There Ain’t No Black in The Union Jack

Cataloguing the archive of Anwar Ditta by Project Archivist Jane Speller

Work has begun cataloguing the archive of Anwar Ditta. A collection which traces the extraordinary story of one woman’s 6 year fight with the Home Office to allow her three young children right of entry into the UK.

As Paul Gilroy eloquently describes in his seminal book, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation (1987), the double standards of British imperialism fostered the sense that Britain was the Mother country whilst nationalists from Winston Churchill to Enoch Powell strove to place the citizens of the Commonwealth at a distance and to ‘keep Britain white’.

Continue reading “There Ain’t No Black in The Union Jack” →

Reflecting on my Experiences at the Centre

Holly Randhawa

Some of the books kept at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre Library.

The first two months of my placement at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust, based in Manchester Central Library, has been both an enriching and rewarding experience. As part of the University of Manchester’s Institute for Cultural Practices placement scheme, I have had the pleasure of working with the fantastic team at the library and archiving some extremely valuable resources along the way. Looking through some of the Centre’s archive collections, such as the Legacy of Ahmed project was a great way to get started, giving me a chance to learn about how this incredible organisation was founded and the crucial work that they do.

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Memory, Archive and Resistance

A young Richard Leese to the right (The Tandana archive GB3228.6)

As part of the World Without Borders activity focusing on the trial of the Stansted 15, the GLC Story archive hosted a teach-in that reflected on the long history of resistance to immigration controls and the relevance of archiving for today’s activists.

The event was held in London on 9^th February 2019 and was attended by nearly one hundred people, many of them active in campaigns against deportation. It provided us with the opportunity to reflect and discuss ways to learn from the past, to document contemporary injustices and provide materials for future activists. Continue reading “Memory, Archive and Resistance” →

Collecting and Managing Images

This is a blog post of a workshop held on 25^th October 2018 at Manchester Central Library as part of the Sound & Vision event. It is written by Drew Ellery, Digital officer at Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre. The main aim of this workshop was to give all participants an introduction to best practice strategies for collecting and managing images.

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Don’t miss our upcoming event

Thursday 25th October from 10:30 – 15:30

The Shop on Greame Street, Moss Side, Manchester. Spring 1972

Though funding has increased for BAME heritage projects, their visibility in the UK’s museums and archives has not. The aim of this event is to highlight the need for increased visibility of Black, Asian and minority ethnic heritage in museums and archives. This free event will explore the value of preserving memories for future generations and help you to develop some of the basic skills required.

We particularly welcome communities and organisations working to record BAME heritage. The morning will consist of talks from our guest speakers and the afternoon will consist of practical workshops for working with archive material.

Please follow the link below to register to attend.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sound-vision-tickets-50218853944

Join us!

We recently received confirmation of a £357,000 grant from the HLF to deliver phase two of our ‘Coming In From the Cold’ project. Everyone at the Trust is delighted! cheering-297419_960_720 As a result we are now recruiting for the three following posts:

1. Archivist (0.8) Grade 5
2. Digital Officer (0.6) Grade 4
3. Trainee Archivist (0.6) Grade 2

Job descriptions and application forms are available to download from http://www.racearchive.org.uk/work-with-us/

The deadline for applications is 05/02/2018. We expect interviews to take place during the week beginning 26th February 2018. For further information please telephone Jennifer Vickers or Jacqueline Ould on 0161 275 2920

Applications are particularly welcome from Black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in work in this sector.

Community Project Feature: Bolton Asian Migration

Leading up to our Community History Showcase on 27 July 2017, we feature the Bolton Asian Migration, and their project ‘We Were There’ led by The Sunnyside Club. It is a “local history project that will record the social, recreational and sporting lives of the first-generation Asian community in Bolton from the late 1950s to the 1980s alongside their memories of life before they settled here.” Continue reading “Community Project Feature: Bolton Asian Migration” →

Join Our 2017 Community History Showcase

Community Showcase 2016 - 4 — Photo from the 2016 Community History Showcase

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust has booked the Manchester Central Library Performance Space on 27 July 2017 to provide space for community groups to share their heritage projects. This is your opportunity to meet and chat to other people running HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund) projects and to share your work with the general public. Continue reading “Join Our 2017 Community History Showcase” →