The Selma to Montgomery march was part of a series of civil rights protests that occurred in 1965 in Alabama, a Southern state with deeply entrenched racist policies. Death and discrimination Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in voting based on race, efforts by civil rights organisations such as the Student …
Events in history
Malcolm X visits Smethwick, West Midlands
In February 1965 civil rights campaigner, Malcolm X was in Britain to speak at the London School of Economics. Avtar Singh Jouhl, general secretary of the Indian Workers Association, invited him to speak at Birmingham University and visit Smethwick, a small town in the West Midlands, UK. Smethwick was a hotbed of racial tension. Just …
Remembering the 13 young people killed in a fire in New Cross
On Sunday 18 January 1981 a fire broke out in a house in New Cross Road, Deptford, South East London, killing 13 young people and marking a massive change for black people in Britain. Thirteen people died in the blaze and another, committed suicide 18 months later in July 1983, aged 20, having been traumatised …
How Haiti won its independence
0n 5 December 1492, European navigator Christopher Columbus came upon an island in the Caribbean that he claimed for Spain and called La Isla Española (“The Spanish Island”, later Anglicised as Hispaniola). Spain colonised the island and enslaved the native Taino and Ciboney people. Forced to mine gold under brutal working conditions and overcome by …
Samuel Sharpe and the 1831 Christmas Rebellion
On 27 December 1831, the Christmas Rebellion began at the Kensington Estate in St James, Jamaica. Samuel Sharpe was the main instigator of the 1831 Slave Rebellion. Although he was a slave, he was also a leader of the native Baptists in Montego Bay. This enabled him to travel and spread his concerns and encourage …
UK – 1919 race riots
The 1919 race riots started at the end of the First World War starting with an outbreak of violence in Glasgow in January, race riots happened around the UK until late in the summer, including in Liverpool, Hull, Cardiff, Salford, Newport and South Shields. There were several outbreaks in the East End of London, in …
UK race riots – The murder of Charles Wotten
Charles Wotten was a 24-year-old ship’s fireman from Bermuda who was murdered by an angry white mob during the Liverpool race riots of 1919. What led to Charles Wotten’s murder? Since the 16th century, the Black presence in London and Liverpool had been noticeable but Liverpool’s Black population grew dramatically during the war as Black …
#Vote100 – A vote of her own
6 February 2018 marks 100 years since the Representation of the People Act 1918 – the act which allowed some women in the UK the right to vote. This was a major landmark in the history of our democracy. Influential consideration Only 58% of the adult male population was eligible to vote before 1918. An …
#Vote100 – Women’s suffrage movement
In the nineteenth century women had no place in national politics. They could not stand as candidates for Parliament. They were not even allowed to vote. It was assumed that women did not need the vote because their husbands would take responsibility in political matters. A woman’s role was seen to be child-rearing and taking …