[1][2] Her autobiography, Aunt Esther's Story published in 1991 and co-authored with her adopted nephew Stephen Bourne, was one of the first books to document the life of a black working-class woman in Britain.
[1] Formerly a merchant seaman, Joseph settled in Fulham at the turn of the century and worked as a coach painter and film extra until his death in 1941 from an accident in an air raid.
[1] In the 1930s, Bruce met and befriended two influential figures of the time: the Jamaican nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and the popular American singer Elisabeth Welch,[4] for whom she also made dresses.
[1] Bruce adapted easily to life in post-war Britain but admitted that racism was still very much an issue in the years that followed despite the new increasingly multi-cultural society the arrival of the first Caribbean settlers to the United Kingdom on the Empire Windrush in 1948 helped usher in.
The writer Simon Reade described Bruce's story as:"A personal yet archetypal chapter in the history of working-class London, one which is usually overlooked in the grand catalogue of great men.
It should inspire young people to explore the thoughts and observations of an older generation of family and friends, thus discovering shared experiences throughout our multi-racial, culturally diverse metropolis".