Image Text:

DOCUMENTING HISTORY: London’s City Hall will host an exhibition on The Voice Newspaper

THE HISTORY of The Voice newspaper will be highlighted in a major exhibition at London’s City Hall.

The event which is being held to mark Black History Month will also celebrate the publication’s 35th anniversary and will be hosted by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

The exhibition, which runs until the end of November and is open to the public, features many of The Voice’s iconic front pages including coverage of the death of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993, the release from prison in 1990 of former South African president Nelson Mandela after 27 years, and the election of Barack Obama as America’s first black president in November 2008.

The Voice’s managing editor George Ruddock said: “Over the past 35 years, The Voice newspaper has covered some of the most significant events to impact and influence the black British community and this exhibition at City Hall of its most important front covers will reflect that experience.

“From the heady days of social unrest in the 1980s, the triumphant release of freedom fighter Nelson Mandela from prison and his subsequent rise to become South African President in the 1990s, to the black British history makers in academia, sports, music and the arts from 2000 onwards, The Voice has been there to record these events and placed them in the annals of history.”

ARCHIVE: The exhibition features many of The Voice’s iconic front pages throughout its 35-year-long history

From its small beginnings in an office in Mare Street, Hackney, the first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982.

Since that time, it has won a number of awards and is Britain’s longest running newspaper aimed at Britain’s African Caribbean community.


Since 1982 The Voice has captured the stories of Britain’s African and Caribbean community and key moments in its history.

The newspaper has also championed excellence and achievement in the black community, 
campaigned on key equality and diversity issues that impact on the lives of Black Britons, highlighted individuals and causes that get little coverage in mainstream media and published stories that have had an impact on government policy.

The Voice is now a multimedia platform with an average weekly reach of approximately one million people, covering the UK, USA, Africa and the Caribbean.

Ruddock said: “Not only in print has The Voice be part of black British history, but will continue to do so through our various multi-media platforms for a new generation that will ensure our history is recorded and used to inform and educate a wider audience. The exhibition now on at City Hall is one not to miss.”

The Voice is celebrating its 35th birthday this year. Share your Voice memories, comments and birthday wishes on social media, using the following hash tag: #Voice35Years

Read every story in our hardcopy newspaper for free by downloading the app.