Poster from First Conference of the Black Parents Movement, 27-28 Oct 1979, held at the Keskidee Centre.
First Conference of the Black Parents Movement, 27 – 28 Oct 1979, held at the Keskidee Centre. Credit: Copyright Unknown. Courtesy of the George Padmore Institute. BPM/2/2/1/3.

What is the Black Archive? Reparations and Transformation

A day of discussions interrogating the past, present, and potential future for Black archives in Britain, and the role of the archive in determining how Black Britons have been and are remembered.

About What is the Black Archive? Reparations and Transformation

Poster from First Conference of the Black Parents Movement, 27-28 Oct 1979, held at the Keskidee Centre.
First Conference of the Black Parents Movement, 27 – 28 Oct 1979, held at the Keskidee Centre. Credit: Copyright Unknown. Courtesy of the George Padmore Institute. BPM/2/2/1/3.

Run in partnership between Oxford University and the Eccles Institute, this fourth and final event centres on the potential of Black archives to work on their readers as their readers work with them. Interested in varied methods of arranging and interrogating the contents of collections, it explores Black archives as endangered spaces of confrontation and possibility, and asks questions about access, challenges, and their capacity for repair.

Featuring a mix of panels, presentations, and a participatory roundtable, the day is divided into five parts:

  1. On Presenting the Past: Black Archives in Britain Today (featuring representatives from Nottingham Black Archive, the Stuart Hall Archive, British Film Institute, and the George Padmore Institute Archive)
  2. Archival Reassembly: The Case of David Oluwale (Professor Kennetta Hammond-Perry, Northwestern University; Chaired by Nicole-Rachelle Moore)
  3. After Effects: Archival Space and Artistic Transformation (featuring Hannah Lowe, Jay Bernard, Kabe Wilson, Peter Brathwaite and Tia Bannon)
  4. From the Black Archive (reading, featuring Jay Bernard)
  5. Reparations and Transformation: Archival Futures (long table).

We are delighted to be collaborating with the FHALMA Foundation at The London Archives who is organising a sister event on the 29th of November on The Power of Black African Caribbean Archives. Marking 20 years of the Huntley Archives and 50 years of the pioneering Bogle-L’Ouverture Bookshop, this one-day festival will feature panels, performances, archive tours, conversations, and opportunities for heritage professionals, educators, and community groups to connect, share learning, and explore the living legacy of Black archival work and the Huntleys’ early radical leadership in this space. In spring 2026, we will bring together participants from both events to examine their outcomes and explore new opportunities for cross-collaboration.

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