Una Marson
Activist
Jamaican activist who was a feminist, playwright, poet and radio programmer. She is one of the most celebrated activists of the 20th century and was instrumental in the canonization of Caribbean literature. She wrote about the beauty standards of Jamaican black women in the poems "Little Brown Girl," "Black is Fancy" and "Kinky Hair Blues."
She began her life in literature in 1926 when she was appointed to the position of assistant editor at the Jamaican political journal Jamaica Critic. She published her first collection of poems, the Tropic Reveries, in 1930. She wrote her first play, At What a Price, in 1931.
She helped create many of the literary and artistic institutions in Jamaica, including Kingston Readers and Writers Club and the Kingston Drama Club. She also founded the Jamaica Save the Children Fund.
She was born in Santa Cruz, Jamaica to Rev. Solomon Isaac Marson and Ada Wilhelmina Mullins. She was one of six children.
Through her radio program, Caribbean Voices, she got to meet many contemporary writers, including TS Eliot and George Orwell.