Exploring the impact of WW1 across the Americas: New Negroes …

13.05.2019

1903: In “The Souls of Black Folk” W. E. B. du bios writes of the need for mental healing after racialised enslavement and colonial rule, “It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others … two souls, two unrecognised strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body…”

1920s: The Universal Negro Improvement Association opens 15 branches across Canada, whilst in the USA Langston Hughes glories in Black renaissance: “We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame…”

In London, meanwhile, an official of Britain’s Imperial Government rages at defiant revival in the Empire’s former slave colonies, the British West Indies: “Now nothing we can do, will alter the fact that the Black man has begun to think and feel himself, the equal of the White …” (Gilbert Grindle, Oct. 1919)

Our “Mutiny” resource features rare video interviews with Black British WW1 veterans, along with a wealth of supporting sources for exploring this epic awakening. Please visit http://www.sweetpatootee.co.uk/work/mutiny/