When MagNorth attended the event honouring Caribbean RAF veterans in Leeds earlier this year, Susan Pitter was a leading presence in an occasion that brought service, family and the city’s history into the same frame.
Remembering those men means recognising both their contribution to the Second World War and the lives they went on to build here. It means understanding that the history of Leeds runs through Caribbean families, too.
That commitment to a fuller account of who we are has shaped Pitter’s work for three decades. Now the Leeds-based curator, cultural heritage producer and co-founder of Out of Many People has been recognised in Black History Month UK’s 2026 Honouring Black Britain campaign.
According to the announcement, she is one of 54 people selected following more than 650 public nominations. This year’s theme, ‘Honouring Our Communities’, celebrates work, service and commitment to others, with those recognised featured online and in resources for schools and community organisations.
For Pitter, the news came as a surprise.
“I was surprised to say the least when I found out that I was among those chosen,” she said. “To be mentioned in the same breath as so many inspiring men and women, from trailblazers no longer with us recognised for their remarkable legacies, to people I have looked up to for years and those doing brilliant work in their fields today, is genuinely humbling.”
Her response quickly moves from individual recognition to the public purpose of the work.
“I really believe that if we fail to include all our communities in the storytelling of our cities, if they are not represented fairly, then we fail to tell a true story of our nation.”
It's a demanding proposition for anyone responsible for a museum, library, archive, festival or publication. A city’s account of itself is shaped by decisions: whose photographs are collected, whose memories are recorded, which lives become an exhibition and which remain known only within a family.
Pitter’s projects have helped bring those family histories into public view.
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In 2019, Eulogy, developed with fellow Out of Many People co-founder Dawn Cameron and Jamaica Society Leeds, explored the city’s first-generation Jamaicans. Rebellion to Romance followed in 2022, examining the lives of second-generation West Indians growing up in Leeds during the 1970s and 1980s.
Across the generations, the subject expands from arrival to the experience of growing up here: making a life, finding a voice and shaping the culture of the place you call home.
Her work on For King, Country & Home brought the experiences of Caribbean Second World War RAF servicemen and their families into that wider account. At Jamaica Society Leeds’ memorial garden dedication on 8 May this year, Pitter guided proceedings as compere. Families and community members gathered to honour veterans who served Britain and subsequently made Leeds their home.
The connection between remembrance and the future also runs through Out of Many People, the non-profit Community Interest Company established by Cameron and Pitter in 2024. Its programming is rooted in the stories of the Caribbean and African diasporas, bringing community voices and established artists into shared cultural spaces.
Earlier this year, its Likkle Lit Fest celebrated Black literature for children and young adult readers in Leeds. Alongside preserving the experiences of earlier generations, there is work to do for those discovering books, stories and their own possibilities now.
Pitter was also recognised as one of eight National Lottery Heritage Heroes in 2020, when her image was projected onto Stonehenge. This latest honour acknowledges a sustained contribution, rather than a single exhibition or occasion.
“Black culture in its many forms and genres continues to shape global and British life and culture,” she said. “Black history is British history. I am fortunate and proud to be able to play my very small part in championing and preserving that truth.”
For the North, the significance of that work is close to home. Our shared history becomes more accurate when the people who made it can recognise themselves within it. Susan Pitter has spent decades helping to make that possible.
We are very proud she is one of us.
Header image: Out of Many People co-founders Dawn Cameron and Susan Pitter. (credit YEP & Gerard Binks).
