When you open your Google web browsers today, a doodle illustration of Una Marson will greet you. Marson is regarded as one of Jamaica’s most influential feminist thinkers

.

She is also the founder of The Cosmopolitan and was born in Santa Cruz, Jamaica.

Marson was the first Black woman to be employed as a radio producer at the British Broadcasting Company, (BBC) where she recorded several significant interviews, including one with swing band icon Ken “Snakehips” Johnson back in 1940. 

She is also a writer and advocate. Upon establishing The Cosmopolitan in 1928, Marson became Jamaica’s first woman magazine publisher and editor. The Cosmopolitan is a publication focused on gender issues and social injustice.

Marson returned home in 1936 to cultivate a new generation of Jamaican writers. While writing her own poetry and plays—which she often self-financed—she founded Jamaica’s Save the Children Fund. 

Google says, “Marson’s literary contributions are not widely known, and even less is known of her later life. However, it was her writing and poetry that influenced the broadcasting she is best known for and has broadened her legacy for future generations to discover.”

The search engine revealed that in 2009, Marson’s achievements were celebrated with an installation of a Blue Plaque—which honours individuals who have had great impacts on their community and beyond—at her former home in London’s Brunswick Park.  

Sunday’s Doodle of Marson was illustrated by UK-based guest artist, Sarah Madden.