Anti-racism in Britain: Traditions, histories and trajectories, c. 1880-present

by Saffron East (Editor), Grace Redhead (Editor), Theo Williams (Editor)

Overview

Concepts of ‘race’ and racism are central to British history. They have shaped, and been shaped by, British identities, economies and societies for centuries, from colonialism and enslavement to the ‘hostile environment’ of the 2010s. Yet state and societal racism has always been met with resistance. This edited volume collects the latest research on anti-racist action in Britain, and makes the case for a multifaceted, historically contingent ‘tradition’ of British anti-racism shaped by local, national and transnational contexts, networks and movements. Ranging from Pan-Africanist activism in the 1890s to mutual aid women’s groups in the 1970s, from anti-racist trade union marches in Scotland to West African student groups in North East England – this book explores the continuities and interruptions in British anti-racism from the nineteenth century to the present day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526171115
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	11/12/2024
Series:	Racism, Resistance and Social Change
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Saffron East is Adrian Research Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge
Grace Redhead is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter
Theo Williams is a Lecturer in Social History at the University of Glasgow

Table of Contents

Introduction: Anti-racism in Britain: Traditions, histories and trajectories – Saffron East, Grace Redhead and Theo Williams
Part I: Domestic, imperial and global anti-racist alliances and encounters
1 Countering racial discrimination in Britain, 1880s-1913 – David Killingray
2 From racist humanitarianism to colonial human rights: The British Congo Reform Movement and the complicated history of (anti-)racism – Felix Lösing
3 George Orwell, Pan-Africanism, and reconciling anti-imperialism with ‘Britishness’ – Theo Williams
4 British anti-racism in Australia: Exploring the nexus through the anti-racist activism of Jessie Street, 1950–60 – Alison Holland
Part II: Anti-racism and the making of post-imperial Britain
5 Celebrating African culture in the North East of England, 1930s–40s – Vanessa Mongey
6 British Jews and the Race Relations Acts – Joseph Finlay
7 South Asian political Blackness in Britain: Lessons and limitations of anti-racist solidarity – Saffron East
8 ‘Unfinished activisms’: From Black self-help to mutual aid organising today – Sophia Siddiqui
Part III: Anti-racism, memory and identity
9 Memory, multiculturalism and anti-racism in East London, 1990-2006 – Finn Gleeson
10 Tartan inclusivity or workers’ internationalism? The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally in Scotland – Talat Ahmed
11 ‘Martin Luther King fought for a colour-blind society’: African American civil rights in UK political discourse – Megan Hunt
Afterword – Priyamvada Gopal
Index

Editorial Reviews

'This brilliant collection captures the voice of a new generation of scholars committed to decolonising modern British history. It offers a powerful corrective to one-dimension understandings of racism and its resistance, past and present. We see the rich diversity of efforts to resist white supremacy in Britain since the 1880s; the ideological limits and the liberal paternalism of some forms of anti-racist politics; and the points of fracture, the lost solidarities, that remain with us to this day.'
- Camilla Schofield, Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History, King's College London

'This is a remarkably rich collection, which centres the activities of Britain’s racialized citizens and colonial subjects in building enduring and powerful anti-racist movements. The breadth of historical study and the seriousness with which the authors work to bring these anti-racist movements to life are second to none. Anti-racism in Britain will surely become a landmark collection for the field.'
- Rob Waters, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History, Queen Mary University of London


'This is an important and timely collection. It profoundly deepens our understanding of histories of anti-racist action and thought in Britain.'
- Dr Saima Nasar, Senior Lecturer in the History of Africa and its Diasporas, University of Bristol

From the Publisher