Showing posts with label Operation Black Vote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Operation Black Vote. Show all posts

Monday 1 January 2018

African Soldiers in WW1: A Journey of Research, and Remembering




Guest post byYewande Okuleye, first published on Operation Black Vote and reproduced with permission.



Did you know the first shot of WW1 was fired by the British, in West Africa? Well, I must share a secret with you. I did not know this fact also.
My role as curator for the exhibition – Back from the Western Front: African Soldiers of the Great War in Britain required it was imperative to become somewhat of an expert, on all matters concerning African soldiers in WW1. The first thing I learnt was Regiment Sergeant – Major Grunshi, who served with the Gold Coast Regiment (former British colony and modern-day Ghana), fired the first shot, when the British attacked the German colony of Togoland in 1914. 
My identity as a British/Nigerian female curator of an exhibition about African soldiers was quite significant on two levels. Firstly, this was my first paid job within the museum sector. Although I had volunteered for about 15 years in different museum settings; archives, education and exhibition planning, securing paid employment was something of a holy grail. I was at the point of giving up, when I received an email from a colleague with a link that simply said “Yewande, this job has your name written on it”. Secondly, I brought a unique perspective, informed by my lived experiences and insights about African culture to the project. For example, my ability to speak Yoruba, and my local knowledge of South West, Nigeria provided a different lens to interpret archival primary sources. In this instance, the surnames of soldiers recruited in South West, Nigeria seemed to ‘leap off the page’ demanding my attention. It was obvious to me, that soldier’s surnames had been replaced with names of towns and villages. As it transpired, this was a common British colonial recruitment practice. 
  
My curatorial remit was designed to facilitate community volunteers to access, interpret primary sources, and co-curate the exhibition. Therefore, I played an important role in shaping the ideas which informed the exhibition. This blog post unravels how an exhibition which sought to highlight a ‘forgotten history’, became a journey of discovery for all of us. Our main aim for the exhibition was to research, remember and commemorate African soldiers who contributed to WW1, however we soon started to ask a pertinent question. 

Why was this history forgotten in the first place? My simple answer was history is not about recording all the facts. Historians are selective in constructing narratives about people and events. Historiography is biased, and the African narrative was a mere foot note in the script about WW1. My main motivation for this exhibition was to foreground aspects of the foot note. This was achieved by facilitating volunteers to question their assumptions, and fine tune their evidence gathering, and interpretations, to create a narrative which brought the voices of the people to the fore. For example, we wanted to share the story of Regimental Sergeant Major Belo Akure, a Nigerian soldier who was awarded a distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for bravery in South Nigeria and a Military Medal award for bravery in German East Africa. Regimental Sergeant Belo Akure represented the intersection of the local, global, and colonial as a Nigerian representative at the Empire exhibition at Wembley in 1924.  

 
Regimental Sergeant Belo Akure Outside the African Wall City Empire Exhibition Wembley 1924, 
Curtesy Brent Archives

As our research progressed, it become increasingly difficult to ignore the nuances and complexities thrown up within this enquiry. This narrative was not just about heroic African soldiers awarded medals for fighting against each other, to advance British and German interests. This narrative was also about the vast number of non- combatants who built roads, bridges, worked in quarries, transported weapons, and supplies. The non-combatants did the heavy lifting at the Western Front and the African war fronts in Togoland, (Togo) Kameroun, (Cameroun) German East Africa, and German South West Africa. This narrative was also about the absence of women from the story. We did not have the evidence of embroidered silk postcards sent from the Western Front to their loved ones. (1) 
In this exhibition, we selected a photograph of women digging roads in the Tanganyika district of British East Africa (modern Tanzania). This image really brought the reality of war home to me. I was really disturbed to discover women, and children were ‘recruited’ to build roads. The notion of recruitment under these war conditions is not very clear, as some accounts suggest recruitment was predominantly forced labour. In this case, the account, and contributions of less important people, like women and children might never be recovered. The metaphor of the fleeting presence of this history is reproduced by the blurred spectral figures we can just about make out in the extreme wide shot of the photograph.
 
I was very pleased when midway into the project, I was working with volunteers who were curious, committed, and passionate about creating an exhibition which not only highlighted the foot notes from history, but also foregrounded narratives which people might just care about. We cared, when we discovered over 646 men of the South African Native Labour 

Corps (SANLC) died when the SS Mendi sank in the English Channel on the 21st, February 1917. Although the sinking of the SS Mendi might have fallen into historical obscurity in the West, memories were kept alive through oral narratives which became embedded within the black South African collective memory. The SS Mendi also raised questions about how history is written, and why some events are forgotten. Dr Shawn Sobers film, African Kinship series  both articulated our questions and offered a fresh inflection of (re) presentations of remembrance and commemoration of the black South African non-combatants, who died in the SS Mendi maritime disaster.   



Still from African Kinship Series film by Dr Shawn Sobers

  
Back from the Western Front: African Soldiers of the Great War in Britain does not attempt to cover the whole story, it provides a space for the audience to absorb and reflect on different facets of the human experience of war. Themes of war were highlighted through a case study approach which provided vignettes from different parts of Africa. This was an attempt to lead the conversation away from the prevalent Eurocentric discourse which represents Africa as a homogenised, social, and cultural space which obscures contours of diversity, complexities, and historical specificity.  Although, the exhibition might increase awareness about the contribution of African soldiers, the impact of WW1 on the continent of Africa still requires inclusion in the wider narrative about the Great War.


Back from the Western Front: African Soldiers of the Great War in Britain is a photographic exhibition, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The exhibition is showing at the Willesden Library till the January 8th, 2018.

Follow Yewande on Twitter -@Yewandeslondon  for conversations about  diversity, culture and lifestyle in London.

[1] Fergus. Read, “Embroidered Silk Postcard,” Imperial War Museums, accessed  July 27, 2017, http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war-silk-postcards. The embroidered postcards were very popular with British soldiers fighting at the Western Front, who often sent them home as souvenirs.

Thursday 15 August 2013

Black vote decisive in Brent Central and Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary contests

There was a ripple of amusement at Ealing Planning Committee last night when the Ealing Planning Officer referred to Cllr Zaffar van Kalwala as 'the Brent MP'.

Van Kalwala's hat is indeed in the ring for the Brent Central parliamentary candidate selection as is that of Dawn Butler and many others include Patrick Vernon. This afternoon Butler is co-facilitating a Voice Editor's Forum in Wembley on the issue of 'Is Labour losing the Black vote?'.

This follows the survey carried out by Operation Black Vote LINK on how Black and Ethnic Minority voters could influence the outcome of the 2015 General Election.

Dawn Butler lost against Sarah Teather in 2010 in the third biggest national swing against Labour despite Labour winning back seats on Brent Council to take control. Barry Gardiner increased his majority in Brent North in a campaign which played more to his personal prominence and following than to his Labour affiliation. Both Brent Central and Brent North have a majority of BME voters.

The OBV analysis for Brent Central in summary is: Brent Central MP: Sarah Teather Party: Lib Dems 2010 Majority: 1,345 (Ultra Marginal) Nearest challenger: Labour BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure: 61,609 Majority Seat: BME Voters 57.9% Total BME Population: 84,180 (61.2%) Asian Voters: 24,186 Black Voters: 28,591 Largest BME: African BME Impact: Very Significant

Clearly the BME vote will be of vital importance and will be a consideration when Labour starts the Brent Central parliamentary candidate selection process after the Labour Party Conference in September.

Hampstead and Kilburn where Glenda Jackson has a majority of only 42 and has stood down is also labelled an 'Ultra Marginal):   MP: Glenda Jackson Party: Labour 2010 Majority: 42  (Ultra Marginal) Nearest challenger: Conservative BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure:32,802 Total BME Population: 44,819 (34.5%) Asian Voters:12,491 Black Voters: 11,764 Largest BME: African BME Impact:  Very Significant

The report describes Brent North, which at 70.6% has the third highest BME population in the country, as 'Safe' for Barry Gardiner:  MP:Barry Gardiner Party: Labour 2010 Majority: 8,028  
Nearest challenger: Conservative BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure: 69,015    Majority Seat: BME Voters 70.6% Total BME Population: 94,300 (73.4%) Asian Voters: 49,261  1Black: Voters 12,836 Largest BME: Indian
BME Impact: Very Significant


The full report can be downloaded HERE

Saturday 9 February 2013

Mary Seacole win was based on People Power - let's use it on forced academies

We’ve won ! - Mary Seacole, Olaudah Equiano [2.7391304347826]









Readers may have missed another concession by Michael Gove this week.I wrote a piece a few weeks ago  LINK supporting Operation Black Vote's campaign to retain the study of Mary Seacole in the National Curriculum. The campaign succeeded to the extent that Mary Seacole is now in the main curriculum rather than just an option. This is a victory for the thousands who supported the campaign but we now need to turn our attention to other fundamentally problematic issues in Michael Gove's history proposals

Operation Black Vote wrote:

We’ve won ! - Mary Seacole, Olaudah Equiano

Thanks to nearly 36,000 signatories, letters to the Secretary of State for education, politicians, unions, writers and activist, today we celebrate the fact that our children and the next generation of children will be taught about the great exploits of both Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano. Furthermore, the importance of diversity within our education system, particularly in history will now be greatly valued.

Back in December a leaked document suggested that Equiano and Seacole be scrapped from the Curriculum.

Simon Woolley stated:
This is a great day for education, but also a great day for the Black community and many others who demanded greater racial justice within our education system. There are too many people to thank personally but, The Voice, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and Change.org all threw their considerable weight behind this campaign. Seacole and Equiano would both be saying our spirits fantastically live on with today's activist.  
Michael Gove wrote personally to OBV in response to the campaign:
We are lucky to be heirs to a very rich mix of exceptional thinkers, bold reformers and courageous political activists. I agree that is important that our children learn about difference that these figures have made, and it is right that we do more, not less to make subjects relevant to the lives of our children.
 Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, Emeritus Professor of Nursing, said:
Thanks to all 36,000 people who signed the Operation Black Vote Petition. Mary Seacole AND Olaudah Equiano & Florence Nightingale are all cited in Key Stage 3 of the proposed national curriculum. Brilliant, just brilliant!
Zita Holbourne of BARAC stated: 
This campaign just goes to show that if we stand our ground, stick together and assert our collective 'People Power' we succeed.
Let's now use People Power to defeat Michael Gove over forced academies. Yesterday's demonstration outside Gladstone Park Primary School was a great start.