“We do not lack candidates, and arguably their achievements were the greater for having been made at a time when many careers and were effectively closed to them through colonial rules, racism or the legacy of slavery,” the letter added.
“Changing this would send a message that the contribution of ethnic minorities to Britain’s history, culture and economy is recognized and valued.”
Signatories include actors Meera Syal, Adrian Lestor and Sanjeev Bhaskar, and former equalities chief Trevor Phillips.
The Bank of England said it has received 174,112 nominations by the end of November and released a list of more than 800 nominees — which include Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole, first computer programmer Ada Lovelace, Indian physicist and physiologist Jagadish Chandra Bose and Stephen Hawking.
The announcement comes more than two years after former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced in 2016 that Harriet Tubman would become the first black woman to grace American paper currency, and the first woman in more than 100 years.
Source : Nbcnewyork