Brixton Black Women's Group

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Brixton Black Women's Group
AbbreviationBWG
Formation1973
Dissolved1989
Purpose Socialist feminist organising
Headquarters London
Publication
 Speak Out newsletter

The Brixton Black Women's Group (BWG) was an organisation for Black women in Brixton, London, England. One of the first Black women's groups in the UK, the BWG existed from 1973 to 1989. [1] BWG members were also involved in Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and members were integral in organising the OWAAD conferences from 1979 and 1982. [2] [3]

Contents

Politics

Established as a socialist feminist group, [4] BWG's aim was to provide a space for women of African and Asian descent to meet and organise around issues specific to their experiences. [5] [6]

Member Melba Wilson explained in a 2018 interview how BWG's aims also looked beyond the local area, to make connections between local and global justice:

"It was about joining forces with anti-imperialist struggle and anti-capitalist struggle. It was about creating a different kind of movement whose basis was about a more egalitarian and equal way of distributing wealth. Also acknowledging the diverse kind of groupings that existed at that time. Actually, what we are doing still feels very relevant today, connections can still be made in terms of fighting for independence and solidarity with many oppressed groups around the world." [7]

Foundation

Several of the group's founding members, including Beverley Bryan, Olive Morris and Liz Obi, had previously been active in the British Black Panthers and . [8] BWG was formed partly from frustrations that although there was a women's caucus, the Panthers were not taking women's issues seriously. [9]

For its first two years, the group lacked a dedicated meeting space and met in members' homes, or at a squat at 121 Railton Road, Brixton. [5] [7] They also met at Lambeth Women's Project. [10] Later, together with the Mary Seacole Craft Group, the BWG established the Mary Seacole House on Clapham High Street, renamed the Black Women's Centre in 1979. [4]

Publications

From 1979 to 1983, the BWG published the Speak Out newsletter. [1] [4] [9] [11] The newsletter was written collectively by members of the BWG and provided a space to further discuss issues about the relationship between feminism, the women's liberation movement and the Black liberation movement in the UK. The newsletter also published articles related to key campaigns around housing, education, reproductive rights, and politics. [1] [12]

Speak Out was anthologised in a book published in 2023, Speak Out!: The Brixton Black Women's Group. [1]

Notable members

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Miller, Milo; Brixton Black Women's Group ), eds. (2023). Speak Out! The Brixton Black Women's Group reader. London; New York: Verso Books. ISBN   978-1-80429-197-9.
  2. ↑ Bryan, Beverley; Dadzie, Stella; Scafe, Suzanne; Okolosie, Lola (2018). The heart of the race: Black women's lives in Britain. London; New York: Verso. ISBN   978-1-78663-586-0. OCLC   1002121833.
  3. ↑ Brixton Black Women's Group; Alice Henry (1984). "interview: Black Politics ⇋ Black Feminism: Brixton Black Women's Group talks about its part in British Black feminism..." Off Our Backs. 14 (11): 14–28. ISSN   0030-0071.
  4. 1 2 3 Scafe, Suzanne (2002). "Brixton Black Women's Group". In Donnell, Alison (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN   978-1-134-70025-7.
  5. 1 2 Bogle, Marlene T. (Spring 1988). "Brixton Black Women's Centre: Organizing on Child Sexual Abuse". Feminist Review. 28: 132–35. doi:10.1057/fr.1988.12. S2CID   143014909.
  6. ↑ Brixton Black Women's Group (1984). "Black Women Organizing" . Feminist Review (17): 84–89. doi:10.2307/1395018. ISSN   0141-7789.
  7. 1 2 Mullings-Lawrence, Sireita (3 July 2019). "Voices from the Front Line : Young People Interrogating Railton Road's Heritage" . Photography and Culture. 12 (3): 337–350. doi:10.1080/17514517.2019.1643170. ISSN   1751-4517.
  8. ↑ Agyepong, Heather (10 March 2016). "The Forgotten Story of the Women Behind the British Black Panthers". The Debrief. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. 1 2 Thomas, Tobi (24 October 2023). "'It was amazing to find sisters': Brixton Black Women's Group on their revolutionary newsletter". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "Ain Bailey and Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski in conversation with Rosalie Doubal" (PDF). Institute of Contemporary Arts . Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  11. ↑ "Speak Out Pamphlet - Black Women's Group Brixton". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  12. ↑ Thomlinson, Natalie (October 2016). "'Second-Wave' Black Feminist Periodicals in Britain" . Women: A Cultural Review. 27 (4): 432–445. doi:10.1080/09574042.2017.1301129. ISSN   0957-4042.


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