Sybil Phoenix

The Reverend Sybil Theodora Phoenix OBE (née Marshall; 21 June 1927[1]) is a British community worker. She was the first black woman to be awarded the MBE, in 1973.

Biography

She was born in British Guiana, and grew up in Guiana. She and her fiancé Joe Phoenix moved to England in 1956, and married in June of that year.[1]

Phoenix started fostering for Lewisham in 1961. She made her own hostel for girls and became a community worker. She has been involved in Black History Month[2] and was awarded the MBE in 1973. In 1979, she founded the Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust, a supported housing project for single homeless young women aged from 16 to 25, named in honour of her own daughter, who died in a car accident in 1974.[3]

In 1996, Phoenix was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Lewisham,[4] and in 1998 was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.[5] She was elevated to OBE in June 2008.[6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 "This website celebrates the achievements of Sybil Phoenix MBE MS". Catford Girls' School. p. 3. Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "This website celebrates the achievements of Sybil Phoenix MBE MS". Catford Girls' School. p. 2. Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Marsha Phoenix: Home". www.marshaphoenix.org.uk.
  4. ↑ "Sybil Phoenix, Freeman of the Borough, turns 80". June 2007.
  5. ↑ "This website celebrates the achievements of Sybil Phoenix MBE MS". Catford Girls' School. p. 5. Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  6. ↑ "(Cab Office) Queens Birthday Honours List". WhitehallPages.net. 14 June 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  7. ↑ "Sybil Phoenix honoured again", Each One, Teach One, 17 June 2008.
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