New London Underground map celebrates Black History in London

TfL has added to the roster of themed tube maps with one that marks both Black History Month and the 40th anniversary of Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, which celebrates the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK.

The reimagined map replaces station names across the tube map with notable Black people from history, with the associated Tube lines renamed to link them together by common themes – Firsts and Trailblazers; Georgians; Sports; Arts; LGBTQ+; Physicians; Performers; Literary World and Community Organisers.

The amended tube map was created in partnership with Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, which was set up in 1981 to hold space for, and collect, preserve and celebrate the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK.

Note, the map is for London Underground lines only, so doesn’t include the Overground, DLR, Trams or Dangleway, but does include the Northern line extension’s two new tube stations.

Figures from Black British history can be found on the map, such as:

• Cecile Nobrega – an accomplished classical composer, poet, sculptor and educator who led a 15-year campaign to establish a monument in Stockwell Memorial Gardens, Bronze Woman, the first public monument to Black women to be on permanent display in England, who replaces St Paul’s station
• HMS Queen Charlotte’s sailor and ‘captain of the fore-top’ William Brown, the first Black woman to serve in the Royal Navy by disguising herself as a man, who replaces Barons Court station;
• Norwich born Pablo Fanque, equestrian extraordinaire and hugely successful Victorian circus owner, immortalised in The Beatles song “Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!” who replaces Embankment station;
• Jamaican born settler to Edinburgh John Edmonstone who taught Charles Darwin taxidermy, who replaces Upminster Bridge station

Claudia Jones, a feminist, political activist and pioneering journalist who was the co-founder of Notting Hill Carnival, who replaces Camden Town station
Joe Clough, who made his first home in London and in 1910 Joe became London Transport’s first Black motorbus driver, who replaces Elm Park station.

All of the 272 names and places featured on the Black History Tube map were researched by public historian Kelly Foster and the Black Cultural Archives.

The map will be available to buy as a poster online in person at Black Cultural Archives in Brixton and via their online shop here, or can be downloaded as a PDF file from here.

The full list of renamed tube stations is here.