The Black Agenda Book Shop

Trapezium Arts

54 Kirkgate, Bradford

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Past Exhibitions

The Black Agenda Book Shop

Trapezium Gallery was pleased to present 'The Black Agenda Book Shop' curated by Being Bradford..

In January 1991 a small group of Afrikan and Caribbean parents from Bradford concerned about the mis-education and excessive exclusion from school of their children started The Black Agenda Bookshop, an Afrocentric Library & Bookshop.

This exhibition was a testament to the enduring tenacity and contribution of Bradford’s Afrikan and Caribbean Communities and the stalwart support of many of Bradford’s wider Communities.

Nagbea, who was one of the team of volunteers at The Black Agenda Bookshop and co-ordinated the exhibition for Trapezium explains the origins of this very special enterprise:

“In January 1991 a small group of Afrikan and Caribbean parents concerned about the mis-education and excessive exclusion from school of their children, started an Afrocentric Library & Bookshop called: The Black Agenda Bookshop. It was based at 24a Barry Street, Bradford, BD1 2AW and was located on the first floor of the building, initially above a record shop called Global Beat and later above the Hemp and Head shop Bagga Wiya.

Nagbea and Jamil outside the Black Agenda Bookshop 24a Barry Street, Bradford in 1991.

Volunteers kept the bookshop running for several years. (L-R: Omari, Amira, Nagbea, Nykx.)

Participants and Parents in the day-to-day running of the bookshop were ALL volunteers. Several of the keyworkers were full-time, dedicated, unpaid and fully committed to providing this vital educational space in the face of general and local government indifference and at times hostility.

At this location the Library / Bookshop and its schooling facility Per Ankh served ALL communities for approximately 7 years. During this time adults and children benefited from access to a huge educational resource of books, audio/visual materials, cultural artefacts, educational trips and many community projects and activities.

Classroom at Barry Street, Teachers and Students pose for the camera.

The Bookshop was also a vibrant hub for anti-racist campaign work around immigration, prison and police reform and school and workplace racism, as well as being an inclusive and supportive educational space for people facing and exposing what has recently been described as the “Hostile Environment”.

Peter Kalu - Author of Lickshot at a book signing at the Bookshop. (L-R: Peter Kalu, Curtis.)

Parents sat on the Equator on a trip to Uganda in 1995. (L-R: Tracy, Anne-Marie, Nalonga, Kobisingye.)

Examples of special moments in the cultural and educational Life of the Library were 3 library members spending 4 transformative weeks in 1994 in Ishaka & Bushenyi in Uganda. Another 4 delegates in 1995 attended and brought messages of solidarity and support from Bradford, UK to the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign at his critical Stay of Execution Hearing in Philadelphia, USA.

One member representing the Library attended the first historically significant 1995 Million Man March in Washington DC, USA (which was central to Spike Lee’s excellent film Get on the Bus). Members of the Library regularly visited UK prisons in support of black men wrongfully convicted and imprisoned as miscarriages of justice. Winston Silcott, Raphael Rowe, Michael Davis and Satpal Ram were all subsequently released and their convictions overturned; the Rahman family, facing deportation, were given indefinite leave to remain status after successful campaigns carried out over many years.”

Volunteers from Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield holding copies of 90s Monthly Afrocentric Magazine, the Alarm.

Nagbea says: “Being Bradford would like to take this opportunity to retrospectively really thank all the wonderful parents, Library members, supporters and people of Bradford and Leeds who volunteered, cooked, helped raise funds, visited prisons, marched and campaigned, purchased books and participated in any way and generally helped the bookshop survive for 7 special and transformative years. This exhibition is a testament to the enduring tenacity and contribution of Bradford’s Afrikan and Caribbean Communities and the stalwart support of many of Bradford’s wider Communities.”