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From Great War to Race
Riots Website Launch
WRITING on the Wall presents the Great War
to Race Riots Website Launch on Wednesday, 28 October 2015, during:- 'Black History
Month' at Liverpool Central Library at 6pm. In 2014 community member and
activist Joe Farrag presented Writing on the Wall with a fascinating and
moving collection of documents and letters. This archive relates to the
position of Black ex-servicemen, seamen and factory workers stranded or left
destitute in Liverpool after the First World War who had fought for England
on land and at sea during the Great War of 1914, or had worked in factories
in Liverpool, and had wives and children here. They were then subjected to
verbal, physical and racial abuse on the streets of Liverpool which was
compounded by institutional racism. Set against the backdrop of the 1919
race riots, the documents reveal a plight of daily racism and loss of jobs
because of a boycott by white workers.
The unique nature of this material is that
it contains the written word of those ex-servicemen, sailors and workers who
were being confronted with poverty, abuse and assault. 1 stranded seamen,
Elisha Sterling, who is appealing for help from the Lord Mayor so he can
return to Jamaica, writes:- "My wife as to lock in the house all day; she having no freedom to walk
the street the way in which she is insulted by people's as she is being a
coloured woman. Please sir I am anxiously awaits your assistance otherwise I
believe… My wife will do some wrong to herself."
The Archive group have been attending weekly sessions to explore and
research the archive material, preserve and conserve it, and prepare it for
archiving and public presentation. Writing on the Wall welcomes the public
to come view these fascinating documents and meet the people who have worked
hard to catalogue and digitise this important collection and who have been
exploring Liverpool's Black WWI experience through the prism of these
important letters and documents.
Featuring Levi Tafari, who will performing specially commissioned pieces
inspired by the stories contained in the archive.
Co-Director of Writing on the Wall, Madeline Heneghan says:- "This
fascinating collection has received a great deal of nation attention because
it sheds light, not only of Liverpool's development, but on British Colonial
and World War 1 histories. The group of volunteers who have been working on
the archive to make it publically accessible are playing a vital role in the
preservation and presentation of the city's rich heritage."
This project is funded by The Heritage Lottery.
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