Two Black Girls

T(w)o Black Girls is a podcast made by Monique and Vimbai, two black girls living in London. Listen in as we offer commentary on everything and anything that interests us!

[stereoculturesociety]

CultureSOUL: *Vintage* Black Women of Brixton, London - 1950s-1970s

[vee5jay]

Briefly: Notting Hill

This picture from @OscarWGrut on twitter, is captioned ‘Worst advert ever?’

Notting Hill is in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and is either known because of its world renowned carnival or the romantic comedy by the same name. 

I gave Brixton the ‘briefly’ treatment here, Notting Hill has a common history on two notes; immigrant communities in the 1950s & 1960s and gentrification.

There is still so much I haven’t read and heard about the history of the Afro-Caribbean community in London, beyond the stories of elders and family photos. I do, however, understand that the above photo demonstrates that once the demographic of an area is forcibly changed, a space is made for brazen displays of ignorance of local history.

There is probably much more I could type about this, though I’d be stepping out of the realms of being brief. Defeating the purpose of this post.

For an interesting place to start if you would like to get a glimpse of immigrant life in the UK and then some, try Michael X: A Life In Black and White,there is a review of it  here. 

[lostinurbanism]

A Portrait of Hackney by Zed Nelson

[bekkethatsall-deactivated201511]

My people’s

[toblackgirls]

This is one of the few things in life, along with Two Black Girls of course, that I am incredibly proud to have been involved with. We delved into our own experiences as black faces in Higher Education in episode five and let's just say recording that episode was painful in many ways. We need to keep talking about higher education and its blinding whiteness from the academic staff (don't forget that the UK only has eighty-five black professors our of 20,000) to the curriculum itself, and the impact it has on students of color. 

PS: I love everything that was said in this but hands down my favourite part was when one of the speakers described people's attitude towards empire as 'they think it was an Elizabethan NGO'.

-Vimbai 

[toblackgirls]

British photographer Charlie Phillips offers human dignity to often forgotten lives in his exhibition, 'How Great Thou Art',  currently on Photofusion gallery in Electric Lane, Brixton, London, until Dec. 5.

(via Photos Capture Caribbean Rituals for Memorializing the Dead - The Root)

[ladyfresh]

Stuart Hall: On Photography

By Sunil Gupta Commissioned by Mark Sealy Produced by Autograph ABP & OVA Artist, activist and writer Sunil Gupta interviews Stuart Hall in his home in 2001, on the occasion of Hall being awarded an honorary degree by the University of the West Indies. Stuart Hall discusses the importance of the photography - Black British photography in particular - and his interest in the visual. Supported by Arts Council England

[cecileemeke]

Rianna on Strolling by Cecile Emeke: human zoo, respectability politics, generational pain/trauma, idolizing past, polyamory & more [full video here]

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[fattytantan]

Look at my wife

xaymacans

talking di tings dem. Watch the full video guys x

[toblackgirls]

This film by journalist Arwa Aburawa delves into the radical history of Britain's first black bookshop which was founded by John La Rose and Sarah White in 1966. As well as creating a much needed space for black communities to access and publish their own literature, it helped support important campaigns such as the Caribbean Artists Movement, the Black Parents Movement as well as playing a pivotal role in the historic Black Peoples Day of Action. Decades on, 'New Beacon Books' is still a functioning bookshop but in a world of Amazon and Kindles can it really survive forever?

[medievalpoc]

Black people have been present in Britain since its early history. A troop stationed at Hadrian’s Wall in the third century AD was reported to include black soldiers and, in medieval times, black musicians were a common feature of Britain’s courts. In the 18th century Britain’s increasing mastery of transatlantic trade, particularly its dominant role in the trade in enslaved Africans, brought about a significant increase in its black population. By 1770 this population is estimated to have numbered around 15,000 people, based largely in London and around ports involved in transatlantic trade such as Bristol and Liverpool. Black Britons worked in a variety of professions; as sailors, shopkeepers, artisans, labourers, peddlers and street musicians, amongst others. The biggest employment sector for both white and black populations was domestic service and a large number of black people worked as servants, butlers, valets and other domestic helps. Unlike their white counterparts it is probable that black domestic workers were largely unpaid and unable to voluntarily leave their employer. The social and legal position of black people in Britain remained precarious throughout the 18th century and, as Norma Myers has noted, ‘as late as 1785 black people continued to be regarded and indeed, treated as property’. Some Africans were able to resist the anonymity and oppression of domestic service and attain a profile for themselves. Examples include Francis Barber (ca. 1735-1801), the Jamaican-born valet, secretary and later heir of Samuel Johnson, also Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780), born on a ship transporting slaves from Africa to the West Indies, butler to the Montagu family, later owner of a Westminster grocery shop and best-selling author of a collection of letters, published in 1782. The records of other African lives marked by slavery have been lost to us but are likely to be as varied as a racist society permitted. Despite the diversity of black people in Britain and the occupations they held, in the visual culture of the period they appear most frequently in the role of domestic servant. The black servant is typically depicted as a boy or young man wearing a form of orientalised dress (or, at the very least, a feathered turban) in an affluent urban domestic environment. He is rarely pictured at the centre of the scene, which is usually dominated by white subjects, but is generally positioned at its margins. He is often associated with new commodities made available through transatlantic trade, such as tobacco, coffee, chocolate or tea (drunk with sugar from West Indies plantations).

-Silver Service Slavery: The Black Presence in the White Home

An analysis of 18th century images of Black Britons as (indentured and not) servants in art history in the 18th Century from the Victoria and Albert Museum. I like that it stresses the fact that the images of Black people as marginal figures don’t reflect the actual diversity in the lives of real people in that area during that time.

(via medievalpoc)

[toblackgirls]

Black British Feminism: Resources

Two Black Girls are proud to present our list of resources related to Black British Feminism and Black British identity/ Black diasporic identity. We use Black here as a term political term used by those of African, Asian, Latin American and those descended from the original inhabitants of Australasia, North America, and the islands of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. We hasten to add that the list is by no means exhaustive but we hope that someone out there will find it a useful starting point. Please feel free to reblog and add to the list or even send us an message with anything you think should be added to the list. 

There is a code of some sort: normal text is for books, italics for journal articles and bold for video/audio. Links with an * next to them indicate that the link leads to a pdf download of the text, those without link to Amazon. You will find, however, that many of the titles are offered on google books with a limited preview. 

On Black British identity: 

Still no black in the union jack, UCL Lunch Time Lecture, Caroline Bressey.

There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultures of Race and Nation  by Paul Gilroy 

A Postcolonial People: South Asians in Britain eds. Siddiq Sayyid, N. Ali and V.S Kalra

Inside Babylon: The Caribbean Diaspora in Britain eds. W. James and C. Harris

Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in 70s Britain, Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies. 

“Being Mixed Race” at WOW Women of the World 2013. Summary from the southbankcentre soundcloud:

 Broadcaster Reya El-Salahi; entrepreneur & blogger Alae Ismail; Kiran Yoliswa from Styled By Africa and Irish-Nigerian visual sociologist Emma Dabiri discussed the joys and challenges of being a dual heritage woman in modern-day Britain.

Differences, Diversity and Defrinitation by Aviar Brah*

Not so much about Black British identity but about race and racism in the UK: Reni Eddo-Lodge initiated a ‘grown up conversation’ on race on Twitter by asking her followers what  they thought was missing in the understanding of race and racism in the UK. The tweets that followed were, as she writes, thoughtful and considered: part one, part two. 

‘Mixed race’, ‘mixed origins’ or what?: Generic terminology for the multiple racial/ethnic group population by Peter J. Aspinall *

CLR James, ‘Black Power its past, today and the way ahead, speech given in 1967*

Rosalind Eleanor Wild, ‘Black was the colour of our fight’, Black Power in Britain, PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, 1955-1967*

On Black British Feminism: 

Black British Feminism: A Reader ed. Heidi Safia Mirza*

Young, Female and Black by Heidi Safia Mirza

The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain, by Beverley Bryan

Lola Young, What is Black British Feminism? *

‘Other Kinds of Dreams’: Black Women’s Organisations and the Politics of Transformation by Julia Sudbury

Intersectionality, Black British feminism and resistance in education: a roundtable discussion  by Suki Ali, Heidi Mirza, Ann Phoenix & Jessica Ringrose*

Stella Dadzie discussing Black Feminism Identity. The Black Cultural Archives commissioned an oral history project wherein they interviewed 29 women who were part of the Black British Feminist movement of the 1980s. The project can be found at the archives. 

Brixton Black Women’s Centre: Organizing on Child Sexual Abuse by Marlene T. Bogle*

Brixton Black Women’s Group (a history of the Brixton Black Women’s Group by members of the group.)*

Who Stole All The Black Women From Britain by Emma Dabiri. 

The Southall Black Sisters have a range of reports that provide insight into the experiences of Black women in the UK. The reports are free to download but please consider making a donation to help the SBS keeping doing the good work that they do if you do download them.  

The British Library has an online archive of their Sisterhood and After oral history project where you can find short oral history interviews discussing women’s liberation. Look through the categories to find interviews related to Black British Feminism such as this one with Mia Morris discussing the campaigns organised by the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent. 

Becoming Visible: Black Lesbian Discussions (1984), a roundtable discussion between Carmen, Gail, Shaila and Pratibha *

Talking Black: Lesbians of African and Asian Descent Speak Out ed. Valerie Mason-John.

Challenging Imperial Feminism by Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar (1984)*

Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain by Amrit Wilson 

Dramas, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain by Amrit Wilson 

Do you remember Olive Morris? We have linked to this website before it doesn’t hurt to link it again. Do you remember Olive Morris? is an art-based community project that aims to remember the life of Olive Morris a Brixton-based activist who co-founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group and the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD), and was part of the British Black Panther Movement. The website is not only a hub for information about Olive Morris, but it is also a hub for information about OWAAD, the Brixton Black Women’s Group and the British Black Panther Movement. 

[toblackgirls]

Bringing this back because, you know, it's Black History Month.

[blackbritishfilm]

10 great black British films

[priceaboverubies]

With Destiny Ekaragha’s new comedy ‘Gone Too Far!’ now only the fourth British film directed by a black woman to be released in cinemas in the UK, it felt the right time to ask: what are some of the best films about black British experience?

Never heard of half these films, which is sad. But now they’re on my radar I’ll be seeking them out.

[toblackgirls]

BTW, you can watch some of the films included on the list on Youtube:

Pressure (1976)

Babylon (1980)

Burning An Illusion (1981)

Babymother (1998)

[blackfilm]

[toblackgirls]

These web series by Black women are better than most TV shows out there.

[jslr]

The black poet who writes about his or her own daily experiences – some of them negative – faces this constant risk, of being nervously applauded but silently dismissed. This is part of the anxiety of being a black poet in Britain. Yeah yeah yeah – the black poet imagines the audience saying — we’ve heard this song and dance already. Boohoo! Grow up! Get over yourself! The anxiety is sometimes a quite useful one, for every poem has its world and its history of clichés that must be recognized, avoided, and then made new.

Kei Miller— The Anxieties of Being a Black Poet in Britain | Under the Saltire Flag (via jslr)

[artmusicvegan]

[atribecalledgoodbreed]

Neil Kenlock is a British-Jamaican photographer and entrepreneur based in London.

For the past 20 years his work has documented the culture of Jamaicans living and visiting the UK. In 1979 he co-founded Root Magazine, the UK’s first black glossy lifestyle magazine.

After the sale of the magazine in 1987, Kenlock later went on to become co-founder of Choice FM Radio, the UK’s first radio station broadcasting to the Black Community. Kenlock’s work is showing at the Tate Britain as part of the exhibit Another London through September 16, 2012.

This exhibit brings together 180 classic twentieth-century photographs taken of London between 1930-1980, by International photographers, highlighting the diverse culture & views of the city. 

[blackbritishfilm]

10 great black British films

[priceaboverubies]

With Destiny Ekaragha’s new comedy ‘Gone Too Far!’ now only the fourth British film directed by a black woman to be released in cinemas in the UK, it felt the right time to ask: what are some of the best films about black British experience?

Never heard of half these films, which is sad. But now they’re on my radar I’ll be seeking them out.

[blackbritishfilm]

Babymother (1998), Julien Henriques 

[blackbritishfilm]

Destiny Ekaragha speaks to the Guardian on her debut feature film ‘Gone Too Far.’ Set in Peckham, the comedy tells the story of two newly acquainted brothers coming to terms with their cultural differences.

When Destiny Ekaragha was pitching her first feature film, the comedyGone Too Far, investors were baffled. “I don’t understand why the two main characters don’t kill each other,” one of them said to her. “It’s set in Peckham, it’s got black kids in it – where is the knife and gun crime?”

Based on Bola Agbaje’s Olivier award-winning play of the same name, first performed at the Royal Court in 2007, the film is unabashedly light-hearted. It tells the story of two brothers, one raised in Peckham and one in Nigeria, who meet each other for the first time – cue culture clashes and jokes about socks and sandals.

“The film does deal with some social issues, but essentially it’s a comedy,” Ekaragha says. “Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing was a huge reference for me. I love its colour palette: black people in the sunshine. That’s how I remember growing up on an estate, it was bright and colourful to me. I don’t remember this grey, gritty, urban London.” This side of estate life is rarely shown on screen. Ekaragha puts this down to a risk-averse film industry: “In the UK nobody wants to come first, everyone wants to come second. They want to watch somebody take that risk, and then do it.”

When she saw Agbaje’s play, she instantly recognised the issues and experiences she had faced when growing up in New Cross, south-east London. Born to Nigerian parents, Ekaragha only met her 25-year-old brother, Thomas, when she was a teenager. “These stories had never been told,” she says. “I’d never seen them on stage, on TV, on film. So I was really excited, I was like, oh my god, this is my story.”

We meet in nearby Deptford, where Ekaragha now lives. She is immediately warm and friendly, buoyed with energy at the prospect of the release of her first feature film at the age of 32. Back in 2008, her eight-minute short film, Tight Jeans, put her in the public eye: film critic Jason Solomons called it the best short film of the last decade and it was selected for the London film festival.

She hasn’t had a holiday since, releasing two more shorts before taking on Gone Too Far. “I didn’t rest. I’d seen too many VH1 ‘Behind the Music’ specials to know that buzz and hype doesn’t last, so I started my next film immediately.”

A recent article in Sight & Sound said she is only the third black female director in Britain to make a feature-length film, a figure she finds depressing. “Are we saying black women don’t make films? That’s ridiculous. We’ve all got stories and they deserve to be told. I hope we reach double digits by next year.”

She believes that it’s important to be aware of institutional prejudice, but not to let it grind you down. “I’m not just black, I’m a woman, so there are two glass ceilings I have to break every time I open my mouth. But if I wake up in the morning and think, ‘Oh my God, I got two ceilings I’ve got to smash today’, that’s no way to live. I’m serious when I have to be; other than that I talk about food a lot and watch Netflix.”

When she is having her photo taken, she has fun with it: she jokes around, jumps, and poses. The same sense of humour shines through in her work. “I think sometimes laughter is the best way to talk about serious issues, because it stays in your head longer. Dramas are great and I’d like to do one, but at the moment I’m loving laughter.”

Gone Too Far is released on 10 October