Tag Archives: Student protests

Protest in the archives: The history of anti-black protest in Oxford’s History

20th century, 21st century, Activity, Modern, Social Sciences, , , , , , ,

The thing that drew me to this internship was the opportunity to redefine and recapture black history at Oxford. A part of a joint project with the Museum of Oxford, the internship allowed me to explore the varied history of political activism in anti-black discrimination. It also gave me the chance to reinstate black political actors into the conversation of anti-racism and recognise their work and importance in the progress we have made so far and how they have inspired us to continue this work.

THE UK IS NOT INNOCENT, MS. 18592/13, item 6

THE UK IS NOT INNOCENT, MS. 18592/13, item 6

For my research I focused on the idea of ‘Protest, Power and Posters’, identifying how the art and cultural medium of posters and other types of ephemera highlight and capture contemporary race issues. Furthermore, how certain themes and messages in these ephemera have sustained and been reproduced throughout Oxford’s history of protest all the way to the present. I was able to look through the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) archives, the Joint Action Commission Against Racial Intolerance (JACARI) archives and Rhodes Must Fall 2.0 posters from this summer.

A theme that I also wanted to highlight within my research was British complicity in the mistreatment of black individuals.

The poster above, created for a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Oxford, details black British individuals who have had their lives taken by violence and institutional brutality. I was particularly drawn to this poster, as it forces us to recognise a global issue or an ‘American’ issue as a national and local one as well, instead of painting Britain as a society where anti-blackness doesn’t exist.

JACARI Lunchtime Meetings poster, John Johnson Collection, Oxford Union Societies box J5

JACARI Lunchtime Meetings poster, John Johnson Collection, Oxford Union Societies box J5

An episode of Oxford’s race history that really interested me was the ‘Colour Ban’ in the 1950s and 1960s, enacted on POC (people of colour) Oxford students. This was brought to the public’s attention as JACARI, the largest student organisation at that time, published a report in 1963. This report featured the statistic that 62% of landladies had stated that they would not lodge African/Asian students. The poster on the right advertises a lunchtime discussion group to discuss this matter alongside other issues associated with race relations such as Fascism in Britain. Both of these posters highlight the need to continue to address Britain’s own race issues as part of global anti-blackness and not cast them aside as an American problem.

 

 

Xaira Adebayo, Summer Intern 2020, Bodleian Libraries and Museum of Oxford

Common Threads: From Past to the Present

20th century, 21st century, Activity, Social Sciences, , , , , , ,

The race and diversity narratives project with the Bodleian Libraries and the Museum of Oxford allowed me to explore a crucial aspect of the city of Oxford and its inhabitants. For my research I looked at the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) archives, dating back to the 1960s, directly in correlation with the contemporary Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) 2.0 protests from summer and the global Black Lives Matter movement.

MSS. AAM 607. Reproduced with the permission of the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives Committee.

MSS. AAM 607. Reproduced with the permission of the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives Committee.

It was fascinating to trace the common elements between these two historical protests that the city of Oxford has witnessed. The simple but powerful Black Power Fist signifies just how connected the movements are. A poster from the 1980s for ‘End Repression in South Africa’ depicts a man raising his fist and can be directly compared with a picture from 2020 RMF movement and a protestor using the same powerful symbol.

Beyond significant symbols, the city as a space, the involvement of the students and city dwellers together, all become a part of the continued common history.

‘Rhodes Must Fall’ in Oxford, June 2020.

‘Rhodes Must Fall’ in Oxford, June 2020.

The AAM archives hold several letters and correspondences between the local chapter and the national one, between AAM and Oxford citizens who want to be more involved and supportive of the movement, minutes and proceedings of Oxford City Meetings and AAM meetings. The call for protests above is similar to the calls we send out today, the method of dissemination might have evolved, the sentiment remains the same – to unify and stand together.

One particular incident that stood out to me was the boycott of the Apollo Theatre during the Christmas of 1987 because the theatre starred Marti Caine, an actress who said: ‘The best thing we can do for the blacks is send them back into the jungle to recover their culture.’ The protest and the boycott led to Caine issuing a public apology and signing the AAM petition. Caine and Rhodes, Apollo Theatre and Oriel College, these are not the same issues, but similar in how spaces and people come to represent ideologies, often extremely problematic ones, but simultaneously how a unified stand against such ideas brings them down.

The idea of common elements or ‘threads’ between the two protests, for me, reflects how the fight for racial equality is an ongoing conversation and struggle but it has multiple sides to it. While the positives show that the people of Oxford have time and again stood up against the injustice, the counter-question becomes why have these injustices continued well into the 21st century? A critical exploration of archives at the Bodleian relating to the city of Oxford allowed me to ask these questions while contributing to and continuing the conversation. It is perhaps in these historically extending common threads across the decades that the meaning of ‘a movement and not a moment’ truly shines through as minority identities continue their struggles against historical and contemporary injustices.

MS. 18592/3, item 6.

MS. 18592/3, item 6.

Devika
Summer Intern 2020, Bodleian Libraries and Museum of Oxford
MPhil Modern South Asian Studies (2019-2021), St Antony’s College, University of Oxford