Spring Season WOL@ Changing Chalk - A talk on James Hubbard

We are pleased to organise a talk about the African American taxidermist, caterer, exhibition organiser and showman James Henry Hubbard, who in 1890 purchased the Dyke Estate at Devils Dyke. He was born in Toronto, Canada in 1847, one of nine children, and was of mixed-race descent from a family of refugee American slaves that arrived in Canada from Virginia in 1840. He collected specimens of large animals in the Canadian Arctic which were exhibited in London and ended up at the Horniman.

This talk is the start of public sharings about the hidden history rooted in the South Downs, come and learn about this recent discovery for our communities.

We will have present author and pier expert Martin Easdown, author of a book on Hubbard, 'The Devil's Dyke: A Delightful Spot to Spend a Happy Day', representatives from Brighton & Hove Black History and writers from Writing Our Legacy’s Changing Chalk project. We will have a welcome from Writing Our Legacy CEO and Founder Amy Zamarripa Solis and National Trust ranger Dan Fagan.

Martin Easdown is a long-time member of the National Piers Society and one of the acknowledged experts on British piers. He has written extensively on the history of piers and Britain's seaside in books, magazines and newspapers. He lives in Kent.

is an arts and heritage organisation that enables Black, Asian and ethnically diverse/BPOC* people to tell their story through writing and the creative arts. We were established in 2012.

We give writers and other creatives a platform and community to feel supported, nurtured and evolve their work through the creative pipeline, from start to publication. We share stories and heritage of diaspora communities and bring them to life through various art forms for audiences to learn and take part in cultural heritage. We are an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

*BPOC stands for ‘Black people, People of Colour’ and is a self-identifying term. While we use the term BPOC, we acknowledge the limitations of this terminology. At the core of our network is the aim to address and overcome systemic barriers that our members face directly or indirectly based on their ethnic or national identities, race or perceived racial identities, or the colour of their skin as per the Equality Act of 2010. This includes people who identify as Black, brown, people of colour, Global Majority, mixed-race, multiple heritage and/or are from the Global South, and/or are East and South-East Asian, West Asian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, African-Caribbean, Caribbean, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or First Nations, and diasporas.

Host or Publisher Writing Our Legacy CIC