SOCIOLOGY INTHE ARCHIVES 2019 - 2020 PROJECT RACE AND ETHNICITY
A PROJECT IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BRITISH LIBRARY BY EMMA ABOTSI
SOCIOLOGY I N T H E ARCHIVES
Race and Ethnicity INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLECTIONS
SOCIOLOGY IN R A C E A N D THE ARCHIVES EDUCATION: A PROJECT 2019 - VIEW FROM THE 20: RACE AND BRITISH ETHNICITY LIBRARY'S COLLECTIONS This collection of documents presents a sample of the British Racism has a significant impact on Library’s archival material from different aspects of the lives of African, Caribbean, and Asian immigrants and racialised minority communities in the UK to trace communities in Britain. Alongside the impact of race and racism on anti-immigrant rhetoric and young people’s educational policies, demands for ‘assimilation’ experiences from the 1960s - and ‘integration’, and 1980s. It is part of the British criminalisation and securitisation of Sociological Association’s (BSA) particular communities, inequalities initiative to highlight the in terms of access to education benefits of archival research in among other public services sociology. As a result, the BSA disproportionately affect youth has partnered with the British from African, Caribbean, Asian and Library (BL) to establish the other immigrant, and racialised ‘Sociology in the archives’ minority groups. However, in the project. face of these challenges, members of African, Caribbean and Asian communities have a rich tradition of activism and community-led programmes in order to provide support and advocate for better conditions and social justice for SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
young people. This collection among other White residents which presents examples of such included protests over the initiatives. concentration of children of immigrants at local schools. Citizens of the Commonwealth were Documents like the article encouraged to come to the UK after ‘Immigrant classes Fill – Outside the second world war (late 1940s help called for’ published in and 1950s) to fill the demand for Middlesex County Times and West labour. The majority of Middlesex Gazette, Southall edition people came from the Caribbean, in 1964 and the British government’s Asia, and Africa to work and build a policy on the education of children life in the UK. Most of the of Commonwealth immigrants Commonwealth immigrants settled (1965) reflect public anxieties over in cities like London, Manchester, children of immigrants bringing and Bradford where there was work down the standards at schools or and, in some cases, existing not assimilating into British society. communities of people of African They also show how the authorities and Asian descent dating back to sought to limit the numbers. The the 18th century. Immigrants from government proposed the dispersal the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa policy to ensure that there were faced racial discrimination in their no more than 33% of children of daily lives such as lack of access to immigrants at schools. decent housing, unfavourable work conditions, and racial violence. A dozen Local Education Authorities adopted this policy and bussed By the 1960s, White residents children of immigrants (particularly began to move out of areas where those of non-European heritage) to Caribbean, Asian, and African spread them out between local people settled. This contributed to schools. The photograph of protests growing anti-immigrant sentiment against Dispersal (or 'bussing’ as it SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
was known) in Southall is an in Samaj (1976), a London-based, example of Asian communities Black politics journal. The activist challenging racism in the group linked racism in the UK to educational system as bussing was British imperialism, anti-colonial discriminatory and had harmful and anti-apartheid struggles in consequences for the children southern Africa. involved. In this piece, as with documents in Extracts from oral history this collection, ‘Black’ is used as a interviews with academics and political term. Many African, activists Gail Lewis and Nadira Caribbean and Asian activists Mirza, and the essay Afterthoughts groups in the 1960s – 1980s were by Sonia Hammond provide organised under a collective notion personal accounts of schooling in of blackness which reflected their 1960s/1970s England. They capture views on shared struggles in the UK young people of Asian and and solidarity with movements such Caribbean heritage having to deal as the Black Panthers in the US as with teachers' stereotypes and low well as anti-colonial, anti- evaluations of their capabilities (as imperialist liberation movements Mirza discusses), feeling inferior around the world (e.g Africa and (Hammond), and learning about Latin America). However, 'political Black struggles and developing their blackness', the use of the term Black awareness of politics (Hammond by people of African descent and and Lewis). Asians as a label for non-White, has declined in usage by activist groups. Connections to the international It has also been critiqued by Black struggle can also be seen academics since the late 1980s, in the example taken from the early 1990s for not capturing the leaflet by Blackburn Asian youth complexities of the needs and organisation which was published priorities of different groups. It is SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
still a contentious term as recent of anti-racist campaigns and articles in the Guardian and protests in schools in the 1980s. Gal-dem show. Dadzie, who is a well-known figure of the Black Women’s Movement in Since the 1970s, people from the UK, talks about her experiences African, Caribbean, and Asian of teaching in Haringey, London and communities set up educational fighting the marginalisation of Black initiatives to address the alienation (African and Caribbean) children in young people felt from being taught schools who were expelled and a curriculum based on Britain’s placed in 'sin bin' (pupil referral colonial legacies units). Young Asians' activism is which perpetuated racist views. captured in Rehman’s article which History, language, and culture were covers the 1982 Newham protests central to these community-led against racial violence at school and educational programmes (e.g. the harassment from the police. Black politics reading groups mentioned in Lewis’ clip). This While the collection of documents collection contains documents from presented here concerns events the archive of British-Caribbean from the 1960s to the 1980s, the poet and educator, James Berry, issues explored are not things of the who is celebrated for championing past. Institutional racism and racial Caribbean English and literature, inequalities are still prevalent in and his work with young people many sectors of society. For both in Black community education instance, Black children are still programmes and within the British more likely to be excluded from education system. school, young people of colour are disproportionately targeted by the The extracts from Stella Dadzie’s police, racist and Islamophobic oral history interview and Gulshan bullying in schools persists, and Rehman's article provide examples even healthcare inequalities SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
affect communities of colour. Black Cultural Archives Communities continue to fight George Padmore Institute these struggles through Huntley Archives (London organisations and activist groups Metropolitan Archives) like Black Lives Matter UK, Institute of Race Relations No More Exclusions, Kids of Colour, Indian Workers Association and many more.
With these examples of oral history interviews, news media, independent community publications, and documents from personal archives, this collection aims to offer an insight to the types of community responses to the challenges African, Caribbean and Asian youths faced around access to quality education and encourage further exploration of the topic through the rich materials at the British Library, and Black and Asian community archives.
Here are a few archives with documents relating to African, Caribbean, and Asian communities in the UK: The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE (Race Archives and Community Engagement) Centre SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
EDUCATION large numbers of children of POLICY immigrants at two primary schools. The Minister of Education, Edward Boyle, visited Southall and, like the parents, saw the numbers as a problem. Boyle was against segregated schools as he was a firm believer in the role of schools to assimilate children of immigrants into the ‘British ways of life’. When reporting on his visit to the House of Commons, he suggested limiting the proportion of children of immigrants to one-third of the school's population.
Immigration from the Commonwealth (1965) In 1964, the government’s This section consists of three Commonwealth Immigration documents relating to the dispersal Advisory Council (CIAC) also policy in the British education produced a report recommending system from the 1960s to late 1970s. spreading out children of immigrants to keep the numbers Fears over the concentration of down. minority groups in inner-city areas have been part of the general anti- Reports in newspapers like immigrant rhetoric in the UK Middlesex County Times and West following the arrival of immigrants Middlesex Gazette, Southall edition, from the Commonwealth in the show public panic about children of early 1950s. In 1963, White parents immigrants at local schools. For in Southall, London protested about SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
instance, in the extract from an article published in the 11th April 1964 issue, the journalist used language that evokes fear, like ‘numbers reach “danger point”’. The example also shows local education administrators calling on other schools in the borough to help them stay within the Minister of Education’s 33% recommended limit.
In June 1965, the Department for Education and Science’s (DES) document Circular (No. 7/65), The Education of Immigrants took up the 33% limit on children of Extract from article ‘Immigrant classes Fill – immigrants at schools and Outside help called recommended dispersal, spreading for’ published in Middlesex children between schools as a way County Times and West Middlesex Gazette, of keeping to this limit. These Southall edition. London. 11th April 1964 issue. suggestions were incorporated into Credit: Middlesex County Times and West Middlesex Gazette, Southall edition. the Immigration from the How to find this document: British Library Commonwealth document in Main Catalogue August that year, alongside other policy recommendations like the provision of additional training for teachers working with children of immigrants. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
'Education' extract from Immigration from the Commonwealth: Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister by Command of Her Magesty August 1965. HM Stationery Office. Great Britain. Crown copyright. How to find this document: British Library Main Catalogue. Ealing Borough was one of the 12 Local Education Authorities that implemented the dispersal policy. In Southall, part of Ealing, children of immigrants predominantly from India and Pakistan were put on buses and sent to schools outside their neighbourhoods. This practice was known as ‘bussing’. At first, parents welcomed bussing thinking that it offered their children better education with smaller, specialist classes. But parents quickly became worried about their children.
While there are a few reported positive outcomes of bussing like some children benefitting from SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
intensive English language training, there were concerns about the detrimental effects of this practice on children. For many children, bussing involved being sent to school a long way from their homes, sometimes 10 miles. This resulted in some children missing parts of their lessons because they arrived at school late and had to leave early. Photograph of an Anti-bussing demonstration Children also faced racist bullying in Southall, London published in Southall: the birth of a black as they were unwelcomed at their community by Campaign schools. Bussing was discriminatory Against Racism and Fascism/Southall Rights. and stigmatised children of London: Institute of Race Relations, c. 1979. immigrants. White children were Copyright Indian Workers Association not bussed to schools in ethnically- How to find this document: British Library diverse neighbourhoods. Also, Main Catalogue children of non-Anglophone The Race Relation Board took Ealing European immigrants like Italians Local Educational Authority to were not bussed or sent to the court over the dispersal policy and types of reception classes African, in 1975, it was ruled illegal for being Caribbean, and Asian children had discriminatory, but bussing in to attend. Parents, young people, Southall continued until the early and communities protested against 1980s. dispersal, as seen in the photograph of the Anti-bussing demonstration in Southall. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
JAMES BERRY Jamaican village. He stated in an ARCHIVE interview that he had a great love of English, poetry, and music from an early age and he was known as a bright student. He left school about age 14 due to his family’s financial circumstances. At the age of 18, he was recruited, among many other young Caribbean men, as farm labourers to work in the US during the Second World War. He worked on various farms in different parts of the country and moved about according to the needs of the harvest in different areas. During his time in the US, he experienced the impacts of racism on the lives of African Americans. He returned to Jamaica shortly before migrating to Cover of ‘Cut-Way Feelins Loving and Lucy’s Britain in 1948 on the SS Orbita, one Letters’ (1981) from the James Berry archive. of the ships that brought the first The British Library. waves of Caribbean immigrants of This section consists of three the “Windrush generation”. Berry documents from the archives of arrived in the UK in search of better British-Jamaican poet and educator, economic opportunities. He trained James Berry. and worked as a telegraphist for Cable and Wireless in London. He Biography: also took evening courses and Berry was born in 1924 in a small writing workshops during the 1950s SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
and 1960s and was writing short publishing in the UK – he edited four stories for some time before he anthologies of British-Caribbean began to write poetry. He took poetry between 1976 and 2001 and voluntary redundancy from his job was a key member of the Caribbean in the mid-1970s. He had been Artists Movement (CAM) in the writing in his spare time and selling 1960s-70s. his writing for years and the chance to be able to access a pension and Among his extensive works of over further develop his writing greatly 20 publications are his collections for appealed to him. children which explore Caribbean and West African folktales. Berry was Drawing on his experiences, Berry’s also heavily involved in English poems explore the themes of literacy education and spent time in migration, life in Britain and the schools as a visiting poet and ran Caribbean, and the legacies of writing workshops at a Black colonialism. He is well-known for Supplementary School at the Abeng writing in a mixture of ‘Standard’, Centre, a community hub in Brixton, British English, and Jamaican patois. London which provided educational He has won several awards for his and youth services alongside being a works including being the first Black meeting place for Black activists . poet to win the National Poetry Competition in 1981. Berry was also James Berry died in June 2017. an influential figure in promoting Caribbean literary works, particularly the use of Caribbean [1] Abeng Centre was a meeting place English as a legitimate form of for Black community activists such as literary expression, which he did the Brixton Defence Campaign through his own works and his following the 1981 uprisings. involvement in independent Black SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
instance, we learn how much Lucy misses Jamaica and how she is able to maintain her connections to her homeland through her friend, but also how much living in London has changed her outlook on life in Jamaica.
In this document, a draft of James Berry’s comments about Lucy’s Letters and Loving, he writes about his inspiration for the collection and also gives some insights into how he ‘Comments on Lucy’s Letters’ from the James saw Lucy’s development as a Berry archive. The British Library. character. Copyright James Berry. Lucy’s Letters and Loving, published in 1982, is James Berry’s second poetry collection. It explores the themes of migration and belonging through the experiences of Lucy, a Jamaican immigrant in London. Berry structured the collection as a series of letters written by Lucy to her friend Leela who lives in a village in Jamaica. In the letters, the readers learn not only about Lucy’s life in London but her impressions of different aspects of society both ‘From Lucy: At School’ a poem from Lucy’s Letters and Loving (1982). London: New Beacon in England and Jamaica. For Books. Copyright James Berry. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
In this poem, Lucy writes to her Part of the interest of the poems at friend Leela about a London school. the time was the perspective from The themes of multicultural which the series was written, its England are strong in the poem as humour, and the use of Caribbean Lucy describes the different English. Berry always took care to ethnicities of the students at the make his writing of Caribbean schools. Based on his observations English as true as possible to the from his educational workshops, spoken language, but also Berry viewed schools as important intelligible to readers who are spaces for shaping attitudes around unfamiliar with the language and race. He spoke to teachers about form of expression. their conscious and unconscious biases and how it negatively impacts Black children. He also saw the classroom as a place of mutual learning between teachers and pupils from different backgrounds, as he writes in the fourth verse of the poem, Black children have White teachers but if you look closely, it is Black pupils who are teaching their white teachers. ‘Discovery’ extract from Reflections on my Berry sought to capture a sense of writer in residence year (1977). The James an individual and a culture through Berry archive. poetry which can be seen in his Copyright James Berry. attention to Lucy as a character (as How to find these documents: Contact the Manuscripts and Maps Reference Enquiry he wrote in his commentary on the Team collection) James Berry’s publications can be found through the British Library Main Catalogue SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
This document was found in a file out on loan. Berry also noticed that containing James Berry’s notes from three popular books Rosa Guy’s, The his educational work between 1978 Friends, Chelsea Herbert’s booklet to 1982. The contents of the file In the Melting Pot, and Farrukh consist of syllabi on Afro-Caribbean Dhondy’s East End at Your Feet literature, teaching materials, and were all about Black and Asian examples of students’ works from teenagers in big cities like New York Berry’s writing workshops at and London. It was these stories, schools and Black community-led rather than the works of celebrated educational programmes. In one of Caribbean writers like Samuel the document’s Reflections on my Selvon, V. S. Naipaul and George writer in residence year (1977), Berry Lamming that appealed to Berry’s also wrote about his observations students and he hinted at a possible during his time as a Writer-in- reason for this concerning the age residence at Vauxhall Manor, an and generation of the girls – being ethnically diverse Comprehensive children of Caribbeans who School in South London where he migrated to Britain in the 1950s and facilitated poetry workshops with 1960s. 82 girls aged 14-18 years old. As this document demonstrates, Many of the girls who participated young people were eager to read in James Berry’s workshops were accounts that reflected their lives. pupils of Caribbean heritage. In the Upon discovering the lack of section titled ‘Discovery’, James relevant material in the school’s Berry observed that there were few library, Berry suggested some key books in the school’s library that Caribbean texts. He would later also related to the girls’ direct produce works specifically aimed at experiences and the ones the library children and youth from the late owned were very popular and often 1980s. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
‘AFTERTHOUGHTS’ FROM TRIANGULAR MINDS: BLACK Y O U T H O N IDENTITY
Extract from ‘Afterthoughts’ by Sonia Hammond published in Triangular minds: Black youth on identity. Edited by Judy raven. Manchester Community Education Afro- Caribbean Language Unit, Moss Side Community Education Centre: Central Manchester Caribbean English Project, 1986. Copyright Manchester Education Committee How to find this document: British Library Main Catalogue Triangular minds is an edited
Cover of Triangular minds: Black youth on collection of essays produced as identity (1986). part of the Central Manchester Credit Ivan Seymour (design) and Rod Leon Caribbean English Project from 1984 (photograph) to 1986. British-Jamaican educator, Judy Craven, worked with young British-Caribbean people between the ages of 17-35 to produce a teaching pack SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
with texts in both standard and teachers' low expectations of her Caribbean English. The project capabilities. also ran training programmes with teachers and students on Caribbean The Central Manchester Caribbean language and culture. English Project is also an example of community education initiatives in The works in the collections centre the 1970s and 1980s that sought to around Caribbean youths' teach young people of African and descriptions of growing up in the Asian descent about their histories, UK and cover topics like cultures, and languages as well as experiences of racism but also the promote cultural diversity in the positive influences of Africa, the British education system. Caribbean, and Britain in shaping their identities as Black-British youths.
This extract is taken from ‘Afterthoughts’, a short essay by Sonia Hammond, a young woman reflecting on her educational experience in England in the 1960s and 70s. She describes feeling out of place at her predominantly white school and less capable than her white peers and educating herself about the struggles of Black people, like apartheid in South Africa. In the essay, Hammond recounts that while her family valued education, she struggled at school due to SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
‘STAND UP AND Britain. Unlike the older generation FIGHT BLACKBURN of South Asian groups such as the Indian Workers Association, YOUTH SAY’ FROM Pakistani Progressive Party and SAMAJ Bangladeshi Workers Association, who also protested against racial discrimination, the Asian Youth Movements were made predominately of young people who had grown up in Britain. Rising unemployment and violence from the police and far-right groups formed part of everyday life for young Asians and their peers from African and Caribbean communities. 'Imperialism' extract from 'Stand up and fight This shaped their activist activities Blackburn youth say' published in Samaj. as they organised based on shared London. September 1976 issue. experiences of racism and the Credit Blackburn Youth legacies of colonialism. The term How to find this document British Library 'Black' was also used by Asian Youth Main Catalogue Movements and their peers of African descent who identified with international struggles like Black political activism in the US, anti- colonial, anti-imperialist and anti- Blackburn Asian youth organisation apartheid movements in Africa, the was one of many nationwide Asian Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia. Youth Movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s in response to racist Leaflets, newsletters, and other violence in Asian communities in such self-published materials SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES produced by groups like Blackburn Blackburn’ and the article detailing youth offer insights into their ideas. resistance to apartheid in South The piece ‘Imperialism’ is a section Africa, demonstrations against from a Blackburn youth leaflet racist attacks on Black people in the published in the September 1976 UK. Samaj was a London-based, issue of Samaj. The piece address bilingual (English and Urdu) racialism, the grouping of humans publication founded in 1976 as part into races based on categories like of antiracist, anti-colonial, socialist physical characteristics and culture, Black political movements in the UK in Britain. It seeks to challenge the in the 1970s. idea of racialism as a product of far- 'SELF-DEFENCE' right groups like the National Front F R O M M U K T I and embeds it into a wider history of British imperialism. Also, the piece links racist attitudes towards Black people in the UK along with unfavourable working conditions and exploitation of resources in former colonies to the struggles against racism and imperialism worldwide and concludes with a call to unite with those fighting similar struggles.
The ideas of uniting Black struggle 'Self-Defence' by Gulshan Rehman published globally from this piece by in Mukti. London. The Mukti Collective. June- Blackburn youth can also be seen on Aug 1083 issue. the front of the Samaj issue with the Copyright Glushan Rehman and the Mukti headline ‘Soweto to Salisbury Collective Southall to How to find this document: British Library Main Catalogue SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
of racism at school in the 1960s and reports that the situation has gotten worse. By the early 1980s, many of Newham’s Asian, African and Caribbean residents were living in fear of racist attacks. Far-right groups like the National Front were targeting schools in Newham for recruitment and young Asians were 'Self-Defence' by Gulshan Rehman published in Mukti. London. The Mukti Collective. June- being attacked in playgrounds. Aug 1083 issue. Copyright Glushan Rehman and the Mukti Collective It is within this context that 8 Asian How to find this document: British Library youths were arrested on 24th Main Catalogue September 1982 for defending An image from this article has been redacted themselves from an attack by three for copyright reasons. Attacks from fascist and far-right police officers in plain clothes. groups and police harassment has Rehman’s account details the been a major concern for immigrant formation of the community-led, communities and other racialised Newham 8 Defence Campaign, to minority groups in the UK. The protest justice for the youths who article ‘Self-defence’ by Gulshan were arrested and against racism in Rehman provides examples of such general. School pupils went on attacks in the Asian community of strike during the six weeks of the Newham and young people’s trial in support of eight youths. The campaigns against violent racism. trial resulted in the chargers dropped against four defendants While Rehman's article focuses on but the other four were convicted violent attacks on Asian school of causing affray (fighting in a public pupils in 1982, she began her article place, causing a disturbance) and with an example of her experience had 50 hours of community service as punishment. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
In the last two sections of the ORAL HISTORY article, Rehman highlights the role INTERVIEWS CLIPS of police as aggressors, who do not protect African, Caribbean, and 'Gail Lewis: Gail Lewis on her educational experiences Asian communities from racial Interview with Rachel Cohen in 2011, violence from far-right groups. Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation Rather, these communities are Oral History Project C1420/14 punished for defending themselves. Track Rehman uses the outcome of the 2 [01:04:45-01:06:29] Copyright University of Sussex and The Bradford 12 case, where 12 Asian British Library Board youth activists from the United How to find this document: British Library Black Youth League were arrested SoundCloud in 1981 for their attempts to defend Gail Lewis is a sociologist who their community from a Fascist works on psychosocial studies of march, to highlight communities’ race and gender. She is also a rights to defend themselves. trained psychodynamic psychotherapist. As a longstanding This article was written for Mukti, a member of Black women’s activist multilingual[1] magazine founded in groups like Black Brixton Women’s 1983 by Asian feminist activists for Group, Organisation of Women of Asian women. In line with the goals Asian and African Descent of the magazine, Rehman's article (OWAAD), Lewis was involved in aimed, not only to challenge the various campaigns and programmes narrative that appeared in major in the 1970s and 80s, including media outlets, but also to inform the women’s aid, housing rights, and community about the defence anti-racism and fascism. In this campaign. Independent community short clip from her oral history publications like Mukti were interview, she discusses the essential resources for mobilising importance of learning as part of support for such campaigns. being a Black activist.
[1] Mukti was published in English, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Punjabi. SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
Among the reading groups Lewis politics, racism, and anti-colonial attended was one organised by theory that resonated with the Black Liberation Front, which was a experiences of African, Caribbean, grassroots, political organisation and Asian communities in the UK from the 1970s that established and to explore their histories. As various projects to support Black Lewis’ clip shows, these reading communities, including groups were important places for supplementary schools, community developing her political bookshops, and affordable housing. consciousness. In the clip, Lewis mentions reading works by Black activists and scholars like Walter Rodney’s book, Groundings with My Brothers (1969) on racism and Black power, and works of social justice activist and academic Angela Davis, African- American inmates, Soledad Brothers on race and the mistreatment of Black people in the US criminal justice system and political groups like the Black Panther Party.
Study groups, like the ones Lewis attended, community bookshops, and educational programmes were a key feature of Black activism in the UK in the 1970s and 80s. These initiatives provided an opportunity to learn about topics such as SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
Nadira Mirza: In these two clips, Mirza discusses Clip 1: Nadira Mirza talks about her schooling her educational experiences in in England during the 1970s 1970s England as a young Asian, nterview with Rachel Cohen in 2011, Muslim woman. Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation Oral History Project C1420/17 Track 1 [00:57:42-01:01:02] Schools in former British colonies, Copyright University of Sussex and The like Pakistan where Mirza spent a British Library Board large part of her childhood, were ow to find this document: British Library structured on the British education SoundCloud system. This included being taught Clip 2: Nadira Mirza on her teachers’ a similar curriculum to British stereotypes of Muslim girls students. Mirza even mentions in Interview with Rachel Cohen in 2011, clip 1 that she had an equivalent of Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation the Ordinary Level (O’ Level) Oral History Project C1420/17 qualification in English from her Track 1 [01:06:20-01:09:15] Copyright University of Sussex and The school in Pakistan. However, Mirza’s British Library Board teachers at her school in England How to find this document: British Library had the perception that the SoundCloud education system in Pakistan was Nadira Mirza is a feminist activist inferior to that of the UK. Mirza was and academic specialising in adult being pushed by her teachers education and social mobility. She towards taking the Certificate of is well-known for her work with Secondary Education (CSE), a Asian youths in the UK, particularly vocational qualification. Mirza had Muslim girls, through her to persuade her teachers to allow involvement in organisations like her to take the General Certificate the National Association of Asian of Education (GCE) O’ Level which a Youth and the Asian Women and student needed if they wanted to Girls Centre. Mirza continues to pursue an academic pathway (e.g. support Muslim women’s activism. going to university after secondary SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES
school). Clip 2: Stella Dadzie on her involvement in the campaigns against “Sin bins” (pupil In clip 2, Mirza talks about how her referral units). Interview with Rachel Cohen in 2011, teachers’ and career adviser’s Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation stereotypes of Muslim girls led her Oral History Project C1420/17 to enrol in a teaching training Track 5 [01:00:20-01:03:42] course that she did not want to do. How to find this document: British Library SoundCloud Both clips provide a personal Stella Dadzie is an educationalist, account of teachers’ assumptions activist, writer, and historian. A based on race, gender, and religion prominent figure of the Black and its impacts on young people's Women’s Movement in the UK, lives. African, Caribbean, and Asian Dadzie was a founding member of activists, like Mirza, sought to the Organisation of Women of Asian challenge these discriminatory and African Descent (OWAAD), an practices through their campaigns umbrella organisation which and community-led initiatives. brought together different women’s groups and campaigns on issues relating to women’s rights, Stella Dadzie: immigration, anti-racism, health, Clip 1: Stella Dadzie talks about her experiences as a teacher. and education. She co-authored The Interview with Rachel Cohen in 2011, Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Sisterhood and After: The Women's Liberation Lives in Britain (London: Oral History Project C1420/20 Virago, 1985), with Beverley Bryan Track 5 [00:57:27-01:00:20] opyright Stella Dadzie and University of and Suzanne Scafe, which won the Sussex and The British Library Board 1985 Martin Luther King Award for How to find this document: British Library Literature. Dadzie is also well- SoundCloud known for her educational activism and her work on anti-racism in schools. In these two clips, Dadzie SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES talks about her experiences as a How the West Indian Child Is Made secondary school teacher in the Educationally Subnormal in the 1970s and 1980s. British School System which examined the large number of For Dadzie, pastoral care and her Caribbean children classified political perspectives on race and as ‘educationally subnormal’ (ESN) class were important aspects of her and placed in special ESN schools work as a teacher. She comments in for the ‘learning disabled’. Black clip 1 on her connections with her parents and community groups students and joining organisations placed pressure on schools like the National Association for demanding change. As Stella Dadzie Multicultural Education (NAME), mentions in clip 2, ‘sin bins’ becoming a Union Representative (pupil referral units) in the late for the National Union of Teachers 1970s and 1980s were a continuation (NUT) to campaign against of a system which assessed Black institutional racism in the education children as ‘disruptive’, excluded, system. and placed them in special educational units which had a Black parents from groups like the negative impact on children’s North London West Indian education. Dadzie worked with Association have been raising fellow activists from United Black concerns about the excessive Women’s Action Group to set up the testing and the disproportionate Haringey Black Pressure Group on number of Caribbean children Education to campaign against the (particularly boys) assessed as ‘sin bins’. They challenged the having special educational needs number of children being since the 1960s. In 1971, educator suspended from schools in the Bernard Coard published a Haringey borough (London), pamphlet participated in meetings with the Local Educational Authority to SOCIOLOGY IN THE ARCHIVES voice their concerns, produced leaflets to inform local parents about ‘sin bins’, published their findings in the local press. Their actions resulted in the Local Education Authority abandoning the idea of having sin bins in every school in the borough.
Dadzie also discusses her work on the ‘Sus’ (suspected person) law which gave police rights to arrest youths on the suspicion of ‘loitering with intent to commit an arrestable offence’ under the 1824 Vagrancy Act.