Black History Month: Celebrating Our Sisters

• Published date: 30 October 2023
• Law Firm: Withers LLP
• Author: Josefina Bonsundy-O'Bryan

My name is Josefina and I'm a second-year trainee at Withers LLP ('Withers'), working out of the London office.

In the forgotten southern hinterlands of Madrid, far from the tourists and tapas of the centro, I reclined and dissolved back into our squishy sofa and switched on the TV for my daily dose of pre-homework entertainment.

9 years old, I was home from school and salivating at the prospect of a special treat for dinner. The air in the apartment was thick with decadent wafts of bubbling hot peanut stew from the kitchen, expertly attended to by my wonderful grandma through much of the afternoon, the family steward of culinary heritage dislocated thousands of miles from her village.

As much as I loved this part of my daily routine, watching TV could be a confusing and isolating experience. As one cartoon finished and another show started up, the absence of a single Black person on screen was conspicuous. Even at this...