London, England - The Church of England has appointed 56-year-old John Sentamu as its first black archbishop.
He has been appointed as Archbishop of York, the church's second most senior post after the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Queen Elizabeth II approved the appointment on the recommendation of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Archbishop Sentamu said today that the Church of England needed to regain its vision and reconnect with England.
Currently the bishop of Birmingham, he has been a prominent campaigner against gun crime.
A long time campaigner against racism, Archbishop Sentamu advised the Stephen Lawrence inquiry in the late 1990s and chaired the Damilola Taylor review three years ago.
Archbishop Sentamu fled to Britain Uganda during the Idi Amin regime in the 1970s.
As a barrister and high court judge there he had been an outspoken critic of Idi Amin.
He later studied for the priesthood at Cambridge and was ordained in 1979.