Erased and Misremembered: Exhuming the Colonial Broadcasting of Una Marson

Abstract

Abstract Una Marson was a pioneering colonial broadcaster from Jamaica who was the first Black woman to work for the BBC. She produced and presented its Overseas Service programs Calling the West Indies and Caribbean Voices. Recently, scholars have revisited her work, but they have not acknowledged her legacy in a way that befits her accomplishments in radio. We find this observation revealing and have traced concrete actions by the BBC to erase her contributions to transborder radio broadcasting. This study considers how race, ethnicity, gender, and colonialism contributed to her obscurity and insights into the burial of her broadcasting legacy.