To mark the start of Black History Month 2026 at Hackney Archives, the CLR James Legacy Lecture was delivered by Joy Francis, executive director of Words of Colour, writer and literary activist on 3 October.
Francis explored how CLR James and other Black male intellectuals, activists and writers were visible while Black women’s key roles as activists, community organisers, feminists and incisive writers were largely rendered invisible due to racism, sexism and patriarchy. She highlighted how James’s political world was significantly shaped by Black women activists such as Amy Ashwood Garvey, Claudia Jones and Una Marson. Asking how far have we come, Francis pointed to the extreme pressures and risk to personal safety contemporary high-profile Black female figures are subjected to, naming specifically the politician Diane Abbott.
Francis is the brainchild behind the book Challenging Britannia: Black British Women Speak Volumes, edited by GPI Trustee Sharmilla Beezmohun and published by the George Padmore Institute in February 2026. The theme of Black History Month is ‘honouring our communities’ and this book of powerful interviews honours seven dynamic and pioneering older Black British women, who have made an enormous contribution to the arts in the UK and beyond.
The groundbreaking creatives working in television, music, dance, theatre, photography and literature are:
* Paulette Randall, theatre and TV director;
* Dominique Le Gendre, contemporary classical music composer;
* Ingrid Pollard, photographer and multimedia artist;
* Sharon Watson, dancer and choreographer;
* Anni Domingo, actress and novelist;
* Verna Wilkins, children’s writer and publisher;
* Valerie Bloom, Jamaican-language poet and writer.
The life experiences of these artists are compelling and fascinating, providing an abundance of lessons on confronting barriers still all-too prevalent in the British arts scene. The interviews with creative entrepreneur Joy Francis tell the tales of long successful careers and hard-earned triumphs, set amid the challenges of navigating issues of gender and the ongoing fight for racial equality and social justice.
‘A fantastic initiative highlighting the living legacy of older Black women artists and creatives, whose narratives continue to be underrepresented … [and] whose entrepreneurial work deserves attention.’ - Bernardine Evaristo, 2019 Booker prize-winning author
‘In these fraught times, it has never been more important to redress this imbalance and hear the hidden diverse voices around us — particularly those of older black women’ - Sharmilla Beezmohun, co-founder of Speaking Volumes and editor of Challenging Britannia
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