Edith Ramsay
Edith Ramsay, was an educator and community activist who served on the Colonial Office Advisory Committee. Ramsay worked to improve conditions for immigrants arriving in Stepney, London in the mid-1900s and was known as "the Florence Nightingale of the Brothels" for her work in London slums. Ramsay successfully campaigned for the re-opening of the Colonial House, a recreation center that had been closed. From 1922-1925, Edith worked as the Stepney Children's Care Organizer and was responsible for distributing free meals, clothing and milk. In 1928, she became the manager of Heckford Street Evening Institute that offered classes for mothers, workers and the unemployed. Ramsay has been featured in documentaries, and had a book written about her by a colleague, Bertha Sokoloff, titled Edith and Stepney: 60 Years of Education, Politics and Social Change: The Life of Edith Ramsey. Ramsay was celebrated as a black British achiever in a workshop series that explored her writings during Black History Month. Gateway Housing Association in London contains a housing complex named after her, and a tree was planted in her honor by member of Parliament, Rushanara Ali.
