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Over 40 leading British trade unionists and personalities want the man in charge of schools to rethink his proposals to axe Crimean war heroine Mary Seacole and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano as required study in UK schools. In the open letter to the Education Secretary, the signatories told Michael Gove that it would be 'historically and culturally incorrect to remove them'. Zita Holbourne, who has helped to organize the campaign, says their inclusion is for the benefit of everyone.Campaigners say they are worried what the removal of these two black figures say about British history. Should it be, they argue, male, pale and stale? In other words, a history of old, white men told with a particular bias in mind. In summer where British multiculturalism was celebrated with Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah having their achievements applauded there should be more figures of history, not fewer.