Bernardine Evaristo ―
I never met my Grandmother: The original Girl, Woman, Other.
GRANDDAUGHTER OF
ZENOBIA
Zenobia Evaristo
A Petty Trader and former convent girl
Descended of Free Brazilian slaves
Met Customs Officer Gregorio in Abeokuta
Who died before meeting his twin children
So Zenobia raised them alone
In the house he left her in Lagos
The son, Taiwo
Migrated from Nigeria to Britain in 1949
Fought against racial prejudice
When he married a white Englishwoman
His love at first sight at a Commonwealth dance.
Taiwo worked as a welder and
Labour councillor for Greenwich
His clever, passionate mind is
Passed on to his daughter
Writer and Professor of Creative Writing,
And first black woman AND black British Booker Prize winner
Bernardine Evaristo
MAKING BRITAIN GREAT SINCE… 1954
