Grassroots Black literature

The Axe Laid to the Root is a pamphlet series by radical preacher, and abolitionist, Robert Wedderburn. He was born in Jamaica in 1762 to Rosanna, an enslaved Black woman, and James Wedderburn, a Scottish-born slaver and plantation owner.

Wedderburn was active in Britain during the early 19th century. His writing forged comparisons between the enslaved people of the Caribbean and Britain’s dispossessed. He urged readers to partake in violent revolution to overthrow systems of inequality in Britain and its Empire.

The authorities viewed his work with unease. In 1819, police were sent to Hopkins Street Chapel in Soho to document Wedderburn’s activities. He was subsequently tried for seditious blasphemy and imprisoned for two years at Dorchester Jail.

The pamphlet series has been accessioned as part of the records of his trial found in TS 11/45/167, with 'TS' standing for Treasury Solicitor.

The Negro World was the paper of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), founded by Jamaican-born Black nationalist, and Pan-African leader, Marcus Garvey, in 1914.

We hold several records relating to Garvey, including original copies of the paper in the Colonial Office collection. It ran from 1918 to 1933 and was published weekly in Harlem, New York, then distributed to UNIA’s chapters in over 40 countries. Internationalist in scope, here the lead story reports on racist riots in both America and Britain’s port towns. It includes fundraising adverts for Garvey’s Black Star line shipping company, which sought to repatriate Black people in the diaspora back to Africa.

Viewed as 'containing articles of a nature calculated to incite the coloured races against the white race... the governor directed that any copies of the paper arriving in the Colony should be seized.'

Published between 1928 and 1937, The Negro Worker was 'the official organ of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers' (ITUCNW). Led by African American communist James W Ford, the ITUCNW aims, as listed at the back, included 'To promote and develop the spirit of international solidarity between the workers of all colours, races and nationalities.'

The file includes five original copies as part of an order prohibiting the importation of the newspaper into present day Ghana and signed off by then Conservative Colonial Secretary, William Ormsby-Gore. The articles highlight a range of contemporary issues including the Italian invasion of Ethiopia as well as the implications of the rise of Nazi Germany for colonised peoples, particularly Hitler’s demands to have former German colonies returned. The parallels between colonialism and fascism are not lost on the authors.

International African Opinion described itself as 'the monthly organ of the International African Service Bureau.' Founded in 1937, the editorial of the first issue states the group's aims: 'No people, race or nationality has been oppressed, exploited and humiliated as the black people for centuries past up to the present day, and the Bureau was formed to assist by all means in our power the unco-ordinated struggle of Africans and people of African descent against the oppression from which they suffer in every country.'

It goes on to describe the paper’s role 'will be … the mouthpiece of the black workers and peasants, and those intellectuals who see the necessity of making the cause of the masses their own.'

Under police surveillance, the file includes several copies from 1938 and 1939, as well as copies of the paper’s predecessors, 'Africa and the World,' and the 'African Sentinel.'

This pamphlet was produced by civil rights activist Roy Sawh.

Born on a sugar estate in Uitvlugt, Guyana (then Guiana) in 1934, Roy was descended from Indian indentured labourers. His father was a sugar estate worker who was brought to the colony at the end of the 19th century, and his mother was second generation Guyanese.

Sawh was perhaps best known for his speeches at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London, a traditional site for public speeches and debates since the 1800s. In From Where I Stand, he sought to make, ‘the main points of the speech I should make but never do,’ as a result of getting side-tracked by questions from the public.

Like many Black and Asian activists, Sawh was under heavy police surveillance. He was put on trial under the Race Relations Act in 1967 for incitement to racial hatred. The pamphlet has been accessioned as part of the records of his trial.

Black Power Speaks was originally a journal published by the London-based Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) led by Nigerian playwright Obi Egbuna. It was self-described as a magazine of ‘fearless editorials and authoritative contributions by well-informed writers from all over the world.’

The surviving issues in the collection date from May, June and July 1968. This was a turbulent time in the British Black Power Movement. In the summer of 1968, infighting and divergent views led Egbuna to leave the UCPA to form the British Black Panther Movement (BBPM), continuing to edit the publication but under this alternative organisation.

Heavily inspired by the American Black Power Movement, these volumes were seized from the BBPM headquarters in Portobello Road in July 1968, after Egbuna was arrested and put on trial after encouraging Black people to actively resist police violence.

The Racial Action Adjustment Society, or RAAS, was the brainchild of Michael X.

Born Michael de Freitas in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1933, Michael came to England in the late 1950s as a merchant seaman. He would later change his name to Michael Abdul Malik, following his conversion to Islam, but was best known as Michael X. The name was given to him by a reporter after Malcolm X, on his visit to England in 1965, referred to him as his ‘brother.’

Michael chose the name 'The Racial Action Adjustment Society' for comedic effect. The acronym, RAAS, doubled as a swearword in Jamaican Patois (meaning ‘arse,’ and often used with ‘claat’ meaning ‘cloth’ for toilet paper, or sanitary towel). Michael thought it would be funny to hear white people unknowingly repeat it in media content and viewed it as a way of poking fun at the establishment, capitalising on their failure to grasp Black vernacular.

Black People’s News Service was a publication by the British Black Panther Party, the largest Black Power group in Britain at this time. Police described the organisation as ‘black militant extremists’. Yet, the aims of the movement describe concerns about employment, housing, education and police brutality. The newspaper detailed their work including Black history sessions, political education courses, and supporting Black people through the courts. It also tracked global Black liberation struggles, and reported local experiences of racism in London.

It was taken as evidence as part of the Mangrove Nine trial, seized from Rhodan Gordon's house during his arrest. Copies of the publication were also sold at the Mangrove march, as seen in photographic police evidence.

The British Black Panther Party was relatively short lived, but other organisations appeared around this time.

Grass Roots was a monthly community newspaper organised by the Black Liberation Front, who described themselves as ‘an organisation for unity, positive action and black consciousness’. It reported international and local news relating to Black struggles, plus art and poetry.

This 1973 issue came to the Race Relations Board when David McCalden, a member of the National Front, argued it contained illegal content as it specified entrants to an art competition on the theme of deportation had to be Black, therefore it was discriminatory. Although found in conflict with the Race Relations Act, officials felt ‘nobody except the National Front would be the winner’ if it went to court, seeking to avoid this.

Far-right groups often tried to use the Act to their advantage. The following edition noted that the Race Relations Board ‘exists to oppress Black people and not to prevent discrimination’.

Black Voice was the paper of the Black Unity and Freedom Party (BUFP), a Marxist group committed to the global liberation struggles of Black people.

The BUFP came to the attention of the Home Office when organisations associated with them applied for public grants to help set up self-help projects for young Caribbean people. The Home Office was concerned about the involvement of Anthony ‘Bonsu’ Munroe. Monroe had been convicted after the Spaghetti House incident, a siege on a restaurant involving three people connected to Black liberation movements. The files present a range of opinions on whether the politics of groups applying should be a factor in assigning public money.

Copies of Black Voice are included in the file as evidence. Articles it published focused on the international context of Black struggles, the reality of police brutality and the need for class-based action.