Baroness Valerie Amos has achieved two significant marks in the United Kingdom. She is the first Black woman to serve on the British Cabinet, and the first Black woman to become a director at a university in Great Britain.
Born March 13, 1954, Amos was born in Guyana, which was a former British colony. After graduating from the University of Warwick in England in 1976, Amos worked in local London government positions and was named the chief of the city’s Equal Opportunities Commission between 1989-94. Amos also worked as an adviser to the South African government regarding human rights and employment fairness.
In 2003, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair selected her to serve on the Cabinet. Amos remained in the Cabinet until 2007, stepping down when Gordon Brown became Prime Minster. In 2010, she was named the Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Amos served as the U.N.’s top humanitarian from 2010 until spring of this year.
Amos is the director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. In The Guardian U.K., Amos said that she was baffled at the lack of Black people in collegiate leadership roles.
Amos, who is single with no children, was named a “Life Peer” by Blair, thus the “baroness” title. Life Peers are members of the peerage, which is essentially a collection of noble titles that cannot be inherited.
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