African Lives In The North East - Part 1 Developments

 Africans Lives in Northern England Calendar Sells Out

The African Lives in Northern England 2021 calendar has been very successful, and has sold out.

Many appreciative comments have been received from customers. e.g.

‘Really, the calendars are wonderful and such a bargain that there is no way I would sleep tonight if I did not 'fess up to getting more than I bargained for. Thank you so much for such a wonderful product and such great service!’

 

‘It is superb!  Congratulations to all those involved in producing it.’

‘I think it’s wonderful.  Thank you.’

 ‘It is indeed excellent’

I ‘must congratulate you and your group. The quality of paper and reproduction is excellent and the content and choice of images very informative. I am delighted with mine, … The price is extremely reasonable. I hope it is a sell out! Well done!’

‘Most impressive. My grandson, just first year at university will love it and will no doubt fill it with events supporting the Black Lives Matter events doable from Winchester. The calendar has already gone as a rare, open this Christmas present now! Please thank the team who carried this project through.’

The Newcastle Evening Chronicle is planning an article on the calendar.

Proposed Pamphlet

The calendar project group, of which I am a member, has agreed that their next project will be a pamphlet with more details about individuals to be produced for sale next September.

The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne have created an African Lives section on their website at www.newcastle-antiquaries.org.uk/index.php

This includes more detail, including references and further reading, that could not fit into the calendar. In due course, there may be a separate website for the project. Group member Sue Ward, who also handled the mailing of the calendar, is looking after this aspect. I have been handling the finances. When the final bills are paid the surplus income will be transferred to the Society to hold towards the funding for the pamphlet.

A suggestion has already been made that I should co-ordinate the production of a 2022 calendar for South West London. Hopefully others may want to do the same for other parts of the country.

More Information

Further detail about people of African heritage in the North East is in Part 5 of my recent series of pamphlets on North East slavery and abolition.

Part 1. Digging Up the Hidden Chains. Researching and disseminating information about the North East’s involvements in the slavery business and anti-slavery campaigning 

Part 2. The 'Black Indies': The North East Connections with the Slavery Business

Part 3. The Day of Jubilee is Come – Campaigning against the Slave Trade and Slavery in the North East 

Part 4. ‘In no place in the United Kingdom has the American slave warmer friends than in Newcastle’ – Black Abolitionists in the North East 

Part 5. The Involvement of People African Heritage in the North East 

Unfortunately the urls will not load so if you want copies please email me on sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com 

The North East Slavery & Abolition and State Racism - Truth & Memory

On 6 August I was a member of a discussion panel organised by the Truth and Memory project in South Shields. The session was recorded and can be seen on You Tube at

www.youtube.com/channel/UCCTPlqRxi5JpCOidczUyQwQ

The text of what I said is at:

http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com/2020/08/truth-memory-from-newcastles-slavery.html

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM)

Project member Bill Griffiths of TWAM and I have been discussing what more it can do on slavery, abolition and African lives, especially as Newcastle Councillors have asked them to consider helping with a community engagement project.  I have sent him a range of relevant material from the 2007 Remembering  Slavery Project and on black abolitionists. I have also made a number of suggestions, including:

·      putting back on the website the full set of the North East Slavery & Abolition Group newsletters 2008-10

·      flagging up parts of the collection that still need to be looked at, including parish records

·      advising what to look at in new collection acquisitions from 2008

·      approaching churches which have a long history to develop community engagement in which members of their congregations research the church records at TWAM for their role in abolition

·      reprinting the 2007 project pamphlet that was written by John Charlton of which 10,000 copies were given away for free

·      the problems of getting into schools and ensuring that material provided to them for teachers to use is actually known about as staff change

Gateshead

After discussion with me about the need to do a comprehensive review of parish records for information of people of African heritage, Sue Wards discussing with a number of members of the Society of Antiquaries their looking at the records for Gateshead. Of course there may be churches around the Region which still hold their parish records which members of their congregations could look at.

Continued at:

http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com/2020/11/african-lives-in-north-east-part-2.html

Re-edited re-the pamphlets on 22 February 2022.