Kwaku
I’m an independent researcher with a particular interest in global and British African history; and a historical musicologist, with a particular interest in black music.
I work with a small pan-London grouping of community organisations known as BTWSC/African Histories Revisited. During the 2020 pandemic, I developed a number of Zoom events, including the Monday Xtra History sessions. These tackled a wide range of issues. Our topics included decolonising language, police and African youth engagement, British African books, and Afriphobia in the music industry.
To publicise the programme, I posted an article on BlackHistoryMonth.org website entitled There Are Some Encouraging Moves To Do With British African History In Academia, But Can What Is Happening On The Community Level Be Ignored? My article pointed to the growing academic interest in British African history, but, mindful that the academy doesn’t necessarily have a superior knowledge of this particular strand of African history, I called for a genuinely mutual relationship between academic history and community history providers.
The academic history sector, I posited, actually needs to engage with its community counterpart more, particularly when it comes to “history from below” or “hidden histories”, not yet officially published.
I highlighted the History Matters and What’s Happening In Black British History? conferences, at which presentations are made by a mix of academic, independent and community historians, and activists. As these conferences are organised by higher education institututions, I felt there was a need for something similar that’s organised by the community sector.
So when the Social History Society BME Network brought to my attention the Joint BME Small Grants funding, it provided the impetus for launching an academic-community history forum, which we called Repairing Histories.
The funding allowed us to organise a Zoom event in June 2022 entitled ‘Repairing Histories 1: Claudia Jones And Marcus Garvey’. Papers delivered included ‘Marcus Garvey In The UK’by pan-Africanist former lecturer and community activist Cecil Gutzmore, ‘Marcus Garvey’s Outernational Work Across Africa’ by pan-Africanist author and community activist Omowale Ru Pert-em-Hru and ‘Why Claudia Jones Is One Of The Greatest British Activists, Ever’ by History PhD candidate Tionne Parris.
While Garvey’s history isn’t generally contested, Jones’ is, particularly the claim that she’s the founder of Notting Hill Carnival, and there’s mis-information about the Jones-edited West Indian Gazette newspaper. So we organised a follow up event in December 2022 focused solely on Jones, entitled ‘Repairing Histories 2: Commemorating Claudia Jones @58’. Papers presented included ‘Claudia Jones: A Titan Among Radical African Female Radicals’ by Parris, ‘Claudia Jones: A Communist In The US & UK’ by Gutzmore, and ‘Claudia Jones In The Context British & Global African History’ by African diaspora studies scholar Prof Carole Boyce Davies.
In February 2023, we organised another Jones-themed Zoom event. ‘Re-Evaluating Claudia Jones On Her 108th Birthday’ was a by-invitation-only discussion forum, which was preceded by the screening of my film ‘Claudia Jones: In My Own Words’, which set the scene for discussing Jones’ life. We also commissioned a Music4Causes ft. Kimba song for the event, entitled The Indefatigable Claudia Jones.
In the film, as in my response to the recent announcement that English Heritage will be unveiling a plaque to the “founding spirit of Notting Hill Carnival”, I accept Jones as the Mother of Caribbean Carnival, but not Notting Hill Carnival. Among those who agreed with this position at the last event, were Gutzmore, who worked in Ladbroke Grove and has a deep personal and academic knowledge of Notting Hill Carnival, and Dr Claire Holder, a long-time Notting Hill resident and former chief executive of the NHC organisation. This view is also supported by Professor Abner Cohen’s book Masquerade Politics: Explorations In The Structure Of Urban Cultural Movements, although this book is deprecated by those who champion the “Claudia Jones Notting Hill Carnival” cause.
I will end with a quotation, which I used to start my BlackHistoryMonth.org article. It should be a guiding mantra for all who aspire to educate:
Be not arrogant because of your knowledge. Take counsel with the ignorant as well as with the wise. For the limits of knowledge in any field have never been set and no one has ever reached them. Wisdom is rarer than emeralds, and yet it is found among the women who gather at the grindstones.”
The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt translated by Maulana Karenga
About the Author: Kwaku is an independent global African history researcher, identity advocate, historical musicologist, music industry tutor, and sometime journalist. He is the lead on designing and the delivery of BTWSC/African Histories Revisited’s African history community events, and plans to publish a book on the early Windrush narrative in 2023.