Please note: This event is now sold out. All attendees need to pre-register and obtain tickets on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/symposium-black-power-at-the-grassroots-tickets-1115269474019?aff=oddtdtcreator
Black Power at the Grassroots:
Documenting, Preserving, and (Re)presenting Histories of Black Struggle in Britain
Friday 31 January 2025
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK
9:30-10:00 Welcome (Uni Place 2.220)
10:15-11:30 Morning Sessions
Panel A Regional and Local Struggles: Leeds (Uni Place 2.220)
The Struggle for Black Power in a Yorkshire city
Moderator: Kennetta Hammond Perry (Northwestern University)
Participants:
Olivia Wyatt (Queen Mary University of London), ‘“The enemy in our midst”: Caribbean women and the Protection of Community in Leeds in the 1970s.’
Leanne Wenham (Goldsmiths), ‘Beyond the Headlines: Using Community Newspapers to rediscover Black activism in Leeds, 1972-1981.’
Max Farrar (Leeds Beckett University, Sociologist), ‘Black Power in 1970s Chapeltown, Leeds: the contested role of a white radical.’
Dawn Cameron (University of Leeds, Director of Cameron& Ltd), ‘Political blackness in 1980s Leeds: Integrity, intersectionality, and mixed-race identity.’
Panel B Black Power and Education (Uni Place 5.210)
Moderator: Jake Gandy (University of Manchester)
Participants:
Camille London-Miyo (Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University), ‘Black Supplementary Schools – Black Pedagogy in Practice.’
Malcolm Richards (University of the West of England), ‘Black Supplementary Schools – Black Pedagogy in Practice.’
Alisha Odoi-Smith (University of Oxford), ‘The Black Parents Movement, Britain’s Black bookshops, Black Power and the creation of the Black Intellectual.’
11:45-13:00 Midday Sessions
Panel C Regional and Local Struggles: Greater Manchester (Uni Place 2.220)
Moderator: Laila Benhaida (Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre)
Participants:
Jake Gandy (University of Manchester), ‘Black Power and Educational Activism in Manchester, c. 1965-1987.’
Sandhya Sharma (University of Manchester), ‘Subah – Finding a Voice: South Asian Feminist Struggles in Establishing a Young Women’s Refuge in Manchester.’
Shirin Hirsch (Manchester Metropolitan University and the People’s History Museum), ‘Bolton’s Grunwick: Black Power in the Workplace?’
Panel D Black Women’s Groups and Activism (Uni Place 5.210)
Moderator: Saskia Papadakis (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Participants:
Justin Wei (University of Cambridge), ‘Solidarity in Memorialisation: Lessons from the Remembering Olive Collective.’
Mobeen Hussain (University of York), ‘Critiquing Colonialism, Capitalism, and Commodification: the Activism of the Black Women’s Action Committee.’
Saffron East (Darwin College, University of Cambridge), ‘“Speak Out!”: Voices of Black Women at the Women’s Library, LSE.’
13:00-14:00 Lunch Session (Uni Place 2.220
14:15-15:30 Early Afternoon Sessions
Panel E Regional and Local Struggles: East and West Midlands (Uni Place 2.220)
Moderator: Rob Waters (Queen Mary, University of London)
Participants:
Kirsten Forkert (Birmingham City University), ‘Internationalist feminist and queer politics in the work of Birmingham Black Sisters and the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre.'
Jessica Amoako-Acheampong (University of Leicester), ‘Style and Black Power in the Midlands during the 1970s and 1980s.'
Saskia Papadakis (Royal Holloway, University of London), ‘Black Power, Black workers: revisiting the Imperial Typewriters strike of 1974.’
Panel F Studying Local Black Power Struggles: Methods, Sources and Approaches (Uni Place 5.210)
Moderator: Lianne Smith (Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre)
Participants:
Jack Webb (University of Manchester), ‘The Black British History Local Perspectives Network.’
Danny Zschomler (Goldsmiths), ‘Resistance from the margins: A socio-religious Black liberation movement and communities on London’s Old Kent Road.’
Jamil Keating (Northern Light Film CIC), Concept Film on Deportations
15:45-17:15 Late Afternoon Sessions
Panel G Roundtable Discussion: Parenting for Pedagogy – The Importance of educational experiences outside of the mainstream for Black young people (Uni Place 2.220)
Chair: Keisha Thompson (The Guardian – Legacies of Enslavement)
Participants:
Darren Crosdale (Rekindle School)
Reece Williams (Education Specialist, Factory International)
Diane Watt (Louise Da-Cocodia Education Trust)
Naya Higins (MMU / PWC Ambassador)
Ruth Onyekaba (Headteacher, Gorsehill Primary School / GM Race Equality Panel)
Panel H Reflecting on Black Power’s Limits, Fracture and Afterlives (Uni Place 5.210)
Moderator: Kerry Pimblott (University of Manchester)
Participants:
Shey Fyffe (Birmingham City University), ‘State de-radicalisation of Black community organisations in British history (1968-2000).’
Azfar Shafi, ‘After Black Power – Black Marxism and the struggle for Black politics.’
Nigel de Noronha (University of Manchester), ‘Manners and Misogyny: critical reflections on the Asian Youth Movement.’
Mayaki Kimba (Columbia), ‘Clapton Youth Centre and Municipal Anti-Racism in Crisis, 1978-1983.’
17:15-17:45 Concluding Remarks (Uni Place 2.220)
17:45-18:30 Reception and Networking Opportunity (Uni Place 2.220)
Comments