Black British History: Local Perspectives

Throughout the modern period, people of African descent have arrived in Britain to establish communities around certain locales. In the nineteenth century, this occurred mainly in the dock cities of Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff, Bristol and London as sailors and travellers from the Empire settled on British soil. In the twentieth century, such migratory patterns evolved to become bigger in scale and also to devolve across the country. That is, Black migrants from the Caribbean and Africa increasingly spread throughout Britain to establish neighbourhoods and communities across Scotland, Wales, the North and the South-West as well as the dock cities. Whereas most academic works have studied this history through the case of London, this project seeks to tell the story of Black lives in Britain from the perspective of this range of local settlements. By recognising, recovering and studying this multiplicity of experiences from around the country, we are able to tell a more diverse, democratic and nuanced history of Black Britain in the modern era.
To unearth and platform these histories, this project brings together representatives of local, community, Black History groups from Glasgow, Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, London and Stockport, along with the archivists of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Centre, curators at the Hunterian Museum, the youth organisation Rising Stars, and academic historians at the University of Manchester. The project arises out of the ideas, suggestions and requests of these community partners, who attended the Black British History Through Local Perspective workshop in Manchester (June 2022). This application is thus reflective of a distinct set of needs and concerns felt by local Black community historians across Britain.
At planned network meetings, members will share their research of their respective locales so that we are able to build a multifaceted history of Black Britain that is nuanced by locality and takes account of a diverse range of experiences. How did the rural, quaint and sparsely populated Lancashire of Caribbean migrants like Learie Constantine and C.L.R. James compare to the Black neighbourhoods of Paddington or, later, Brixton in London? What role do places like the former play in narratives of Black Britain? And how does highlighting Black history as emanating from across the country, as opposed to a focus on its 'race relations capitals', reshape understandings of the British nation itself? By engaging with local Black historical experts, this project aims to answer these questions.
In bringing representatives of local Black history groups together with experts in academia, museums, and archives, the project will create a unique cross-sector network of colleagues. The range of specialisms held by each of the network members, from oral history to archival practice, bid writing and media performances, means that a particularly salient range of skills will be on offer for exchange. The network will organise four workshops which will each involve a skills-based session, a work-in-progress seminar and a network meeting. We will also produce an edited volume containing contributions from the network's community intellectuals, activists, local historians and academics, and a report on cross-sector collaboration.