E.R. Braithwaite

A descendant of enslaved people, E. R. Braithwaite (1912–2016) was born and raised in colonial British Guiana. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Air Force, flying Spitfires in the fight against fascism. After the war he completed his degree at Cambridge University and set out to work as an engineer. But despite his education and wartime service, he was unable to secure a single position in his field.

Instead, Braithwaite accepted a teaching post in London's East End, facing a classroom of traumatised, working-class students who had grown up in the shadow of war. As a Black man placed before poor white teenagers, many of whom believed they could finally feel superior to someone else, he entered a deeply volatile environment.

From that experience came To Sir, With Love, the small book Braithwaite would later call “that little story,” written simply to capture the challenges and unexpected humanity he discovered in a London classroom.

Following Guyana's independence, he went on to serve as his country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and later as Ambassador to Venezuela.