"We had a deep responsibility to educate our communities": the Work of Women of Colour on Educational Campaigns in England from 1955 to 1992

2020年夏天发生的全球反对种族主义的抗议活动将有关种族的辩论推到了公众关注的前沿。这些辩论中的许多都与教育制度密切相关，重新点燃了像罗兹必须倒下这样的运动，以及越来越多的人支持在英国将课程非殖民化。这些当代的倡议应该被理解为黑人教育运动悠久历史的延续，在这场运动中，黑人和布朗社区用有组织的激进主义来回应种族主义的教育议程。利用地方和国家档案和口头访谈，这项研究项目将探索战后英格兰的教育激进主义和改革，重点是1955-1992年期间的有色人种妇女活动家和妇女组织。该项目将以有色人种妇女在教育中创造社会和政治变革的工作为中心，并将审查这些妇女为教育社区和组织应对教育中的歧视性做法所做的努力。以下问题将指导该项目：由有色人种妇女创立和领导的教育改革组织在政治、社会和社区中的作用是什么？由有色人种妇女领导的教育倡议是如何合作、交叉、或者在不同的社区和政治机构中自主工作？有色人种妇女的工作对英国的教育提供和政策有什么影响？有色人种妇女活动家所做的工作如何与地方教育当局(LEA)和中央政府的政策互动和回应，反之亦然？有色人种活动家妇女的教育工作如何影响和促进20世纪下半叶英国为种族平等和解放而进行的更广泛的斗争？该项目将创建一个面向公众的数字地图，展示有色人种妇女领导的教育运动、组织和运动。虽然一些关于更知名的运动和活动人士的材料已经被整合到黑人文化档案馆和大英图书馆等更大的档案馆，但这些历史中的很大一部分仍然分散在当地档案馆，尚未收集，其他历史从档案馆中完全消失，只有组织者自己知道。这张地图将展示之前被忽视的教育活动家和活动，这些活动在当地背景之外还不为人所知，以便准确地展示全英国有色人种妇女的工作。该项目对有色人种妇女的教育激进主义的关注试图超越通常讲述黑人和布朗教育经历的以国家为中心的关注。这个项目将探索由妇女领导的自下而上的激进主义如何寻求改变英格兰的教育规定和政策。这个项目将通过研究种族和性别如何影响教育运动，以及有色人种女性领导的激进主义如何不仅改变了英国的教育制度，也改变了英国社会本身，从而扩大了我们对现代英国历史的理解。

Worldwide protests against racism that took place in the summer of 2020 propelled debates about race to the forefront of public attention. Many of these debates were closely concerned with systems of education, reigniting campaigns like Rhodes Must Fall and growing support for decolonising the curriculum in Britain. These contemporary initiatives should be understood as a continuation of the long history of the Black education movement, in which Black and Brown communities responded to racialized educational agendas with organised activism. Using local and national archives and oral interviews, this research project will explore education activism and reform in post-war England, focusing on woman activists of colour and women's organisations from 1955-1992. The project will centre the work of women of colour to create social and political change in education, and will examine efforts by these women to educate their communities and organise in response to discriminatory practices in education. The following questions will guide the project: What was the political, social, and community role of educational reform organisations founded and led by women of colour?How did educational initiatives led by women of colour collaborate, intersect, or work autonomously within different community and political institutions?What impact did the work of women of colour have on English educational provision and policies?How did the work done by women of colour activists interact with and respond to various Local Education Authority (LEA) and central government policies and vice versa?How did the educational work of women of colour activists influence and contribute to the wider struggle for racial equality and liberation in England in the second half of the twentieth century?This project will create a public-facing digital map of educational campaigns, organisations, and movements led by women of colour. While some material on more well-known campaigns and activists has been consolidated in larger archives like the Black Cultural Archives and the British Library, a significant portion of these histories remains scattered across local archives and has yet to be collected, and other histories are completely missing from the archives and are known only by the organisers themselves. This map will bring forth previously neglected education activists and campaigns that are not yet known beyond their local context in order to accurately represent the work of women of colour all over England.This project's focus on women of colour's educational activism seeks to move beyond the state-centred focus with which the history of Black and Brown educational experiences have usually been told. This project will explore how bottom-up activism led by women sought to change educational provisions and policies in England. This project will expand our understanding of modern British history by examining how race and gender impacted educational campaigns and how activism led by women of colour altered not only English education systems, but also English society itself.