Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is an archive and heritage centre in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Also known as BCA, it was founded in 1981, by educationalist and historian

Len Garrison Lenford Alphonso (Kwesi) Garrison (13 June 1943 – 18 February 2003) was an educationalist, community activist and historian whose life's work was to catalogue the development of the black British identity and its history and promote the works o ...

and others. BCA's mission is to record, preserve and celebrate the history of people of African descent in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. The BCA's new building in

, opened in 2014, enables access to the archive collection, provides dedicated learning spaces and mounts a programme of exhibitions and events.

History

In 1981, Len Garrison and other members of the

Black British Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...

community started a collection, originally housed in

Coldharbour Lane Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings - the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Ma ...

and later based in

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

, that sought to redress the historical imbalance of the representation of black people in Britain. In 2010 the BCA won major funding, including £5million from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

(HLF) and the

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...

, and moved back to Brixton to become the UK's first national black heritage centre. A site dedication ceremony took place in June 2013, and the new BCA building – a

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Georgian building, the former Raleigh Hall – at 1

Windrush Square Windrush Square (often referred to by its original name, Brixton Oval) is an open public space in the centre of Brixton, South London, occupying an area in front of the Brixton Tate Library. After changing its name to Tate Gardens, it was again ...

, was officially opened on 24 July 2014. Designed by architects

Pringle Richards Sharratt Pringle Richards Sharratt is an architectural firm that was formed in 1996 by John Pringle, Penny Richards and Ian Sharratt. Based in London, the practice has worked on public buildings, art galleries, museums, libraries, archives, university a ...

, it was named in 2015 as "Building of the Year" in the

New London Architecture New London Architecture (NLA) is an independent information resource and discussion forum focused on London's built environment. Its audience are professionals, the public and politicians. Origins and purpose NLA was founded in 2005 and its stat ...

awards. On 16 February 2017, BCA received a royal visit from

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, and the

Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the eldest son and heir of the British monarch. The current title-holder is Catherine, wife of William, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Duchesses of Cornwall Until her husband' ...

, during which Prince Charles praised the contribution of people from the West Indies and Africa in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The current managing director of BCA is Arike Oke, who took up the appointment in February 2019 after Paul Reid, director since 2006, stepped down.

Collections

In 2008, a two-year HLF-funded project called "Documenting the Archive" enabled the cataloguing of BCA's collections of books, objects, and archives, which "document the hidden stories and experiences of Black people either through personal and family journeys or through the rich network of Black-led community organisations", and "celebrate Black achievements "alongside the strong sense of campaigning and resistance to racial inequalities." BCA's records are also accessible through an online catalogue.

Exhibitions and projects

Black Cultural Archives School Adv Studies History Day 27 Nov 2015

BCA's inaugural exhibition was ''Re-imagine: Black Women in Britain'' (24 July–30 November 2014), which chronicled "the often hidden histories of Britain's black foremothers", including

Mary Seacole Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...

Mary Prince Mary Prince (c. 1 October 1788 – after 1833) was a British abolitionist and autobiographer, born in Bermuda to a slave family of African descent. After being sold a number of times, and being moved around the Caribbean, she was brought to Engl ...

Adelaide Hall Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her long career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death and she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hal ...

Olive Morris Olive Elaine Morris (26 June 1952 – 12 July 1979) was a Jamaican-born British-based community leader and activist in the feminist, black nationalist, and squatters' rights campaigns of the 1970s. At the age of 17, she claimed she was assaul ...

Jessica Huntley Jessica Elleisse Huntley (née Carroll; 23 February 1927 – 13 October 2013) was an African-Guyanese-British woman, a political reformer, prominent race equality campaigner, the pioneering British publisher of black and Asian literature, and a ...

, among others. In October 2016 this exhibition was launched online as part of the

Google Cultural Institute Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

. BCA worked over a period of years with the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

to acquire photographs either by black photographers or that document the lives of black people in Britain, complemented by a range or oral histories."Staying Power – About the Project"
Victoria and Albert Museum. The resultant exhibition in 2015 was entitled ''Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s – 1990'' (inspired by

Peter Fryer Peter Fryer (18 February 1927 – 31 October 2006)
''Spartacus Educational''. was an English ...

's 1984 book '' Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain''). The exhibition ''Black Georgians: The Shock of the Familiar'', from 9 October 2015 to 4 June 2016, featured the everyday lives of Black people in Britain during the

Georgian period The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...

(1714–1830), with a special feature by Christy Symington on

Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe (Igbo) region of the Kingdom of Benin (today southern Nigeria). Enslaved as ...

. Other exhibitions have included ''Rastafari in Motion'', the story of

Emperor Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

and the

Rastafari movement Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control o ...

in Britain (14 June–10 September 2016); ''Black Sound'' (7 April 2017–17 February 2018), the story of 100 years of musical creativity, co-curated in partnership with The Champion Agency and

Lloyd Bradley Lloyd Bradley (born 21 January 1955) is a British music journalist and author. Biography Born in London to recent immigrants from St Kitts, Bradley discovered Jamaican music during his teenage years, while going out in the North London-based s ...

; and ''Expectations'' (7 August–24 October 2018), described as "the first ever photography exhibition 'takeover' at the Black Cultural Archives using photographs taken by

Neil Kenlock Neil Emile Elias Kenlock (born 1950) is a Jamaican-born photographer and media professional who has lived in London since the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, Kenlock was the official photographer of the British Black Panthers, and he has be ...

"."Past Exhibitions"
Black Cultural Archives.

References

External links

Black Cultural Archives
official website.
Black Cultural Archives at Google Cultural Institute
{{Authority control 1981 establishments in England Black British history Archives in the London Borough of Lambeth Cultural organisations based in London Black British culture in London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Lambeth Ethnic museums in the United Kingdom Museums of the African diaspora