Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Black History Month Events October


Finding out about Black History Month events around the country is still a very haphazard experience. Even the www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk website has little on it, as well as being a very slow site to navigate through. The following list highlights of events on history rather than arts and culture and other issues.  Full programmes can be seen as follows:



Lambeth:






Wandsworth:


 

In October. An Indian Album – Cecil Beaton’s images of pre-Independence and Partition “India”. Photo exhibition from The National Archives. Southfields Library, 300 Wimbledon Park, Road, London, SW19. (020) 8871 6388.

 

In October. Memories from the Islands. Photo exhibition from The National Archives. Community curated exhibition by Caribbean elders featuring their choice of photographs and accompanying memory narrative of the Caribbean from the 1960s. Wandsworth Town Library, 11 Garratt Lane, London, SW18.  (020) 8871 5588.

 

In October. Call Mr Robeson performances by Tayo Aluko:

October 6: Capstone Theatre, Liverpool
October 13: Otley Courthouse SOLD OUT
October 15-18: Sheffield and Rotherham Schools. Details tbc
October 19: Rotherham College of Arts & Technology
October 22: Hawth Theatre, Crawley
October 23: Merlin Theatre, Frome
October 24: Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
October 25: Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham
October 26: Forest Arts Centre, New Milton


Monday 1 – Sunday 14 October. Containing Multitudes. Exhibition of the letters of Sarah Hicks Williams, an American northerner in the slave-holding south. The letters are drawn from her papers, courtesy of the  Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina. The event is funded by the School of American Studies at the University of East Anglia. The exhibition also includes a daily lecture as part of Black History Month and the chance to join an open discussion in Cafe Conversation sessions. Cafe conversations will take place in Cafe Bar Marzano at The Forum and begin 15  minutes after the public lecture ends. Tea and coffee is provided. 2 Millennium Plain, Norwich, Norfolk NR2 1TF

01603 727950 www.ontainingmultitudes.co.uk.

 

1 October. 2.30pm. SC-T in A Celebration and Education of Contributions made by Black People in England from Enslaved to Pioneers. Features Queen Liliuohalani, SC-T, Mary Seacole, Lewis Lattimer. Original Artwork  by pupils of Abbott Primary School and artist Rosetta Jallo, and authentic clothing exhibitions, music and Caribbean food. Mustard Tree, 110 Oldham Rd, Ancots, Manchester, M4. Tel Graham: 07401 820424.

 

Thursday 4 October. 1pm. The Black Presence in Norfolk from 1589 to 1883. Richard Maguire. This lecture seeks to explore established assumptions about rural spaces and communities by looking at the history of the black community  in Norfolk from 1589 to 1883. Fusion, 2 Millennium Plain, Norwich, Norfolk NR2 1TF

01603 727950  www.theforumnorwich.co.uk.

 

Thursday 4 October. 4.30 pm. The Zong: Slavery, Evil Deeds, and Re-thinking the Past: A basis for discussion. Talk by Professor James Walvin, Emeritus Professor of History, University of York. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, HULL, HU1. r.j.hanley@2011.hull.ac.uk..

 

Thursday 4 October. 5-7pm. ‘The Black Atlantic and the TransPacific: Literature and Mobility’. Talk by Michelle Keown. Edinburgh University Students Association Ethnic Minority Action Group. Appleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 1, Edinburgh University. www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/events/7856/1775.

 

Thursday 4 October. 5.15pm. Memories of Empire: A Roundtable on Bill Schwarz's 'The White Man's World'.  Jon Lawrence (Cambridge), Jeremy Krikler (Essex), Camilla Schofield at UEA, with a response from Bill Schwarz (Queen Mary). Imperial & World History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

 

Thursday 4 October. 7-8pm. Black in the British Frame.  Stephen Bourne will talk about his new black British history books Esther Bruce - A Black London Seamstress and The Motherland Calls - Britain's Black Servicemen and Women, 1939-45. Camberwell Library, 17-21 Camberwell Church Street, London,  SE5. Free.

 

Friday 5 October. 6.30 – 8.30.  Death of a Musical Genius: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Remembered. At The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Cromwell Road, London SW7.  £9, £6 concessions. Book online or call 020 7942 2211. With the agreement of the V&A I will be selling Jeff’s mini-book.

 

Friday 5 October. 7.15pm.  Walter Tull, Officer and Footballer. Presented by the Barbados and Friends Association (Reading). Kennet Room, Civic Centre, Reading.

 

Friday 5 October. 7 – 9.15pm.  The legacy of Dr Martin Luther King. National Union of Journalists Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture. The Lecture is taking place  in Newcastle for the first time and celebrates the 45th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King receiving an honorary doctorate at Newcastle University. This year’s lecture departs from the usual single speaker format to feature voices from the worlds of journalism, academia and politics who will all bring different perspectives to the theme. Speakers: Prof Brian Ward, Jim Boumelha Int Fed Journalists), Chi Onwurah (MP), Dr Connie St Louis (Association of British Science Writers), Dr Gerald L. Durley (US civil rights activist), Alex Pascall (African Caribbean Commuinicator) and Lionel Morrison (S. Arican exile in Britain from 1960. King's Hall, Armstrong Building, Newcastle University. Further details from David.baines@ncl.ac.uk or 0191) 222 8569. www.ncl.ac.uk/events/public-lectures/item.php?claudia-jones.

 

Saturday 6 – Sunday 14 October. Bengal History Week. Brick Lane Circle is organising its third annual history week programme, designed to help generate and expand interest in learning Bengal's history and introduce historians and scholars to new audiences in non-academic settings
For details see:
www.bricklanecircle.org.

 

Saturday 6 October. 12noon - 4.30pm. Black History Month Multicultural Day. The National Museum Of The Royal Navy (Portsmouth Historic Dockyard). (Victory Gallery) FREE event, all ages welcome. The National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is inviting visitors to join them to celebrate black history and discover more about the Royal Navy's links to different countries around the world. www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hampshire/Portsmouth/PO6/Whats-on-in-Portsmouth/Exhibitions-and-Open-Days/231056-Black-History-Month-Multicultural-Day-at-The-National-Museum-Of-The-Royal-Navy-(Portsmouth-Historic-Dockyard).

 

Saturday 6 October. 1-2.30pm.  ‘They Gave the Crowd Plenty Fun’. Talk by Colin Babb, Content Producer at BBC World Service, writer, journalist and photographer, Colin Babb will talk about his book which explores the links between Caribbean cricket, migration, identity and presence, and the challenges cricket has faced in Britain as a prime source of pride for the Caribbean diaspora, from the start of mass immigration to Britain from the Caribbean in the 1950s. The book also combines historical and sociological perspectives with traces of humour and focuses on pivotal events and personalities. Free – booking essential (020) 8871 6388.

 

Saturday 6 October. 1-2.30pm. The Motherland Calls. Illustrated talk by Stephen Bourne about his new book The Motherland Calls which pays tribute to the black servicemen and women who volunteered to support Britain during the Second World War. Imperial War Museum (London) Lambeth Road. London,  SE1. Free.

 

Tuesday 9 October.  7pm. Africans in Britain 1500-1640. Talk by Miranda Kaufman. In 1597, ‘Edward Swarthye, alias negro’, porter to Sir Edward Wynter in Gloucestershire, testified before a  London court that he had whipped another servant, John Guye. Through the prism of this man’s life, Dr Kaufmann, who has discovered evidence of over 350 Africans in Britain between 1500 1640, will discuss how Africans came to Tudor England, what work they did  and what their legal status was. Minet Library, 52 Knatchbull Road, SE5. 020 7926 6073.

 

Tuesday 9 October. 8pm. SC-T on Radio and Television. A rare opportunity to hear BBC broadcasts of two programmes about SC-T: Great Lives and Hidden History. Some lantern slides will be shown. There will also be a performance of some of SC-Ts Twenty-Four Negro Melodies op. 59 for solo piano. The Braithwaite Hall (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909 or at the door.

 

Wednesday 10 October. 7.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Sean Creighton. Herne Hill Society. Herne Hill United Church Hall, near top of Red Post Hill at junction of Herne Hill and Denmark Hill.

 

Saturday 13 October. 1-2.30pm. Mother Country. Stephen Bourne will give an illustrated talk about Britain's black community on the Home Front during the Second World War. Imperial War Museum (London), Lambeth Road. London,  SE1. Free.

 

Monday 15 October. 10.30am-4.30pm. Empire, Plants and People Discussion Day. A platform for discussion at the Garden Museum. With the Plant Seekers exhibition as a backdrop, we would like to begin a discussion around the links between gardens, gardening and colonial histories and their legacy today. Speakers include:

Dr Melanie Horton – who will share her research on the British Empire Marketing Board posters of the 1930s and the representation of the colonies as ‘market gardens.’

Dr Patrick Eyres, is editor-publisher of the New Arcadian Journal, which engages with the cultural politics of landscape gardens. The 50th edition (2011) explores the significance of ‘The Blackamoor’ statue in 18th-century British gardens. Dr Eyres will present his research on the symbolism of the statues.

Judy Ling Wong, UK President of Black Environment Network, with an international reputation as the pioneer in the field of ethnic participation in the built and natural environment. Judy will discuss the lasting impact of colonial histories, how they are represented in horticultural language and emotive discourse today and how this plays out in terms of participation.

Tickets £50, Museum Friends £40, Full-time students £20

Click here to book a place online.

 

Tuesday 16 October. 12pm. Songs of Freedom. Film and Q&A. Classic film, staring actor, athlete, singer and civil rights activist, Paul Robeson. Robeson plays Zinga, a black dockworker in England with a great baritone singing voice. By chance, he is informed that an ancestral medallion that he wears is proof of his lineage to African kings, and is reunited with his people. £3.50.

Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2.

 

Tuesday 16 October. 5.30pm. Embodying Race in Colonial Spanish America. Rebecca Earle (Warwick). Latin American History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

 

Wednesday 17 October. 2pm.  Frederick Douglass and Manchester: a 'liberating sojourn'.Talk by Natalie Zacek. Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5. www.wcml.org.uk/wcml/en/events/black-history-month-talk--frederick-douglass-and-manchester-a-liberating-sojourn.

 

Wednesday 17 October. 6.30-8.30pm. “Life according to Maas Roy’. Talk by Yvonne Archer, co-author and daughter, introduces this Black History Month event

in the year of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence. Stanley ‘Maas Roy’ Archer left Jamaica in 1954 for England to get rich quick. After a ‘full life’ in London and National Service in Cyprus he returned to

Jeffrey Town, St Mary where he founded the Jeffrey Town Farmers’ Association which has gone on to create a community radio station and a local literacy project. Battersea Library, 265 Lavender Hill, London, SW11.

Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7466.

 

Friday 19 October. 2pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by Chris Bennett (Borough Archivist). Coulsdon Library, Brighton Road, Coulsdon, CR5.  Free activities during Croydon Black History Month. Free but need to book tickets: 0208 726 6900; libraries@croydon.gov.uk.

 

Saturday 20 October. Noon-4pm. London art in the age of jazz. African & Asian portraits & artists in London between the wars. Equiano Centre project. Part of the Bloomsbury Festival and supported by a UCL Beacon Bursary. Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, London. WC1X 8PA. Free.

 

Saturday 20 October. 2.30pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by Chris Bennett (Borough Archivist). Central Library, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9.  To book tickets see 19 October.

 

Monday 22 October. 5.15pm. Locations of Global History: Manufacturing Diversity in 18th and 21st. Maxine Berg (Warwick). Imperial & World History Seminar. IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

 

Monday 22 October.  6.30-8pm. Indians East and Indians West: Asians in the early post-Columbian Atlantic World. Talk by Cliff Pereira. Much is known about the history of Africans and Europeans in the Americas. Relatively little is known about Asians in early Post-Columbian America (after 1492). Cliff Pereira set out to research this hidden history of contact between Asians and others in the Atlantic and Northeast Brazil between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. His findings provide fascinating results, discussed in this illustrated talk. Tooting Library. 75 Mitcham Road, SW17. Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7175.

 

Monday 22 October. 7pm. The Value of Multiculture. Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture by Professor Paul Gilroy. National Union of Journalists, Black History Month celebration. Thomson Reuters, Canary Wharf, London,  E14. All welcome. Registrations for this lecture should be send to lenac@nuj.org.uk.

 

Tuesday 23 October. Indian Ornithology, British Botany and Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912): the Scientific Legacy of a Founder of the Indian National Congress. One day event at Natural History Museum,

Cromwell Road, London, SW7. For details see www.history.ac.uk/events/event/4366.

 

Wednesday 24 October. 6.30-8pm. John Archer and the Black Atlantic. Talk  by Sean Creighton.  Through his support for Pan Africanist black rights, John Archer, Battersea’s Mayor (1913-14), had many contacts around the Black Atlantic world of Africa, the West Indies and the United States. Sean Creighton, a historian of Wandsworth and of British Black History, will give an illustrated talk

about these links. Putney Library, 5/7 Disraeli Road,

SW15. Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7090

 

Thursday 25 October. 9am-4pm. Entrepreneurial Legacies of the Notting Hill Carnival: A one day symposium. Despite attracting an audience of over 2 million and being dubbed Europe’s largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival, like other Caribbean carnivals staged throughout the world, has been plagued by financial difficulties and a steady stream of criticism in the media arising from festival organizers’ alleged lack of entrepreneurial and organizational skills. This type of discourse is also replicated within academic literature.
This symposium challenges the current consensus discourse both in popular media and within academia which suggests that the cultural entrepreneurs behind the Notting Hill Carnival, whilst being individuals of great creativity, lack entrepreneurial ability. It seeks to engage a range of cultural entrepreneurs including sound systems, steel bands, calypso singers, costume designers and event organizers to paint a picture of an innovative, highly sophisticated group of entrepreneurs who despite access to limited resources has managed to create a complex cultural production system.
Contact: Please email Nicole Ferdinand at Nicole.Ferdinand@kcl.ac.uk to book your place and to receive updates on the symposium. Location: King' s College London. See www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/cmci/eventrecords/carnival.aspx for more.

 

Saturday 27 October. From Africa to the White House: A journey of Resistance, Triumph and Spirituals. Tayo Aluko (of Call Mr Robeson) presents a musically illustrated talk with him singing  exploring African pre-slavery history, Africans' resistance to white domination over the centuries, and their eventual triumph (symbolically at least) with the election and inauguration of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States. Also features "Reshape While Damp" by Naomi Paul. Crossroads Women's Centre, London.

 

Monday 29 October. 5.15pm. 'The Eye of History': the India Office Records, the Hakluyt Society, and the fantasy of the all-seeing imperial archive. Peter Mitchell (Queen Mary, University of London).

Colonial / Postcolonial New Researchers' Workshop in Imperial & World History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

 

Monday 29 October 6.30-8.30pm. A Pan-African Embassy: The WASU and Self-Government. Talk by Dr Hakim Adi. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the

call for self-government for Britain’s West African colonies made from the heart of London by the  members of the West African Students’ Union (WASU). To mark this anniversary Dr Hakim Adi will talk about

the significance of the WASU, explain the importance of the WASU Project and show excerpts from his new documentary, which contains interviews with former WASU members and other West Africans who were

in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7466

 

Wednesday 31 October. 5.15pm. How To Make Friends and Corrupt People: The Confederate Infiltration of Parliament during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Dr Amanda Foreman. 9th History of Parliament Lecture at Portcullis House, Westminster. Entry by invitation only. For an invitation please contact pseaward@histparl.ac.uk’

 

Wednesday 31 October 6.30-8.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: life and legacy. Kwaku, a music industry and history consultant, will give an audio-visual

died 100 years ago, with an opportunity to hear some of his music. Putney Library, 5/7 Disraeli Road, London, SW15. Free - booking essential.  (020) 8871 7090.

 

Tuesday 30 October. 6-9pm. Harrow African/Black History Month event marking the 25th anniversary of the introduction Black History Month in Britain and Labour Party’s Black Section’s success with the election of 4 African and Asian MPs in 1987. Panel: Ansel Wong (London Strategic Policy Unit officer who helped introduce BHM), Marc Wadsworth and Roger McKenzie (Black Sections executives who helped with the election of the first 3 African British MPs). Chair: Kwaku (Akoben Awards & TAOBQ (The African Or Black Question) co-ordinator). Presented by WHEAT MST in association with Akoben Awards. There will be books on sale. Free. wheatsmst@gmail.com, www.25yearson.eventbrite.com
Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY

 

Wednesday 31 October 31. 2.30-4pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Streatham Library, Streatham High Rd. This is primarily for Lambeth schools. Led by Kwaku. (Note 2)

 

Wednesday 31 October. 6.30-8.30pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Kwaku. Putney Library, 5-7 Disraeli Road, SW15 2DR. 020 8871 7090. (Note 1)

Friday, 7 September 2012

Diary of Events September through to 2013


Note: IHR History Seminars. Very few of the seminar groups at Senate House have published their autumn programmes. To check visit www.history.ac.uk/events/seminars regularly.

Saturday 8 September. 11am. A Walk around Radical Salford. Red Flag Walks. Starts the Black Lion, 63 Chapel Street, Salford. This walk will explore Salford's radical history including the Flat Iron Market, the General Strike of 1842, vegetarian Christians, Votes for Women and the disturbances in Bexley Square in 1931. Fee £6 (£5 concessions). Further details: http://redflagwalks.wordpress.com

Sunday 9 September. 12-4pm. Annual Local History Day at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. Stalls from local history societies and organisations including Working Class Movement Library, Friends of Kersal Moor and the Irwell Valley Mining Project. 2pm talk on the Streets Museums Project. Architecture tour of the museum.

Sunday 9 September.  2.30pm. Walk: Lambeth Walk and Riverside. Meet outside gates of Lambeth Palace, corner of Lambeth Road and Lambeth Palace Road. The Lambethans Society.
 
Monday 10 September. 7,30pmff. The Castle Pub, Battersea. The new Castle application will be considered by the Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee. Civic Centre, Wandsworth High Street, London. 

Tuesday 11 September. Lunchtime concert 1.05pm. Waka Hasegawa plays SC-T’s Valse Suite Three- Four Op.71, Forest Scenes Op.66 (selections), Moorish Dance Op.55, and Cameos Op.56. Fairfield Halls, Croydon. www.fairfield.co.uk/showHome.php. Waka writes: ‘I think his piano music deserves more exposure and having performed Valse Suite at concert a few months ago back I know audience love his music! They went crazy afterwards!’ To see more about Waka go to Duo Piano 4 Hands www.piano4hands.com. She is Co-Artistic Director of Bristol International Piano Duo Festival www.pianoduofest.org.uk 

Tuesday 11 September. 6.30pm. Public Meeting regarding the death of Sean Rigg. Community/Police Consultative Group for Lambeth. Stockwell Community Resource Centre, 1 Studley Road, London, SW4. Panel: Chief Superintendent Matt Bell, Borough Commander for Lambeth, MPS; Ann Corbett (Lambeth Council's Assistant Director for Community Safety); Matilda MacAttram (Director - Black Mental Health UK); George Marshman (Lambeth Council's Divisional Director for Adult Social Care); Dame Ann Owens (Chair – Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)); Marcia Rigg-Samuel (Sister of Sean Rigg) and Anna Tapsell (Chair- Lambeth CPCG Mental Health sub-group). CPCG for Lambeth: admin@lambethcpcg.org.uk;
020 3638 3494;
www.lambethcpcg.org.uk.

Tuesday, 11 September. 7pm. Start of A WEA socialist theatre course Brindley Theatre, Runcorn.  Course looks at Brecht, Augusto Boal, 7:84, Unity Theatre, Dario Fo, Agitprop and other important aspects of the socialist theatre tradition. At the end of the course, students will aim to construct a piece of socialist theatre relevant to today's situation using some of the techniques they have learnt during the course. Further information from tutor Tom Mclennan on tomm562002@yahoo.com or 0771 684 8894.  

Thursday 13 September. 6pm. IHR Public History Seminar Series Launch.  Civic Engagement Then and Now: A View from the US. Professor Rebecca Conard (Professor of Public History at Middle Tennessee University and former President of the National Council on Public History). This new seminar series will be as a forum for an on-going dialogue on issues in the field between academic historians and students, practitioners of public history and others interested in the roles, purposes and challenges of ‘history in public’. The seminar will provide a platform to discuss the relationship between practical, political and methodological issues of public history, to develop innovative new approaches to historiography and public engagement, and to respond flexibly to the challenges of research policy.   

Thursday 13 September. 7.30–10pm. Start of weekly rehearsals for the 15 December SC-T Centenary Choir Concert (see below). Clyde Hall, Clyde Rd. Croydon. If you would like to take part  please contact Sue Simpson - andksimpson@talktalk.net; 01883 347120.  

Saturday 15 September. 12 noon. 'From the Mersey to the Ebro', a photographic exhibition commemorating the Merseyside Volunteers in Spain 1936 to 1939. The "Casa", Hope St., Liverpool. Over 50 photographs of some of the 200 Merseyside men who fought in Spain against Franco and his fascist allies. Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union, will speak before unveiling the Collection. There will be music from Alun Parry, and light refreshments will follow. If you wish to attend please email Felicity.Taylor@unitetheunion.org or call 0151 559 2027. It is not strictly necessary to book a place but for catering purposes it would help. 

Saturday 15 September. 3pm. John Thelwall Society AGM and talk 4.30pm. ‘John Thelwall & Radical Medicine'. Jerwood Library, Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. 7pm. Celebratory Thelwallian meal at a cafe next to the Trust. This will include Thelwallian speeches, etc, read out by actor Bill Wallis and others. Cost of meal. c£20. Bring own alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) drinks. To join, book and further details from Gordon Bottomley, Acting Secretary, John Thelwall Society:  secretary@johnthelwall.org 

Sunday 16 September, 6.30pm – Civic Service - Festival Evensong at Croydon Minster, Church Street, Croydon, sung by an augmented Minster Choir - Organist & Master of the Choristers, Andrew Cantrill. Programme includes:

·         Magnificat & Nunc Dimitti in F by SC-T.

·         Psalm 150, Laudate Dominum, O Praise God in his Holiness. Chant by Sir C. V.Stanford – SC-Ts composition professor at the Royal College of Music.

·         Anthem By the waters of Babylon, Psalm 137 by SC-T.

·         Hymn tunes - Luconor, Jesu, the very thought of Thee by SC-T and Engelberg,

·         For all the Saint by Stanford.

·         Organ voluntaries and solos also by SC-T & Stanford.

·         Part-songs by SC-T

Monday 17 September. 1-2pm. Urban Parks. Talk by Dr Hazel Conway.  Friends of Battersea Park Annual Lecture. Prince Albert Pub, corner of Albert Bridge and Parkgate Roads, London, SW11. Tickets £6. Lunch is also available for £6. Book online at www.batterseapark.org/lecture, or send cheque and sae to FoBP, 11 Elm Quay Court, Nine Elms Lane, London SW8.   

Monday 17 September. 6.30pm. Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar: An Architect of Modernity Who pioneered the Emancipation of Indian Women and Education for All. Illustrated talk by Dr. Amal Chaudhuri. Venue: Nehru Centre (cultural Wing of the Indian High Commission, 8 South Audley Street,London, W1. Underground  Marble Arch/ Green Park). Story of how Vidyasagar, born in a poor orthodox Brahmin family in a remote village of Bengal, became a social reformer against the very same orthodoxy, champion of education for all, particularly women, and a of the poor and the distressed. Living a simple life dressed in native dhoti, chador and a pair of ‘choti' (slippers), he was the focal hero of many interesting anecdotes. The crusades for Widow Remarriage and against Brahmin polygamy and child brides and the resultant Act of 1856 allowing widow remarriage were his crowning achievements.   

Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 September. New Perspectives On Industrialisation Conference. This will review the recent historiography of the industrial revolution in Britain, investigate comparative points in the human and environmental experience of rapid economic growth of the two countries, and explores the intriguing issue of why China, an economic powerhouse in the early modern era, was overtaken by the major European economies thereafter. Organised by IHR, the Economic History Society and PKU (Beijing University) the programme looks fascinating. Confirmed UK speakers and discussants include Roderick Floud, Julian Hoppit, Pat Hudson, Patrick O'Brien, Deborah Oxley, James Taylor and Nuala Zahedieh. For programme and registration details, please visit www.history.ac.uk/events/event/3889 or contact the IHR events office at IHR.Events@sas.ac.uk.

Tuesday 18 September. 6-8pm. A Quaker on the back benches: Edward Belson of Reading (1681-1746). Quaker Centre, Friends House, 173 Euston Rd, London NW1 2BJ. Edward Belson of Reading was an ordinary Friend of the ‘second period’ of Quakerism. His family were one of the first to be convinced in his home village of Haddenham, Bucks. He and two of his sisters moved to Reading to make their own lives and married other Quakers (one of the few times they appear in Quaker records). Edward kept an account book from 1706 (when he was released from his apprenticeship) until the mid-1720s, although it gradually became more like a diary or commonplace book as his financial affairs became more complex. Chris Skidmore has transcribed the two surviving volumes and will present some of the wealth of material both to illustrate Quaker family life in the early-1700s and to show how it reflects on the contemporary concerns in the Yearly Meeting that younger Friends were not living out the testimonies. Register for a free place at www.quaker.org.uk/quakerhistory.

Thursday 20 September. 2pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor  - An African British musical genius & pan-Africanist. History consultant Kwaku, and member of the SC-T Collective, will provide a synopsis of SC-T’s life, work, and legacy, and enable the audience to hear some of SC-T's music and find out a bit more about this once global superstar! This will be followed by a Q & A. National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. 020 8876 3444. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/samuel-coleridge-taylor.htm.

Friday 21 September. 6pm. Remembering Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 Aug 1875 - 1 Sept 1912) - an African British musical genius & pan-Africanist. Talk by history consultant Kwaku. Presented by BTWSC in association with BritishBlackMusic.com/Black Music Congress, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 100PM Collective. Free. btwsc@hotmail.com, www.SCT2012Brent.eventbrite.com. Brent Town Hall (Committee Rooms 2/3), Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex HA9.

Friday 21 September to Saturday 6 October. Manchester Peace Festival.  Walks, exhibitions, story telling, debate and concerts. Further details here.

Saturday 22 September.  12 noon-6pm. Stockwell Festival. Local dance groups, choirs, crafts, foodies market, steel drums – and Stockwell enthusiasts! Arts, crafts and retro clothing, and a bric-a-brac table top sale. In Larkhall Park, Wandsworth Rd, Lonsdon,  SW8, see www.thestockwellfestival.co.uk.   

Tuesday 25 September. 9.30am - 4pm.  Community organising through inclusive collective action.
Creating Changes is a project offering free community development training to a wide range of local support and development organisations, so that they can improve their practice in supporting small groups and networks. These courses are mainly aimed at community activists and paid and unpaid workers who support the learning, development and actions of small groups and networks. The training is free to the community and voluntary sector, whose bookings take priority. Subject to availability, statutory and private sector employees are welcome to take part in the training for a small charge of £25. Venue: at MEA House, Newcastle. To find out more, and for a booking form, visit www.fcdl.org/events/348.

Wednesday 26 September. 7pm.  The Leeds Rent Strikes 1914 and 1934: the battle for social housing and the birth of the tenants’ movement. Talk by Quentin Bradley. Ford-Maguire Society. Venue: in AG10 (‘the Boardroom’), Broadcasting Place, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2.
 
Thursday 27 September.  7 for 7.30pm. Your Tidal Thames Project.  Talk by Alice Hall (Thames 21) on the followed by open discussion. Organised jointly by the Battersea Society and Thames 21. This is a chance to share your views on the tidal Thames. What do you cherish and value about the tidal Thames, what are your concerns, what improvements would you like to see, and are you interested in being involved in helping to protect and make environmental improvements to the river? Information that you provide will help shape a ‘pilot catchment plan’ by the end of 2012. More information about Thames21 and this project can be found on the Thames21 website. Venue: St Mary's Church, Battersea Church Rd (near Battersea Square), London, SW11.

Saturday 29 September. 10am-3pm.  VGERTA & Macmillan Fun Day. Carmelita Centre, 41 Vauxhall Walk, London, SE11.

Saturday 29 September. 10am-5pm. Lambeth Archives Open Day: What has local government ever done for us? Talks, film screenings and exhibition of archives, at the Minet Library and Lambeth Archives (admission free), 52 Knatchbull Road, SE5. www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/LeisureCulture/LocalHistory/LambethArchivesOpenDay.htm.

Saturday 29 September. 10am-4pm. 'A terrible beauty is born'. Irish World Heritage Centre Conference on explores the period 1912-1922 in Irish history, and topics include women in the north of Ireland 1910-1922, and sport and the radicalisation of Ireland. Fee £15 (£12 concessions) including lunch. More details here.

Saurday 29 September. 7.30pm. “From Coleridge-Taylor to Chopin”: piano, soprano and tenor recital including songs and piano works by Coleridge-Taylor, alongside piano solos, operatic solos and duets by Chopin, Mozart, Donizetti, Gershwin (Porgy and Bess) and Scott Joplin (Treemonisha). The programme features three performers of Black heritage. Maxine Franklin (piano), Royal College of Music graduate and BBC Mozart competition prizewinner, has given numerous concerts in London, Europe, Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and USA. Abigail Kelly (soprano), Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire graduate and prize winner, has performed in Birmingham, London, across Europe, Jamaica, and with English Touring Opera and Opera South Africa. Peter Brathwaite (tenor), Royal College of Music graduate and prize winner and Winston Churchill Opera Fellow, has performed operatic parts in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh Festival and with Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant.

Piano accompanist is Oliver Davies, former piano professor at the Royal College of Music, piano and chamber music performer, music historian and Coleridge-Taylor specialist. This is a charity concert organised by Kiwanis (UK) international charity raising funds for a global UNICEF mother-and-baby project. Tickets £25 (students/children £15) from the Fairfield Halls Box Office, 020 8688 9291.

Sunday 30 September. 7.30pm. A Dream of Africa 2012. Gala Concert in aid of Ashanti Development. Programme to include Coleridge-Taylor: Five Negro Melodies for piano trio (Robert Gibbs, violin; Adrian Bradbury, cello, Oliver Davies, piano) and dancers from the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in new and recent works by Tamara Rojo, Thomas Whitehead, Nathalie Harrison, Daniel Jones, Erico Montes and other choreographers. Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7. Tickets £30 from RCM Box Office, www.rcm.ac.uk/ box office. For more information please visit: www.ashanti-development.org.

Tuesday 2 October. Belongings. Rizwan Butt explores parenting practices and negotiations in multi-ethnic and multi-racial families within the context of diasporic histories and multi-racist Britain. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.
 



Thursday 4 October. 4.30 pm. The Zong: Slavery, Evil Deeds, and Re-thinking the Past: A basis for discussion. ofessor James Walvin, Emeritus Professor of History, University of York. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1. 

Friday 5 October. ‘Outsourcing and Austerity: Civil Society and the Coalition Government’ Conference organised by NCIA, TUC, Unite, Unison, NAVCA and others. Will examine the impact of cuts in public spending, Government attempts to abolish rights, entitlements and services, and moves to contract out much of what remains to the private and voluntary sectors. All these developments throw down a challenge to those who want to defend the living standards of the worst off, as well as the ‘ungoverned space’ of voluntary action against state co-option or incorporation into the private sector. Find out more here – or by emailing Maxine@grantmoarcommunities.com.

Saturday 6 October. 11am-4pm.  Education and Trade Unions. Mandy Hudson on Trade Unions and Equality. Alex Gordon on Political Education in Trade Unions. Independent Working Class Education group. Brunswick Centre, near Russell Square tube, London.
 
Tuesday 9 October, 8pm - SC-T on Radio and Television. A rare opportunity to hear BBC broadcasts of two programmes about SC-T: Great Lives and Hidden History. Some lantern slides will be shown. There will also be a performance of some of SC-Ts Twenty-Four Negro Melodies op. 59 for solo piano. The Braithwaite Hall (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909 or at the door. 

Wednesday 10 October. 7.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Sean Creighton. Herne Hill Society. Herne Hill United Church Hall, near top of Red Post Hill at  junction of Herne Hill and Denmark Hill. 

Saturday 13 October. 10.30am-4pm. Eleventh Essex Conference on Labour History, jointly organised and sponsored by Labour Heritage, the Essex County Labour Party and the Cambridge & S.W. Essex Co-operative Party Council. The Labour Hall, Collingwood Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 2EE. All welcome. Witham Labour Hall is just 5 minutes walk from Witham train station. There is ample car-parking at the hall. Talks:
·         The Levellers in Essex in 17th century & the struggle for democratic rights. Stan Newens,  Labour historian, former MP & MEP.
·         The significance of the 1945-51 Labour Government in the history of our  Movement. Francis Beckett, Labour historian & author.
·         The present world economic crisis & its historical causes. Andrew Fisher, Socialist economist.
·         The Origins of the Labour Movement in Southend & S.E. Essex and the first Labour councillors. Nigel Smith, leader of Labour Group, Basildon council.
Registration fee of £6 per person (inc. lunch) to: John Kotz, High Gables, Foxearth, Sudbury Suffolk.  Make cheques payable to ‘Essex County Labour Party’. 

Tuesday 16 October. 5.30pm. Embodying Race in Colonial Spanish America. Rebecca Earle (Warwick). IHR Latin American History Seminar. Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

Tuesday 23 October. 5.30pm. Exploring Participatory Approaches to Archives. Dr Andrew Flinn. IHR Archives & Society Seminar.  Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

Wednesday 24 October. 6.30pm. John Archer and the Black Atlantic. Talk by Sean Creighton. Putney Library, Disraeli Rd, London, SW15. This talk will examine the contacts John Archer (and SC-T) had around the Black Atlantic.  

Friday 2 November. 7.30pm. Fairfield Hall’s 50th Anniversary Concert. Programme includes SC-Ts Petite Suite de Concert op. 77. Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon. Tickets from 020 8688 9291 or www.fairfieldhalls.co.uk 

Tuesday 6 November. 6.30pm. Black history on the streets of London: a virtual walk through 5 different parts of the city, bringing the past to your doorstep. Talk by Tony Walker, founder of Black History Walks UK. This will be a sample of all the walks, from 1500 BCE to 2000. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.

Friday 9 November. SC-T Musical. This musical written by local music teacher Stella Coussel on SC-T’s life as a child and teenager is being performed by local children and young people. It is particularly aimed at school party audiences but there will be seats for the public as well. Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Further details later. 

Tuesday 13 November. 6.30pm. John Milton as a theorist of liberty. , Creighton lecture 2012 by Professor Quentin Skinner (Queen Mary, University of London).  Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1. Attendance is free and this event is open to all. To RSVP, please contact IHR.Events@sas.ac.uk.
 



Thursday 15 November. 4.30 pm.The Archaeology of Slavery: Some recent work in Nevis and St Kitts.Dr Robert Philpott, Curator of Roman and Later Archaeology, National Museums Liverpool. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1.

Saturday 17 November. Kubla Khan. The Kent based Hayes Choral Society hopes to perform Kubla Khan. Further details in due course.

Friday 23 November. 8pm. The Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Story. Talk by Charles Elford, author of Black Mahler followed by a short recital of some of SC-Ts songs sung by Patricia Robertson and Paul Sheehan. Braithwaite Hall, (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909 or at the door. 

Saturday 24 November. Independent Working Class Education group meeting. Northern College, Barnsley.

Tuesday 4 December. 6pm. African Americans in Britain 1850-1865. Talk by Jeff Green giving a wide-ranging summary of the Black American presence with details and evidence to support the view that escaped or "fugitive" slaves were just one aspect of British history in those years. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House, Malet St/ Russell Square, London, WC1.
 



Thursday 13 December. 4.30 pm.  Why was the Atlantic Slave Trade so big? Professor David Richardson, Professor of Economic History, University of Hull. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1.

Saturday 15 December. 7.30pm. A Gala Concert. Programme to include SC-Ts Violin Concerto in G minor op. 80 and his Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Performed by the specially formed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Centenary Choir with orchestra. Conductor – Jonathan Butcher. Venue – TBA. Tickets: £8 from 0208 657 7909 or at the door. 

Tuesday 18 December. 1pm. Lunchtime Concert by the Trinity Boys Choir, featuring songs and part songs by SC-T. Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon. Tickets from 020 8688 9291 or www.fairfieldhalls.co.uk 

Sunday 30 December. 3pm. Informal Performances of SC-T’s Works on the very day Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Jessie Fleetwood Walmisley were married, and at the church where SC-T sang as a boy chorister, followed by tea etc. St Mary Magdalene Church, Canning Road, Addiscombe. Admission free. 

2013

Tuesday 15 January. 6pm. "A Wall of Anti-Slavery Fire" - Frederick Douglass in Britain. Talk by Hannah Murray. Former African American slave Frederick Douglass visited Britain in the 1840s, popularising anti-slavery, creating a sensation across the country and enhancing the transatlantic connections between abolitionists. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1. 
 



Thursday 7 February. 4.30 pm. The Cherokee Freedmen: Caught between Indigenous Identity and the Legacies of Slavery. Dr Richard Burchill, Director of the McCoubrey Centre for International Law, University of Hull. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1.
Tuesday 26 February. 6.30pm. The 1980s: Black art and socio-politics. Talk by Dr Rina Arya (University of Wolverhampton) looking at black visual art in the 1980s in Britain to examine the collaborations that occurred and the work that was being produced in reaction to the socio-politics of the day. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1. 

Tuesday 5 March. 6.30pm. Racism, heterophobia and the structural impact of South Asian doctors on the development of British General Practice (c. 1948 - c. 1983). Talk by Julian Simpson (University of Manchester) outlining how the actions of South Asian doctors working within a discriminatory environment facilitated the delivery of one of the key aims of the NHS when it was established: the provision of primary care to those who could least afford it. Black and Asian Britain Seminar, Senate House Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.
 



Thursday 7 March. 4.30pm. The Apprenticeship of Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone in the early nineteenth century. Professor Suzanne Schwarz, Professor of History in the Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts, University of Worcester. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1. 

Thursday 18 April. 4.30pm. Forced labour in the UK: a review of the evidence. Professor Gary Craig,
Chair in Community Development and Social Justice in the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1.

Thursday, 2 May. 4.30pm. Harriet Wilson, Humour and Indentured Servitude in Antebellum America
Dr Elizabeth Boyle. Lecturer, Department of English, University of Hull. Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull HU1.