We see them every day, handing them a key as they walk in each morning, and receiving it back toward the end of the day. Most often they are hunkered down over a particular archive, getting to understand a portion of one of our archives better than anybody here. We await the longer scholarly projects that they are developing from this research but in the nearer term thought it would be interesting to give a preview of their work.
In this brief interview, Dr. Robin Bunce (Homerton College – Cambridge University) describes how the Dacrus Howe Papers and recent digitization of materials contributes to his research on the History of Black Power in Britain.
What brings you to Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library?
Columbia has a fantastic collection of material relating to Black Power in Britain. The papers of Darcus Howe and CLR James detail not just their own work but also the broad context of the movements they collaborated with. This includes papers associated with the British Black Panther Movement, with the Race Today Collective, and the Black Parents Movement. In short, it’s an excellent resource for anyone trying to understand the history of Black radicalism in Britain in the decades following Stokely Carmichael’s 1967 visit to Britain and the emergence of Black Power as a movement in Britain.
How long have you been using RBML materials (for this and/or previous research)?
I first visited Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library 15 years ago, and the material I found has been the backbone of my research ever since. Columbia’s archives were crucial to the biography that Paul Field and I wrote on Darcus. Equally, when Paul and I were working with Steve McQueen on the Mangrove film and subsequent BBC TV documentaries, we referred to this material constantly. I’m glad to say that since my last visit the Rare Book & Manuscript Library has done a great job digitising the audio-visual material that Darcus gave to the library, material, that will no doubt inform the next phase of my research.
What have you found? Did you come here knowing this material was here?
One of the most exciting things that I found is a two-hour audio recording of closing arguments in the Mangrove Trial. The trial of the Mangrove Nine was a watershed in British legal history. Nine Black radicals including Darcus, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese and Frank Crichlow used the trial to turn the tables on their accuses. Up against the combined might of the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police, Special Branch, and the British Secret State the Mangrove Nine not only one their freedom, they forced the first judicial acknowledgement that there was evidence of racial hatred in the Metropolitan Police. The audio held by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library records the final section of the closing argument made by Frank Crichlow’s lawyer, and the entirety of Darcus’s closing speech. The contrast is striking. The tape opens with a speech made by a professional white lawyer – who does a good, but very traditional job. Its followed by Darcus’s speech, which is remorselessly political and a real tour de force. What’s more, you get the reaction of the courtroom, and the reaction of the Judge – which doesn’t come across in the transcripts. The tape dates from 1971, but the audio is pristine. It’s a fantastic find. I had a hunch that the archive might contain a recording of this kind, but I had no idea what would be on the tape, or the condition of the audio.
What have you found that’s surprised or perplexed you?
I had some very welcome surprises whilst reading the files of CLR James, and the companion papers in Anna Grimshaw’s archive. Some of the material that jumped out at me, that I was simply not expecting to find, included a passage from a private letter in which James gave his views on Michael X – a Black radical who styled himself the British Malcolm X. James never spoke about Michael in public, so it was very exciting to read his thoughts. What is more, I found a lecture given by James in Hackney in 1983 about the importance of Black women in the history of struggles for Black liberation. Significantly, Hackney played an important role in the campaign for Black representation in Parliament which entered a new phase in 1983. Additionally, Hackney was the first place in Britain to elect a Black woman as a member of Parliament – Diane Abbott, who has played an important role in national life ever since her election back in 1987. It was interesting to see discussions of this kind at the beginning of the modern campaign for Black representation.
What advice do you have for other researchers or students interested in using RBML’s special collections?
I was very lucky to be surrounded by researchers who were working on really interesting projects. When I arrived, I shared a room with someone working on the New York school strike of 1968, and towards the end of my time in the archive I was working alongside an academic examining the history of English translations of Fascist literature from the interwar period, and an expert on the celebrated Italian playwright Dario Fo. I guess my advice would be talk to the other researchers – it’s always a good opportunity to learn from other people, about their passions, how they approach research, and it’s an opportunity to share the excitement of engaging with the material at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.