Editing Floella Benjamin (section)

==Early life==
Floella Benjamin was born on 23 September 1949 in [[Pointe-à-Pierre]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], one of six siblings, with one older sister, three younger brothers and a younger sister.

When her father decided to emigrate to Britain, with her mother later joining him along with Benjamin’s younger sister and youngest brother, the four older children were left in the care of family friends, with Benjamin and her older sister, Sandra, being separated from their brothers. The people looking after Benjamin and her sister were secretly abusive. Benjamin and her sister often tried writing to their parents to tell them about the abuse, but the letters were always read and censored before they were sent. In 1960 the children went to join their father in [[Beckenham]], Kent. Floella Benjamin has discussed the racist experiences she had when arriving in Britain as an immigrant, such as with neighbours and at school.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.samiraahmed.co.uk/swinging-racism-floella-benjamins-memoir-of-60s-london/ |title=Swinging racism: Floella Benjamin's memoir of 60s London |last=Ahmed |first=Samira |date=13 January 2011 |publisher=samiraahmed.co.uk }}</ref>

Having left school to work in a bank, she studied for [[A-Level]]s at night school.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A36869557 |title=Floella Benjamin – Activist, Actress and Producer |website=[[h2g2]] |date=4 July 2008 |access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref> After a spell as a stage actress in [[West End theatre|West End musicals]], she began presenting children's television programmes in 1976, notably ''[[Play School (British TV series)|Play School]]'', for the BBC.