Black Handsworth. Kieran Connell

      

      Black Handsworth

      The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Fletcher Jones Foundation Imprint in Humanities.

      BERKELEY SERIES IN BRITISH STUDIES

      Edited by James Vernon

      1. The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain, edited by Simon Gunn and James Vernon

      2. Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945–1975, by Ian Hall

      3. The Savage Visit: New World People and Popular Imperial Culture in Britain, 1710–1795, by Kate Fullagar

      4. The Afterlife of Empire, by Jordanna Bailkin

      5. Smyrna’s Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and the Birth of the Middle East, by Michelle Tusan

      6. Pathological Bodies: Medicine and Political Culture, by Corinna Wagner

      7. A Problem of Great Importance: Population, Race, and Power in the British Empire, 1918–1973, by Karl Ittmann

      8. Liberalism in Empire: An Alternative History, by Andrew Sartori

      9. Distant Strangers: How Britain Became Modern, by James Vernon

      10. Edmund Burke and the Conservative Logic of Empire, by Daniel I. O’Neill

      11. Governing Systems: Modernity and the Making of Public Health in England, 1830–1910, by Tom Crook

      12. Barbed-Wire Imperialism: Britain’s Empire of Camps, 1976–1903, by Aidan Forth

      13. Aging in Twentieth-Century Britain, by Charlotte Greenhalgh

      14. Thinking Black: Britain, 1964–1985, by Rob Waters

      15. Black Handsworth: Race in 1980s Britain, by Kieran Connell

      Black Handsworth

       Race in 1980s Britain

      Kieran Connell

      UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

      University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

      University of California Press

      Oakland, California

      © 2019 by Kieran Connell

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Connell, Kieran, author.

      Title: Black Handsworth : race in 1980s Britain / Kieran Connell.

      Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] | Series: Berkeley Series in British Studies ; 15 | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

      Identifiers: LCCN 2018036127 (print) | LCCN 2018037563 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520971950 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520300668 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520300682 (paperback)

      Subjects: LCSH: Blacks—England—Birmingham—Social conditions—20th century. | Handsworth (Birmingham, England)—Social conditions—20th century. | Handsworth (Birmingham, England)—Race relations—History—20th century.

      Classification: LCC DA690.B6 (ebook) | LCC DA690.B6 C76 2019 (print) | DDC 305.896/042496—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036127

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

       For A. S. F. and in memory of K. H. C.

      Contents

       List of Illustrations

       Acknowledgments

       Abbreviations

       Introduction: Black Handsworth

      1. Shades of Black: Political and Community Groups

      2. Visualizing Handsworth: The Politics of Representation

      3. Dread Culture: Africa in Handsworth

      4. Leisure and Sociability: The Black Everyday

       Epilogue

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

Illustrations

      1. Demolition site in Handsworth, 1979

      2. Handsworth Self-Portrait Project, 1979

      3. Tabloid front-page article, “War on the Streets,” 1985

      4. Baptism, ca. late 1970s

      5. Band rehearsal, ca. late 1970s

      6. Couple dancing, ca. late 1970s

      7. Boy with a flag, ca. 1970s

      8. African Liberation Day, 1977

      9. “A day trip to Skegness”

      10. Confrontation between the police and two black men, 1985

      11. Cover of Steel Pulse’s Handsworth Revolution, 1978

      12. Kokuma Dance Company performing The History of the Drum, 1992

      13. Kokuma Dance Company, 1992

      14. Francis Nation (r.), Handsworth Continental Cricket Club, ca. early 1980s

      15. Handsworth Continental Cricket Club, ca. early 1980s

      16. Men playing dominoes in the Bull’s Head pub, ca. early 1980s

      17. Photograph taken at Earnest Dyche Portraiture Studio, ca. early 1960s

      18. Photo from Auntie Linda’s Front Room series, 1987

      19. The West Indian Front Room, Geffrye Museum of the Home, 2005

Acknowledgments

      This book is the culmination of many years’ work. It is the product of scores of interviews in cafés, libraries, and front rooms; of early-morning writing routines in bedrooms, in offices, and at kitchen tables; of conversations with friends, loved ones, and colleagues; and of an infinite number of cups of very strong coffee. Because of this, there are a great many people without whom a book of this kind would never have been possible. First of all, a huge thank-you to all those people who took the time to talk to a young student about their memories of 1980s Handsworth. All of them shaped this book in indispensable ways, though special