Ita Ekpenyon

Ita Ekpenyon was born in Creek Town in Calabar, Nigeria, in 1899.[1] His daughter Oku Ekpenyon stated that he was a headteacher in Nigeria before going to London in 1928.[1][2] Ekpenyon lived in Great Titchfield Street, near Oxford Circus, and studied law, one of a small community of 15,000 black Africans in London at this time.[3] He became an actor and featured, with Paul Robeson, in the 1935 London Films picture Sanders of the River and, again with Robeson, in 1937 Gaumont-British picture King Solomon's Mines.[4] As well as appearing in the latter film, Ekpenyon coached the American Robeson in the Efik language, Ekpenyon having previously contributed to a textbook on the language that was used by British colonial officials.[5] He also appeared in the 1940 London Films' picture The Thief of Bagdad.[4]

Ekpenyon was too old to serve in the military during the Second World War but volunteered to join Air Raid Precautions (ARP), a government civil defence organisation. He was enrolled in D Section of the St Marylebone Borough Council Civil Defence Volunteer unit on 5 February 1940.[3] He became a senior air raid warden, with responsibility for monitoring compliance with the blackout laws, keeping order in public air raid shelters and assisting people to safety during raids.[6] Ekpenyon is the only known black air raid warden.[2]

Ekpenyon later recalled that he was generally well treated, although he encountered some casual racism.[3] He noted that some residents regarded him as a lucky mascot: "people believe that because I am a man of colour, I am a lucky omen. I had heard of such child-like beliefs, but I am delighted that such beliefs exist".[6] On one occasion, Ekpenyon witnessed some foreign nationals being refused entry into a public shelter by its British occupants. He intervened and persuaded the occupants to admit the foreign nationals, stressing the need for "friendliness, co-operation and comradeship" to best survive the war.[3] During the war, he wrote for and spoke on a BBC Radio series entitled Calling West Africa, which aimed to demonstrate the commitment of the Empire to the fight against fascism.[3] One of his radio talks was published as Some Experiences of An African Air-Raid Warden.[1] He also took part in BBC Radio's Empire series, speaking in English and Efik, and in a newsreel documenting the handing over of a tank paid for by a Nigerian chief.[4]

After the war, Ekpenyon gave up on his legal ambitions, due to a lack of funding to continue his studies. He became a postman, a job he held until his death in 1951.[3] Ekpenyon wrote a memoir of his ARP service and became "among the most well-known of the black people who experienced the Blitz".[6]

Footage of Ekpenyon at a 1941 Remembrance Day march was filmed by Marylebone mayor Alfred Coucher; the footage was lost but rediscovered in 2010.[2] The footage was incorporated, together with animations made by Marylebone school children, into a 2010 film describing Ekpenyon's experience in the air raid shelter incident. The film is narrated with Ekpenyon's own account of the incident read by Nigerian actor Wale Ojo.[2] Ekpenyon was also featured in Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley, a February 2021 BBC docudrama. Ekpenyon's daughter Oku Ekpenyon MBE is a campaigner for a memorial to victims of the slave trade to be erected in Britain.[1]

• West End at War: The Ita Ekpenyon Story on Vimeo – the 2010 film