‘Our Time Has Come’ …encourages KS3-4 students of all backgrounds to reach an informed understanding of (and respect for) their own and each other’s identities by reflecting positively on their heritage, cultures and potential as active citizens.

"Good resource, but a lack of British black people on it … It is important for young black people growing up in the UK to be aware of role models in the UK.” accessed 21/11/2012 “Schools are usually thoughtful enough to ensure that there is a focus on more positive proactive Black experiences after the Slave Trade was abolished by the British in 1807, yet this usually focuses on the United States of America.” Robin Whitburn and Sharon Yemoh, ‘“My people struggled too”: hidden histories and heroism’, Teaching History, Issue 147, June 2012, pp.16-25, on p.18 Notes for Teachers 1

Notes for Teachers 2 ‘Our Time Has Come’ is a set of resources uploaded to the Guardian Teacher Network website. The resources provide the content, sources and information to support the delivery of a local and relevant approach to post- war black history in the British classroom. They use the achievements of Bernie Grant (1944–2000) as an opportunity to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of significant individuals. Bernie Grant was one of four Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) MPs elected to Parliament in 1987; the others were Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Keith Vaz. All four represented the Labour Party. The collective resource title ‘Our Time Has Come’ is the headline of a front-page article in the Caribbean Times celebrating this historic moment in the history of BAME representation in Britain. Prior to the 1980s, the last time a BAME MP had been elected to Parliament was in 1922.

‘Our Time Has Come’ consists of five resources uploaded separately but sharing a common title and theme. Taught as a set ‘Our Time Has Come’ is expected to take 2-3 hours of class time. However, the resources are intended to be flexibly used. Teachers are encouraged to pick and choose from the presentations, activities and historical sources provided to suit their teaching and learning needs. They might, for example: – teach the set as a self-standing study as part of Black History Month (Oct) or Parliament Week (Nov) – ‘nest’ aspects of the set within other areas of study – use the resources as a springboard into the study of how individuals affect history Notes for Teachers 3 ‘Our Time Has Come’ assumes from the teacher basic prior knowledge of: – 20th century UK Parliamentary processes – the role of a British MP

Use of Materials in ‘Our Time Has Come’ Unless otherwise stated, the documents and images included in this set of resources are from the Bernie Grant Archive. They have been cleared for reproduction for learning purposes with the permission of the Bernie Grant Archive, owned by the Bernie Grant Trust and housed in the Bishopsgate Institute Archive. Notes for Teachers 4

Useful Web-links relations.htm#Race%20Relations%20Act% (Bernie Grant at the Labour Party Conference 1984) (Bernie Grant speaking in the House of Commons 1999) Notes for Teachers 5

Our Time Has Come (2)

Learning objectives To understand key BAME milestones in UK political history To reflect on broader issues of minority representation, race and empire To use primary sources to reveal ‘hidden histories’ ‘I always look at the race dimension’* *Quote taken from a 2011 interview with Keith Vaz MP. Listen to the full clip here: and-Community-Learning/Projects/Taken-for-Granted

Key words Sections Candidate Aliens Pauper Ministry Parliamentarian

Timeline 1892– First BAME MP – Indian candidate Dadabhai Naoroji (Liberal) elected MP for Finsbury in London 1895 First BAME Conservative MP – Indian candidate Mancherjee Bhownaggree elected to represent Bethnal Green North East in London 1922 First BAME Labour MP – Indian candidate Shapurji Saklatvala elected to represent Battersea North in London 1983 General Election, six BAME candidates stood; none elected Labour Party Conference, Labour Party Black Sections tabled a demand for greater representation in Parliament 1987 Four BAME Labour MPs elected in what has been viewed as a watershed moment in British politics. Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng, Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz were the first non-white MPs elected since Saklatvala had lost his seat in Boateng and Grant were the first British MPs of Afro-Caribbean descent; Diane Abbott was the first minority ethnic woman MP in Britain 1992 General Election – Abbott, Boateng, Grant and Vaz all returned and a fifth BAME MP elected (Piara Singh Khabra for Ealing Southall in London)

Image c.1897 from a press clipping pasted inside Poverty of India (see also slides 13 & 14). George Howell Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes. Dadabhai Naoroji – first Asian MP in Britain

Press cutting pasted inside Poverty of India (see also slides 12 & 14). George Howell Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes.

p.124 ‘The chief cause of India’s poverty, misery, and all material evils, is the exhaustion of its previous wealth, the continuously increasing exhausting and weakening drain from its annual production by the very excessive expenditure on the European portion of all its services, and the burden of a large amount a year to be paid to foreign countries for interest on the public debt, which is chiefly caused by the British rule.’ Front cover of a collection of talks and papers delivered to audiences in India in the 1870s. Howell Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes.

Thumbnail text and image from Harold Cox Parliamentary Pictures and Personalities (1893). Labour History Collection at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes.

Mancherjee Bhownaggree – first Asian Conservative MP George Howell Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes.

Flyer used in the hard-fought 1895 election. Conservative Bhownaggree took the supposedly safe Labour seat in the heart of the East End with a campaign centred around opposition to immigration. See also next slide. Popular with his constituents, Bhownaggree was re-elected in George Howell Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Cleared for reproduction for educational purposes.

Reverse of 1895 campaign flyer (see previous slide)

Shapurji Saklatvala – first Asian Labour MP 1907 Moved to Britain from India and joined the relatively new Independent Labour Party 1921 Joined the Communist Party 1922 elected Labour MP for Battersea North in London 1923 lost the seat at election 1924 regained the seat, this time standing as a Communist representative 1929 Lost the seat

Saklatvala lost his seat in Parliament in 1929 – and it was to be another 58 years before another non-white MP was elected in the UK. In 1987, Keith Vaz was elected to represent Leicester East in the Midlands; in north London, Diane Abbott was elected to represent Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Paul Boateng to represent Brent South and Bernie Grant to represent Tottenham. All were Labour MPs.

Bernie Grant had already made history by becoming the first BAME leader of a local council anywhere in Europe when he became Head of Haringey Council in north London in 1985.

Bernie Grant had joined the Tottenham Labour Party in He held several positions within the local party before being elected a councillor in His impact was immediate, and within a year he was Deputy Leader of the local council. Much of his experience as a speaker and campaigner had been gained through grass- roots activism in trade union activity.

In the 1970s and 80s politically active men and women from BAME communities tended to give their electoral support to the Labour Party. At this time, Labour were seen as more likely to introduce policies which would help minority groups and ‘ordinary’ working people and minority groups, including women. In the 1980s, Labour set up a ministry for women to promote gender equality (see slides 23 and 24).

From Looking Forward to a Brighter Future for Women (1987) Labour Party General Election campaign material, held in Feminist Library Pamphlet Collection, Bishopsgate Institute. The reproduction of this source for learning purposes has been approved by the Labour Party – but please note that copyright remains with the Labour Party.

From Labour’s Ministry for Women (1986) held in Feminist Library Pamphlet Collection, Bishopsgate Institute. The reproduction of this source for learning purposes has been approved by the Labour Party but please note that copyright remains with the Labour Party.

For Diane Abbott (the first BAME woman MP in Britain), the challenges of being ‘in a minority’ in the House of Commons, were especially keenly felt. The audio clips at the foot of this webpage convey her experience: Community-Learning/Projects/Taken-for-Granted

Description of life as a BAME female police cadet, published in Race Today (December 1986), p.11, held in the Bernie Grant Archive at Bishopsgate Institute

The Labour Party election flyer opposite is from the Bernie Grant Archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Its reproduction for learning purposes in the context of this resource has been approved by the Labour Party but please note that copyright remains with the Labour Party. Suggested Source Activity Ask pupils to ‘date’ the item opposite

The Labour Party Black Sections was established in 1983 to increase African-Caribbean and Asian representation on local councils in town halls around the country. The group campaigned for all-black shortlists to help encourage the selection of BAME candidates for parliamentary election. At grass-roots level BAME self-organised groups were formed in trade unions and across some professional sectors, including the police force. The movement was seen as successful in empowering men and women from the BAME community – both psychologically and in practical terms. Some have suggested that the historic election of four BAME candidates in the 1987 election would not have happened without the activism of the Labour Party Black Sections.

In 2008, there were 15 BAME MPs out of a total of 646 MPs in Parliament. Labour councillor in Lambeth, south London Kingsley Abrams (former national officer of the Labour Party Black Sections) described this as ‘a national disgrace.’ ‘Why all-Black shortlists are needed,’ in Labour Party Black Sections 25th Anniversary Commemoration , p.9 Further reading here: Suggested Essay Question Political unity between minority groups was a key to affecting change in the 1980s. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?