Reflections on the current state of British Black History - Part 2

Academic Initiatives

There have been encouraging developments in a number of academic institutions but we need to be cautious about their sustainability. Middlesex University axed Hakim’s previous Black History course and it took some time for him to set up the MRes course at Chichester. Over the years the Institute of Commonwealth Studies breathed hot and cold towards BASA.

Decisions are taken on whims like the recent Sunderland University scrapping its history department because few students were enrolling, justifying it to be in line with a new “career-focused, professions-facing” approach. This ignores the value of historical study to a range of jobs including Committee administration, research and policy jobs, which was the bedrock of my career. They could re-shaped the content to attract a more diverse intake. 

This contrast with Durham whose Black History Month programme I contributed to last year and later this month I will be working with the 90 students on its Violence and Memorialisation module.

Some institutions have been contributing for some time. Professor Alan Rice at the University of Central Lancashire undertakes interdisciplinary research across literature, visual Arts, film and history about the Black Atlantic and has published Radical Narratives of the Black Atlantic (Continuum, 2003), and Creating Memorials, Building Identities: The Politics of Memory in the Black Atlantic (Liverpool University Press, 2010. He is an example of the many academics who are engaged in broader community history activity, in his case in the Slave Trade Arts Memorial Project in Lancaster (2005) and event commemorating the mutiny of African American GIs in Bamber Bridge (2013).

The Legacies of British Slave-ownership project at University College London has been crucial in developing our knowledge of the involvement of Britons in the slavery business, how much compensation they were paid and what they invested in after the end of slavery in the British West Indies. It has also thrown light on the children of many white slave owners with their slave women. The major updating of its database adds considerably to our knowledge and will encourage further work at local level.

Recent welcome initiatives have been the appointment of Olivette Otele, who had been active in BSECS, as Professor History at Bath Spa University last November, joining David Olusoga who had become Professor of Public History at Manchester, and Dr Kennetta Hammond Perry as Director of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre at De Montfort University in Leicester. There was also Newcastle’s commemoration of the 50^th Anniversary of the award on an honorary degree to Martin Luther King.

There have also been positive developments since the September 2012 Blackness in Britain Conference held in Birmingham. Its promotional explanation stated: ‘People of African ancestry have a long history and tradition in the United Kingdom. This history has been hallmarked by a number of struggles for recognition and against discrimination. In the present context of global uncertainty, and the reshaping of the British welfare state, as well as the UK’s attempts to reposition itself in relation to Europe, it is essential that we examine the place of the Black population and the challenges that lie ahead in the future.

Academia should play a central role in researching and entering into the necessary debates about the future of Black Britain, however our voices have largely been marginalised within the British academy. The aim of this conference is to bring Black academics who are engaged in the essential work of researching the past, present and future condition of the Black population in Britain. We hope that this will be the first conference of many and aim to build a network of Black academics in the UK.

As this is the first conference we are purposely keeping the call for papers open to cover any topic that either has impacted or will impact on the Black population in Britain. Potential topics could include, but are by no means limited to: Education, Health, Black identity, Black spirituality, theology and religion, Migrations/Emigrations, The impact of austerity, Arts and culture, Black Europe, Black Britain in the global context and Black feminism.’

One of the organisers was Dr Kehinde Andrew, who has gone on to be Professor of Black Studies and Director of the Centre for Critical Social Research at Birmingham University, and a founder of the Black Studies Association. He was the keynote speaker at the WHBBH Conference in October 2016. Having had a chat with him at the end I emailed commenting on some of the issues discussed at the later Conference

‘The need for a solid foundation of Black History is vital if students are to understand the context of the non-historical black studies they will be exploring.

Your emphasis on the Diaspora is crucial. There is confusion over the issue of learning about African-American history and figures like Luther King. There is an important interface between African-Americans and Britain. The Diaspora interconnections also include African-Canadians, whose story apart from the Black Loyalists is little known about over here.’

I referred to the talk I gave on this at the 2015 Canadian Black Studies Conference organised by Prof Afua Cooper (Dalhousie) a talk with her in London at the Institute of American Studies, and a talk on the 18thC aspects at the BSECS in January 2016. 

‘If these aspects of the Diaspora are neglected then we will fail to understand the complex nuances.’

Andrew has been busy speaking around the country, such as his Back to Black talk in November 2018 at the University of Bristol. In last year’s Black History Month (BHM) took part in a series of events on decolonising the curriculum organised by the University of Sheffield’s BAME Staff Network and Sheffield Hallam University’s Race Network. He also gave the National Union of Journalists Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture. He will be lecturing on Race in the UK and in the current political climate at the University of Chester on 9 March.

None of these were included in my BBH blog postings because I did not receive details from anyone on my network. No mention was made of his work and activities at the Seminar, nor of that of Otele, Olusoga or Perry.

What can other Universities do?

A number of issues arose during my involvement in last year’s Durham University BHM activities and about which I shared my thoughts with University staff. Interestingly I was not told that Jason Arday, an Assistant Professor in Sociology, was involved in the Black History Curriculum 2020 project which published its report in January.

While a lot of material was found in the archives and libraries across the North East during the 2007 Tyneside Remembering Slavery and Abolition project for which I was the project worker, it was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the interconnections with colonisation of the slavery business, the presence of people of African heritage, and the abolition movement.

The University Library’s Special Collections has a wealth of material that has not yet been fully looked at. There are therefore different ways of exploring the archive material, such as looking at the most relevant collections such as the Grey and Huddleston papers, at listings that have not yet been digitised, and sampling uncatalogued material. The archive material on the funding of the University and the colleges in the 30-40 years following from the foundation may reveal benefactors to be researched to see how they made their money. A member of the academic staff had already started to do this with one benefactor. Material may also emerge from examining the funding of the civic society organisations from the charities, the churches, the Assembly Hall, etc.

These investigations could be carried out as part of student projects. This does not have to be limited to history students, it can encompass medical students looking at material such as by the abolitionist Dr Thomas Winterbottom, science students looking at steam engines, sugar milling, etc; and environmental students looking at issues around fertility of the West Indian islands which influenced the productivity of the enslaved and the valuation differences between islands in the compensation process. English literature and other culture students could look at the cultural life of the City and the County, and the contemporary books and tracts published in the region about slavery and abolition. Religion and theology students could look at the different Protestants sects, the differences in their attitudes towards slavery and involvement in the abolition movement, and the work of the local branches of the missionary societies in relation to the West Indies and Africa.

Durham was unique in that it had a link with Fourah Bay College culminating in published work about the relationship, especially the Africans who were awarded degrees and what they did afterwards. Some came to the University to study, such as George (later Coleridge-) Taylor.

It will take time to undertake all this work. During the process the following actions could be considered: talks in the year long University lecture programme to which the public is also invited; talks by the students in their Departmental seminars; offers of talks relevant to local history and community organisations across the County. Exhibitions can be mounted which should be kept for use in future years. A web area would put up research findings, and the text of talks. Articles could be included in relevant University magazines. Provision of information about these aspects of the history of the University should be provided to new students and staff, along with induction sessions for new students and staff as part of a promoting diversity understanding. Creative writing using the material that has been researched should be encouraged. Crucially is the need to catalogue unlisted material in the Archives, and ensuring that relevant print listings of the Collection are digitised, along with digitisation of key archive material.

Co-ordination of this diverse range of initiatives could be done through appointing: a Professor or Senior Fellow to have an overview of the whole range of research, to co-ordinate Departmental, College and Archive contributions, mentoring lecturers and students involved. That person would be supported by a Committee of staff, the Diversity Team chaired by a very senior member of staff e.g. a Vice-Provost.

Given the link between the former Sierra Leonean student at the University George (Coleridge-)Taylor, and the past interest of former music students in the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor consideration could be given to including in the music curriculum an examination of the latter’s life and music within the context of the whole range of British music during his life-time, the role of Black musicians, singers and dancers in Britain, the influence of Black music on him, and his activity for Black rights and anti-colonialism. His music should be performed in concerts sponsored by the University. A member of staff could be appointed to specialise in the music of the period.

These ideas may have relevance to the way other Universities begin to engage.

Given the work Miranda Kaufman and Michael Ohajuru have been seeking to encourage at the Institute of Historical Research, and the appointment of staff at other Universities, the question arises as to whether there should be a number of networked hubs, based on existing University initiatives at Birmingham, Central Lancaster, Leicester, Bath, and Newcastle/Durham.

The Problem of Networking

A key concern about the future development of BBH is whether the different strands of BBH activity can ever be completely linked together. Of course the lack of unity is also the product of personality disputes and hostilities, differences in activists’ theoretical and ideological attitudes, and over strategy and tactics.

In the 1970s and 1980s ‘black’ was a political concept covering the African, Caribbean and Asian history and culture as reflected in BASA’s original name. Asian groups moved away from that understanding, so now most Black History Month programmes lack any Asian culture and history component.

We should continue to share information, network and build on the ways we can mutually support each other in the important work of re-telling British history, recognising the long Black presence and contribution and its importance in combating the racism which will continue to increase as a result of BREXIT.

Part 3 details BASA on the Internet and initiatives and projects which are signifiers for the optimism discussed in Part 1 and is at

http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com/2020/02/reflections-on-current-state-of-british_6.html