brings together people of different backgrounds and experiences, working collaboratively as well as individually.

Their commitment to inclusion and accessibility shines through everything they do. They embody the ethos of "stronger together".

They create spaces where people feel supported, encouraged, and empowered to discover new ways of working, sharing, and giving back.

Through their work, they champion creativity, community, and the value of lifting each other up.

Gener8te's approach reflects the heart of Black History Month: celebrating excellence, resilience, and unity while building a future rooted in collaboration and belonging.

Charlotte Thomas-Rowe, CEO of Hurdles2Hoops, has made a lasting contribution to Hammersmith & Fulham through her commitment to creating inclusive spaces that embody Standing Firm in Power and Pride.

Every Monday, she runs art classes at Earls Court Community Hub, where residents explore Black history through creativity.

Each October, she uses these sessions to celebrate Black History Month, highlighting African and Caribbean independence days and weaving in cultural food and storytelling to educate and inspire.

On the 76th anniversary of Windrush Day, Charlotte showcased community artwork at Paddington Arts, honouring the Windrush generation's sacrifices and calling attention to issues of justice, reparations, and pride in heritage.

Her work extends beyond art. Charlotte has coached homeless residents in basketball at Ravenscourt Park and Phoenix Leisure Centre, often funding courts and resources from her own pocket before Hurdles2Hoops was established.

She has also teamed up with Barons Court Project to provide homeless women with basketball sessions, offering them not just physical activity but a sense of empowerment and belonging.

Many H&F residents now benefit from her grassroots programmes, which promote wellbeing, inclusion, and pride.

By standing firm in her power, advocating for marginalised voices, investing her own resources and gaining recognition from Parliament for grassroots impact; and walking proudly in her heritage, Charlotte has inspired countless people across H&F.

Managing Our Mental CIC (MOM CIC) has made a significant and lasting contribution to Hammersmith & Fulham by creating culturally sensitive mental health spaces that directly address the needs of the borough's diverse communities.

Their flagship programme, MENtality, runs twice a month and has quickly become a trusted safe space for men, particularly from African and Caribbean backgrounds, to open up about their struggles. Many participants had never spoken about their mental health before, often due to cultural stigma and fear of judgement. By providing a supportive environment, they have helped men take their first steps towards healing, connection, and professional support where needed.

In just one year, MOM CIC has reached dozens of residents through free workshops, talking groups, and outreach events. They have partnered with local organisations such as Rethink Mental Illness and Hammersmith & Fulham Council, building a collaborative network of care.

This work reflects power by challenging generational cycles of silence and pride by celebrating the strength of Black men who choose to face their challenges together. One of their proudest achievements is seeing participants return not only for themselves, but to support others — creating a ripple effect of hope and resilience across the borough.

MOM CIC's impact continues to grow, laying foundations for a future where mental health is openly discussed, and no one feels they must suffer in silence.

Fela Kuti was a Nigerian singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, political activist and regarded as the founder of the influential musical style 'Afrobeat'.

He lived in Shepherds Bush when he first came to London to study music at Trinity College in 1958 and married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor in 1960. They had three children.

In 1963, he moved back to the newly independent Federation of Nigeria and attempted to run for its first presidency.

In 1984, he was jailed for 20 months in Nigeria for his political views.

Born Constance Winifred MacDonald on 21 December 1923 in Jamaica, Connie served as a medical secretary in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in World War 2.

Her commanding officer put her forward for a British Empire Medal but at the time it was not granted. She married Jamaican cricketer Stanley Goodridge in 1952.

Stanley moved to England to play cricket in Durham and Connie followed him shortly after. She became an activist for West Indians in London.

In 1980 she founded the Friends of Mary Seacole, which was later renamed the Mary Seacole Memorial Association.

She was finally awarded her BEM in 1992 and in 2001 was awarded an OBE. In 2005 she became a resident in Mary Seacole House at Invermead Place, Goldhawk Road.

She passed away in Charing Cross Hospital in 2007 and her funeral service was held at St Luke's Church, Shepherds Bush.

In 2008 a blue plaque was added to the house in her memory.

Born in New York, Adelaide Hall became one of the best-loved jazz and cabaret singers and tap dancers, and performed with legends such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Josephine Baker and Louis Armstrong.

In 1941, she was Britain's highest paid entertainer. She was one of the first black performers to headline at the London Palladium and played to full houses at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios and the Hammersmith Palais.

She frequently appeared on the BBC as well as recording extensively for Decca Records. In the early 1950s, Hall and her husband Bert opened the Calypso Club in Regent Street.

Adelaide lived in Fulham from 1980 until her death at 92 years old in Charing Cross Hospital.

A Black Victorian pre-Raphaelite muse, Fanny Eaton was born in 1835 in Jamaica to a freed slave and they both came to London in the late 1840s.

She later became a model for the pre-Raphaelites and other artists and can now be seen in paintings in galleries and museums around the world.

Fanny died in Acton in 1924 after previously living in Islington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush and even The Isle of Wight.

She is buried in a common grave with seven others in Margravine Cemetery and now has a headstone provided by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

Her fascinating story has recently been published by her great grandson, Brian Eaton, by Blossom Spring Publishers as "Fanny Eaton's Story".

Esther Bruce worked in Fulham Hospital and also volunteered as a fire warden during World War 2 at the hospital, which is now named Charing Cross Hospital. From a young age, Esther was taught by her father to take pride in her Black heritage and stand up to racism.

Esther left school when she was 14 years old to work in domestic service but, after being exploited, she changed careers and found work as a seamstress. She helped to unite the community during this period and wrote to her family in Guyana to ask if food parcels could be sent over to help alleviate the effect of rationing.

Her autobiography was the first to document the life of a working-class Black British woman. After she died in 1994 at the age of 81, Esther's ashes were scattered in Fulham Cemetery.

Ellen and William Craft were African American freedom fighters who made a daring escape from enslavement in Georgia, and fled to Britain in the mid 19th century. They are commemorated with a blue plaque at 26 Cambridge Grove, the Hammersmith home from which they campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

The blue plaque is the second monument to the Crafts in the borough. A brown plaque was put up in 1995 on the wall of the Shepherds Bush Housing Group building on the corner of Cambridge Grove and Glenthorne Road in Hammersmith.

Marcus Garvey was a Black civil rights campaigner who lived close by at 53 Talgarth Road from 1933 to 1940.

Born in Jamaica, Garvey was a Pan-Africanist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The organisation was designed to strengthen bonds between Black people all around the world, including Africa, and advance their rights. The UNIA was one of the largest anticolonialism groups in Jamaica and had a big impact on the country.

Garvey's second wife, Jamaican born Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey, was a journalist and activist in her own right. She was one of the pioneering female Black journalists and publishers of the 20th century.

Jomo Kenyatta was prime minister of Kenya and was later its first president.

He was the first indigenous leader (born in Kenya) and helped Kenya transform from a British colony to an independent country.

He lived in London for three years, making friends with communists and other anti-imperialists (people who didn't want to be ruled by Britain).

Edmonia Lewis was the first African American sculptor to gain national and then international fame. She lived at 154 Blythe Road in Hammersmith.

On her mother's side she was descended from Native Americans and her native name was "Wildfire". In her work she focused on both Black and Native American people and their history.

Originally from Trinidad, John Alcindor was a talented and popular doctor who worked in London. When World War 1 broke out, he was eager to help and in 1914 he applied to join the Royal Army Medical Corp.

Sadly he was rejected because of his "colonial origin". Instead of being sad, Alcindor was determined to help and signed up as a Red Cross volunteer where he helped soldiers returning from the front line.

He was awarded a Red Cross Medal for his life saving work. After the war he became a senior district medical officer for Paddington and became known for his excellent patient care no matter their origin or race.

He became known as the "Black doctor of Paddington".

The jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Reginald Charles Foresythe was born in Hetley Road, W12, growing up in the area's west African community.

In the early 1930s, he was established in the American jazz scene, writing arrangements for Earl Hines and recording with Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa.

Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller recorded his tunes, and he later became the accompanist to American singer Elisabeth Welch when she visited the UK.

In the Second World War, he served as an intelligence officer. He died, aged just 51, after a fall at his home in Paddington.

Reginald lived in Hetley Road, Shepherds Bush.

Mary Seacole was a nurse during the Crimean War. She came to London at the age of 50 and asked if she could tend to the sick and wounded in the Crimea. She was rejected.

Determined to help, she paid her own travel costs and set off to help. There, she built her own hospital and even went to help soldiers on the battlefield during the fighting! The men wrote to the newspapers about her heroic efforts.

When Mary returned from the war, she was very poor but the soldiers she helped hadn't forgotten her. They threw a big festival and raised a lot of money to help her.