Black History Season 2008 - Programme

All events are free unless indicated otherwise. Booking is essential for all events except the exhibitions. For enquiries and registration call the bookings hotline on 020 7983 6554 or email: blackhistoryseason@london.gov.uk.

Talks and discussions
Exhibitions
Tours

Talks and discussions

60 years of Black representation in British Films

4th November 6.30pm - 9.30pm
City Hall, Committee Rooms 4 and 5
Using the arrival of the SS Windrush as the basis of discussion, a number of academics, actors and directors will be looking at film to explore the rich and vital contributions of Black people to British Film Industry since 1948. Jim Pines, author and lecturer, will give an illustrated lecture, and will be joined by Menelik Shabazz and veteran actors Corinne Skinner-Carter and Earl Cameron.
Confirmed panel: Jim Pines, Earl Cameron and Corinne Skinner-Carter; Menelik Shabazz, director of the pioneering ‘Burning an Illusion’, will chair.

War Stories: Fighting for King and Country

8th October 6.30pm - 9.30pm
City Hall, Committee rooms 4 and 5
Spend an evening listening to first hand accounts from ex-serviceman and women from the Windrush generation and their experiences of post-war London. Featuring historians and members of the West Indian Ex-Servicemen and Women Association.

NUJ Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture

10th October 7.30pm – 9.30pm
City Hall, Chamber
Between Understanding and Misunderstanding - Global Media and Cultural Diversity. This year's annual lecture will be given by Doudou Diene, UN Rapporteur on Racism 2002-2008.

Windrush heritage walks

14th, 15th and 16th October from 11.00am
Commencing at Westminster tube station and finishing at Covent Garden
Windrush heritage walks by noted Historian & Author S.I. Martin featuring London landmarks reflecting Windrush history and culture. Highlights of the tours include…’Black Lords and Members of Parliament’, ‘Whitehall from Sancho to Sevlon (as the post Windrush scribe)’...Comparative readings from writers 200 years apart on ‘Whitehall and blackness’, ‘ the relationship between 1780 and the 'Black People’s day of action in 1981’, ‘Covent Garden and Black radicals of the 1940's and 1800's’…Book readings and much more... www.iwm.org.uk/windrush
Note: This event is now fully booked.

Roots To Routes: British Black Music history, legacy and possibilities (part I)

15th October 6.30pm - 9.30pm
City Hall, Committee rooms 4 and 5
The real story of Black British music featuring a distinguished panel of music industry representatives including people who have been documenting, talking about and performing music in Britain from the arrival of the SS Windrush to the present day.
Confirmed panel: Dr. Lez Henry, Lloyd Bradley, Adrian Boot, and Chair - Mykaell Riley.

Roots To Routes: British Black Music history, legacy and possibilities (part II)

22nd October 6.30pm - 9.30pm
City Hall, Committee room 4 and 5
The continuing story of Black British music featuring a distinguished panel of music industry representatives including people who have been documenting, talking about and performing music in Britain from the arrival of the SS Windrush to the present day.
Confirmed panel: Dennis Bovell, Gary Crosby, Leee John, Dave Katz and Chair - Mykaell Riley.

Is Windrush still relevant to Young People?

24th October 11.00am-1.00pm
City Hall, Chamber
A panel discussion for schools groups featuring some of todays most outspoken youth commentators and young people.
Confirmed panel: Aml Ameen (Kidulthood, The Bill), Ms Dynamite, Alex Pascal, Patrick Vernon, Arthur Torrington (Windrush Foundation), Young people and Chair Stella Dadzie.

Local Histories: Windrush London

29th October 6.30-9.30
City Hall, Committee room 5
What was London life like just before and following the arrival at Tilbury Docks of the SS Empire Windrush? This evening will be a mixture of historical fact and first-hand reminiscence from leading historians, people of the generation and the Windrush Foundation..
Confirmed panel: Joining the chair, Tony Warner, will be: Oku Ekpenyon, Arthur Torrington and Sam King.

The Sohemian Society presents…Notting Hill Nights: ‘The Black Experience in 1950s London’

Tickets: Ł3 (redeemable from the purchase of a book)
These can be reserved by ringing 020 7229 9444 or by visiting the Notting Hill Gate branch of Waterstones (Notting Hill Gate Tube)

‘Inside outsider: the London novels of Colin Macinnes’

16th October 7.00pm
Best-known for the novels ‘City of Spades’ (1957) and ‘Absolute Beginners’ (1957), Colin MacInnes was the first writer to evoke not only the cityąs burgeoning youth culture but also the lives of its black immigrants. Tony Gould, author of ’Inside Outsider’, the acclaimed biography of MacInnes, will be talking about him and about the world he so vividly depicted: a world of coffee bars, jazz clubs, drugs, and drink. London is the real hero of these books with its capacity to absorb all species of humanity, from bent coppers to bus conductors, from delinquents to debs, from bigots to libertines. The talk will be punctuated by readings from ‘Inside Outsider’ as well as dramatised readings from MacInnes’ novels.

‘The Lonely Londoners’

20th October 7.00pm
Recently reissued in the Penguin Classic series, Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956) has been hailed as the definitive novel of the ‘Windrush Generation’ (BBC Radio 4’s Open Book). In often amusing, slang-filled 1950s Caribbean patois, it portrays the lives of a group of West Indian immigrants in what were then the down-at-heel districts of Notting Hill and Bayswater, where they trade stories, chase women and look for work. Dramatised extracts from Selvon’s work will be accompany a talk by Sukhdev Sandhu, Chief Film Critic of The Daily Telegraph and author of the controversial, much- praised ‘London Calling: How Black and Asian Writers Imagined a City’. He will offer an insight into Selvon’s life and the 1950s immigrant experience.

‘Michael X: A Life in Black and White’

23rd October 7.00pm
John Williams, the crime novelist and author of the classic ‘Into The Badlands’, will be discussing his newly released biography of Trinidadian migrant Michael X. Also known as Michael de Freitas and Michael Abdul Malik, Michael X was a small-time criminal, pimp, drug dealer and Black Power activist who ended up being convicted of a murder for which he was executed. Described by The Times as an absorbing book that frequently casts as much light on the times its subject lived through as it does on the person, Williams offers the definitive picture of an elusive personality who achieved fame during the aftermath of the 1958 Notting Hill riots, fame that persisted into the Swinging Sixties when he was feted by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Exhibitions

We were there

1st - 24th October
City Hall, Lower ground floor
‘We were there’ is the ground breaking interactive Ministry of Defence exhibition which highlights the significant but little known contribution made by Britain’s ethnic minorities to defence over the past two hundred and fifty years. Schools groups will be given guided tours by qualified MoD personnel, and each student will receive a 68-page colour book.
Note: Guided tours are now fully booked.

The Underexposed

1st - 31st October
City Hall, Café area
‘The Underexposed’ comes directly from the National Portrait Gallery. This major public art exhibition forms part of the ‘4 The Record’ Initiative’ and features portraits of some of the UK’s leading Black British actors.

See the City Hall public access page for information about opening hours.

Tours

Notting Hill Black History Walk

26th October 12.30pm
Meet historian Tony Warner outside the Notting Hill branch of Waterstone’s. From there, Tony, who has given numerous talks at the National Portrait Gallery, the BFI cinema and the Imperial War Museum, will take you on a tour that offers a fascinating insight into several generations of black history. The walk will pay particular attention to the lives of the immigrants who settled there during the 1950s.
Tickets can be reserved by ringing 020 7229 9444 or by visiting the Notting Hill Gate branch of Waterstone’s or emailing sohemian@yahoo.co.uk.

Heritage River Tour

25th October 2.00pm (please note boat leaves promptly at 2.00pm)
Sailing from Tate Pier located in front of Tate Britain in Vauxhall to Greenwich Pier. Lasts approx. 90 mins.
An opportunity to discover some of the hidden history of black Londoners and their connection to London’s River Thames, delivered by the noted historian and author SI Martin. Some highlights of the tour include… ‘ Black nurses and the health service in London post 1948’, ‘Parliament, immigration, legislation and Black parliamentarians’, ‘Blackfriars and the “Black People's Day of Action" in 1981’, ‘Tower Bridge to West India Docks - the earliest communities’, ‘The last pre 1948 East End black communities: Linda Lewis and Kenny Lynch’.
Note: This event is now fully booked.