Marti is the first Black person to join the Merchant Venturers, the 500 year old club of slave trader Edward Colston
Marti Burgess hit the headlines as the first Black person to join the notorious Society of Merchant Venturers, the 500 year old business and philanthropy club of slave trader Edward Colston and other members of Bristol’s elite, then and now.
Marti is a corporate solicitor, chair of the Black South West Network and St Pauls Carnival and is involved with a multitude of other activities in the community including as the owner, along with her family, of Lakota night club in Stokes Croft.
So how could a Black person join such an organisation that some have declared as irredeemably racist and elitist? Marti explains to us her motivation for joining, and what she plans to do from within in an effort to build a better Bristol.
Subscribe to the Cable newsletter below and on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to get the latest from Bristol Unpacked.
BONUS EPISODE: Marti speaks on the future of the legendary Stokes Croft nightclub Lakota.
Get the latest from the Cable, direct to your inbox
Support the journalism Bristol needs.
Thanks to the 2,000+ members who support the Cable, our in-depth journalism is free for everyone. Together, we empower readers with independent and investigative local reporting. Join us and be a part of Bristol’s reader-owned media cooperative.
“Put yourself into their shoes for a moment.” Aisha Thomas, the assistant principal at City Academy in Easton, is explaining how the national curriculum is...
As part of the Cable's Black History Month coverage, Neil and Lawrence talk about the renaming of Colston Hall to Bristol Beacon, how education and the arts are key to building positive paths for young people and the role a poet plays in the political process of the city.
Desmond has been accused by some of being a police informant, due to his work with local institutions and the police, a claim he strongly refutes as ridiculous.
A Cable member recently cancelled their membership because we write about inequalities faced by Gypsies, Roma and Travellers instead of where the latest unauthorised encampment is. Here’s why we do that.
