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40 years’ worth of Runnymede race relations material available to view
06 June 2011
Our collection of press cuttings, interview transcripts, pamphlets, posters and reports documenting UK race relations since 1968 will move to the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) this month.
The Runnymede Collection collection is unique, reflecting on the development of multiculturalism and British race relations since Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech.
Every landmark race-related event since then is also charted with primary sources in the Runnymede Collection. Among the artefacts are:
- Press cuttings on Enoch Powell’s anti-immigration speeches in 1968 and 1969
- A copy of Idi Amin’s speech in which he declared the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972
- Contemporary press cuttings on the Brixton Uprising of 1981
- Original copies of grass-roots publications, including Black Attack and Black Feminist Newsletter
- Monitoring documents on the rise of far-right groups, including the BNP
So vast is the assortment of resources that, if assembled on one long shelf, the full collection would span the length of one and a half football pitches.
Previously housed at Middlesex University, the Runnymede Collection will be available for the public to view from its new home at the Black Cultural Archives in south London.
The BCA is currently undertaking a £6.5 million capital project to build the first black heritage centre in the country. The new centre will transform the currently derelict Grade II-listed Raleigh Hall in Windrush Square, Brixton. The building will become a learning space for research, exhibitions and cultural events. The archives, including the Runnymede Collection, are at the heart of this project and will have a dedicated library, reading room and specialist storage facilities.
Leading cultural theorist, Stuart Hall (Professor Emeritus), said:
“I am delighted that the Runnymede archive - so critical for an understanding of post-war migration and the responses to it - will still be available. The Black Cultural Archives is an excellent and well-chosen site for its preservation. I know they will continue to develop it and make it accessible to researchers, scholars and, most important of all, the general informed and concerned public.”
Please note: The Runnymede Collection is currently available for consultation in the BCA reading room in Kennington every Wednesday, 10am to 4.30pm, by appointment. The BCA is in the process of a major move to Brixton, where its collections will form the first black cultural heritage site, a move expected to be completed by autumn 2012.
Contact at BCA: Victoria Lane
Victoria Lane
Collections Manager
victoria@bcaheritage.org.uk
