Save for Later
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) holds the documents of Jessica and Eric Huntley, radical book publishers and pioneering Black political activists, prolifically involved with the British African – Caribbean communities’ experiences. Audio from these archives has been recently digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) project at LMA.
Three guest curators unpack these archives, bringing together high-profile public figures including academic Kehinde Andrews, online influencer Mikai McDermott and dub poet Mutabaruka, to listen to extracts from the audio archives and relate them to the pressing issues of the day. Themes include exclusion of Black students in education, Black organising in the UK, and decolonising language. The events, aimed at 18-34 year olds, will be free of charge and take place online.
#RadicalVoice21 Events:
5.30-9pm, 7th April
Babylon’s Schooling: Exclusion of Black students in the 1980s and now
Curated by Aliyah Hasinah
7-8.30pm, 28th April
Black Organising in the UK: Caribbean homes as a space of Black joy and resistance
Curated by Ife Thompson
7-9pm, 26th May
Talkin meh Talk: My words set me free
The role of Afrikan centred publishing in decolonising language
Curated by Isis Amlak
Guest curators:
Aliyah Hasinah is a curator, writer & director focused on nuances and the beauty in mundanity of black experiences. Aliyah has previously curated for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (2017), Eastside Projects (2018), Bald Black Girls’ by Ruth Sutoye (2019), Creative Debuts (2021). In 2021, Aliyah founded the Black Curatorial Labs, a space for virtual and physical experimentation and play within the curatorial realm.
Ife Thompson is an award-nominated UK-based Community organiser, United Nations Fellow, Black History Expert, Barrister and Writer. She curates projects that showcase truthful, intergenerational and accurate narratives of Africa and the African diaspora both globally and locally. She has a particular interest in mapping ways in which Black people have resisted through the maintaining and re-adapting cultures and customs from the African continent within the diaspora.
Isis Amlak is an arts and cultural curator, production manager, she has worked creative stakeholders in the UK, and internationally. Isis is a writer and a presenter and is passionate about archiving social history and the educational legacy of Afrikan & African-Caribbean writers and publishers. As a poet she performs under the name I Sis and she has a MA in Black British Writing.
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) is one of ten regional hubs across the UK to join the British Library’s Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project (UOSH), funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
This ambitious project is part of the wider Save Our Sounds programme, which aims to:
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Digitally preserve almost half a million rare and at-risk sound recordings
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Establish a network of audio preservation centres across the UK
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Engage more people with the value of sound recordings
Between 2018 and 2021 LMA aims to digitise and catalogue 5,000 sound recordings, from our audio collections as well as those held at local archives, universities, museums and galleries across the Greater London area. These cover everything from oral histories to world music, academic lectures to urban soundscapes.
This event series is focused on the archives of Jessica and Eric Huntley, and is part of long-term and sustained work taking place at LMA to share Black British history through work with schools, community groups and with the general public.
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