Resources
We believe it is important to share what we’ve learnt. Our goal is to make it easier for our audience to find the information they need – so this page is a collection of just that. With this page we hope to better serve our community. Updated quarterly, this time featuring pieces related to Windrush @ 75.
BOOKS We ARe REading

THERE AIN’T NO BLACK IN THE UNION JACK Paul Gilroy
This classic book is a powerful indictment of contemporary attitudes to race. By accusing British intellectuals and politicians on both sides of the political divide of refusing to take race seriously, Paul Gilroy caused immediate uproar when this book was first published in 1987. A brilliant and explosive exploration of racial discourses, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack provided a powerful new direction for race relations in Britain. Still dynamite today and as relevant as ever, this Routledge Classics edition includes a new introduction by the author.

THE WINDRUSH BETRAYAL: EXPOSING THE HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT AMELIA GENTLEMAN
A searing portrait of Britain’s hostile environment by the journalist behind the Windrush exposé.
How do you pack for a one-way journey back to a country you left when you were eleven and have not visited for fifty years?
Amelia Gentleman’s exposé of the Windrush scandal – where thousands of British citizens were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants with life-shattering consequences – shocked the nation and led to the resignation of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary. Here, Gentleman tells the full story for the first time.

FIRE RUSH JACQUELINE CROOKS
Immerse yourself in an electric story of dub reggae, love, loss and Black womanhood
Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground club in the industrial town on the outskirts of London. A young woman unsure of her future, the sound is her guide – a chance to discover who she really is in the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights. In the dance-hall darkness, dub is the music of her soul, her friendships, her ancestry.
But everything changes when she meets Moose, the man she falls deeply in love with, and who offers her the chance of freedom and escape. When their relationship is brutally cut short, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation where past and present collide with explosive consequences.
UseFul Links
Here are some digital resources we are reading, listening to, and watching; complied from our speakers, our community, and the Blackout Tuesday Partnership.
ThE UNWANTED: THE SECRET WINDRUSH FILES
How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government’s ‘hostile environment’. David Olusoga exposes the secret files behind the Windrush scandal.
THE ALTERNATIVE HISTORY BEHIND THE WINDRUSH SCANDAL
Working with Norfamton these past weeks on the Windrush Doorstep Befriending Team, it was interesting talking to Shereen on how the original critiques of the Scandal did not go far enough in their primary challenges to the Home Office. A Lond Read by Tré Ventour-Griffthis
BLACK HISTORY WALKS
Founded by Blackout Tuesday #14 moderator, Tony Warner, Black History Walks offer walking tours, educational talks and films in London. We work with museums, schools, communities and universities to deliver a diverse and engaging programme of educational experiences for students, sightseers, businesses, film fans and anyone with an interest in history and learning.
MANGROVE NINE DOCUMENTARY (1973)
Produced in 1973 by co-founder of the George Padmore Institute (GPI) John La Rose and filmmaker Franco Rosso, footage from the Mangrove Nine documentary was recently shown in the BBC feature-length programme Black Power: A British Story of Resistance (25 March 2021). The Mangrove Nine film includes interviews with black community leaders who were defendants in a trial in 1971 which marked a significant moment in Black British history. The judge in the trial made the first official acknowledgement of ‘racial hatred’ in the Metropolitan Police. Recorded before the final verdicts were announced, the film provides a vivid insight into the experiences of the defendants.
UCL’S SARAH PARKER REMOND CENTER
The UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation explores the impact of racism – scientific, metaphysical and cultural.
Part of the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, we work closely with many partners on-site to provide a focal point for scholarship, teaching and public engagement activities that are addressed to various problems of racial inequality and hierarchy.
OVER A BARREL: WINDRUSH CHILDREN, TRAGEDY and TRIUMPH
Discover the incredible journeys of children who travelled from the Caribbean to the UK during the Windrush era in our exhibition, Over A Barrel: Windrush Children, Tragedy and Triumph. This interactive experience explores the profound impact of separation and reunion, isolation and belonging, as well as the cultural and social adjustments these children had to make in order to thrive in a hostile environment. Exhibit runs through October 2023
BlackOut tuesday Visits
THE WORLD REIMAGINED
September 2022
In conjunction with Blackout Tuesday #10, the Phoenix Court Group and the Blackout Tuesday partnership walked one of The World Reimagined sculpture trails. The World Reimagined is a ground-breaking, mass participation art education project to transform how we understand the transatlantic slave trade and its impact.
The Sculpture Trail consisted of 103 unique globes across the UK exploring the history, legacy and future of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans through the work of incredible artists.

THE NEW BLACK VANGUARD
December 2022
On the morning of Blackout Tuesday #11, the Phoenix Court Group team and Blackout Tuesday partnership touredThe New Black Vanguard features 15 international Black photographers contributing to a new vision of the Black figure and reframing representation in art and fashion. This exhibition is a celebration of Black creativity both in-front of and behind the camera. Featured works include Black stylists, models, make-up artists and creative directors who are bringing a radically new set of references and experiences to image making.
The New Black Vanguard is curated by American writer and critic Antwaun Sargent who explores a new aesthetic of Black portraiture while examining the cross-pollination between art, fashion and culture in the making of images.

ENSLAVEMENT: voices from the archives
MARCH 2023
On the morning of Blackout Tuesday #12, the Phoenix Court Group team and Blackout Tuesday partnership visited Lambeth Palace Library to see ‘[l]etters, books and documents from our collections are displayed to show some of the links between the Church of England and transatlantic slavery. Amongst these are rare documents from enslaved people, contrasting views on the rights of enslaved people from within the Church, and from missionaries working in the Caribbean and the Americas. These documents also present the arguments put forward using the Church’s teaching at the time both for and against the abolition of slavery.’
This exhibition accompanies the Church Commissioners’ public report on historic links between Queen Anne’s Bounty (one of the Church Commissioners’ predecessors) and transatlantic chattel slavery and is open on the following dates: 4 April 2023 and can be visited 9:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. There are two Saturday openings, 4 March and 1 April (extra date added), 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.

PARDNER HAND: A CARIBBEAN ANSWER TO BRITISH BANKING EXCLUSION
SEPTEMBER 2023
On the morning of Blackout Tuesday #14, the Phoenix Court Group team and Blackout Tuesday partnership visited the Bank of England Museum to view the Parnder Hand exhibit.
On 22 June 1948, HMT Empire Windrush arrived in the UK from the Caribbean along with many Commonwealth citizens answering Britain’s call for workers after the Second World War. Once in the UK, they worked in skilled jobs such as nursing, transport, and manufacturing.
Despite their contributions to society, many of the Windrush Generation were denied access to basic banking services such as loans and bank accounts because they didn’t have a credit history in the UK. Without access to the banking system, key financial resources such as securing a mortgage became nearly impossible. This led the Caribbean community to join together to support one another through Pardner Hand, an informal, community-based savings scheme. It is a kind of community-based saving method also known as a Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) that is used around the world.
This exhibition explores this way of saving which was popularised by the Windrush Generation and highlights Caribbean entrepreneurship in the face of financial discrimination. It celebrates the legacy of the Windrush Generation and their descendants in the UK today, looking at how communities came together to support themselves through saving schemes such as Pardner Hand.

From Our SPEAKERS
THE SCIENCE OF POWER IN THE BODY
The science of power in the body – how power affects well-being, and what it means for policy,’ a paper written by Blackout Tuesday #11 speaker, Suzanne Alleyne
This discussion paper by Suzanne Alleyne builds on her research project ‘Neurology of Power’ and work as a Research Fellow at Demos to explore what science can teach us about the effect of power on the human experience.
WE ARE BLACK JOURNOS PODCAST
In this We Are Black Journos episode we explore the world of Journalism and PR, in conversation with Justin King from Milltown Partners, speaker from Blackout Tuesday #11
THE BLACK FARMER
Speaker at Blackout Tuesday #12, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE is the Black Farmer.
From his website: ‘A child of the Windrush I came to the UK from Jamaica as a young boy. My love of my father’s inner-city Birmingham allotment and inspired by my small farm on the Devon Cornwall border. I am a passionate supporter of British farming and bringing diversity to the food and farming industries.
‘The Black Farmer Experience offers a voyage of discovery of many of the things that go into making my life less ordinary.’