The Power of Black African Caribbean Archives

Thanks to Eric and Jessica Huntley for their incredible legacies—shaping generations past, present, and future. This year marks two significant milestones: 20 years since the creation of the radical, Black-led Huntley Archives, and—this November—50 years since the founding of the Bogle-L’Ouverture / Walter Rodney Bookshop in Ealing. It’s no surprise, then, that this year’s Huntley Conference has grown into a one-day festival, celebrating the influence of Black-led and community-curated archives, and the transformative power they hold for education, culture, memory, and resistance.

The second major event* marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Bogle-L’Ouverture Bookshop, our one-day festival—The Power of Black African Caribbean Archives—brings together artists, publishers, scholars, and activists to examine archives as instruments of resistance, cultural memory, and collective self-representation. Highlights include the panel Black Consciousness: Our Stories, Our Archives – Decolonising Memory, which explores the roots of radical cultures. The discussion features curators of Black archives, Connie Bell and Dr Etienne Joseph co -founders of Decolonising the Archive, and Dr Aleema Gray, curator of Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music. Our keynote address will be delivered by Olu Alake, CEO of The Africa Centre.

The festival will reflect on questions of identity, ownership, voice, and radical archival methodologies. We anticipate a lively exchange of community memories from ‘back in the day’, exploring other key Black British collections held at The London Archives—such as those of the Black Ink Collective, BEAT, Andrew Salkey, Petronella Breinburg, Mollie Hunte, and more.

In a change to previous years, we will not be running a behind-the-scenes archive tour this time. However, archive displays, creative workshops for young people, and curated bookstalls will be available throughout the day.

We are deeply grateful for the continued and generous support of The London Archives and our partner organisations. These events would not be possible without the in-kind support, skills, and dedication of the amazing team of FHALMA volunteers, and the generosity of our speakers and contributors.
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22 November - Free Event - "Drop in"
*Gunnersbury Park Museum to Mark 50th Anniversary of Historic Bogle-L’Ouverture Bookshop with Community Celebration

• Join us for our free event on 22 November at Gunnersbury Park Museum which runs from 11 am to 4pm. For more details see the link
• Take part in our session on "Intergenerational Conversations" from 2.00 pm to 3.30pm
• See Young Curators' display - Radical Roots: The Huntleys’ Story
  https://www.visitgunnersbury.org/events/radical-roots-the-huntleys-story
  

Above images: From the Huntley Archives at the London Archives. Archives Series Ref-LMA/4462/