Black History Month: Black and Asian experiences during World War One – Zoom presentation for Bristol Museums, Tony T and Dr Kent Fedorowich

On 21^st October from 6pm, Tony and Dr Kent Fedorowich are giving Zoom presentations for Bristol Museums’ Black History Month programme. 

Click here for the link to Bristol Museums’ web page about the event: 

The event will be in two parts…

Part one

Using Southwest England as a lens, Dr Kent Fedorowich will explore two parallel themes. 

Firstly, how did Black and Asian people within the empire contribute to Britain’s war effort? Indigenous labour was a critical resource which the British exploited ruthlessly. This provided military force in Africa and the Middle East, but also logistical support on the Western Front.

Secondly, where are the Black poppies in the south-west of England? Have any stories been unearthed, and, if so, what do they tell us about the region and its society at such a pinnacle moment in world history?

Part two

In 1997 Tony T and colleague Rebecca Goldstone became the UK’s first Arts and Heritage practitioners to record the story of a Black British West Indies Regiment veteran. 

Further interviews with Black Caribbean WW1 veterans, alongside testimonies from Black Caribbean women, led to creation of MUTINY (1999). As the UK’s first Black ‘participation-led’ project, this explored real-life Black British Caribbean experiences in the First World War. Back then precious little of this heritage was readily available in physical collections or online. Black Caribbean voices of that conflict had been silenced for 80-odd years. 

Tony’s presentation will reveal how subsequent research and interviews have led him to reassess this story and its impact.