Fighting for Justice & Equality for Black People

What’s in the archive?

These Archives document my work in fighting for Justice and Equality for Black People in the UK from the 1970s to the present. They include pioneering projects: working with young black offenders in Handsworth, Birmingham, trying to prevent them from ending up in prison, to setting up Handprint in 1983, a community publishing company that created books and materials on Black peoples’ cultures, histories and experiences. These publications included basic reading books based on the life of Rocky, a Jamaican woodcarver; a self-help women’s magazine called Survival created by Black women in Handsworth; and an audio visual presentation about the history of the Rastafari movement and Pan Africanism.

Subsequently I became a school governor, held a conference for parents and teachers, instituted The Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr’s Birthday as an annual celebration for African Caribbean children in our school, an event which was later taken up by other schools in Birmingham. I persuaded my school to celebrate Shrove Tuesday as Caribbean Day for parents and teachers, introduced Black teachers in our schools, encouraged Black parents to become school governors; and introduced a Black perspective into the whole school culture. I published a book on the event, Beyond the Blackboard. My work was recognised by the Handsworth Visionaries project at Soho House Museum in 2015. After retiring from teaching, I spent many years sourcing and sending books to under-resourced schools in Jamaica.