On Wednesday 30th October 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Speak Out, A Brixton Black Women’s Group Reader, edited by Milo Miller. Entry is free and everyone is welcome. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Find links to buy the book and free resources related to it below, as well as information about the venue for our events and our group.

The book brings together the writings of Brixton Black Women’s Group for the first time. Established in response to the lack of interest in women’s issues experienced in male-dominated Black organisations, the Brixton Black Women’s Group’s aim was to create a distinct space where women of African and Asian descent could meet to focus on political, social and cultural issues as they affected black women. BBWG published its own newsletter, Speak Out, which kept alive the debate about the relevance of feminism to black politics and provided a black women’s perspective on immigration, housing, health and culture.

We’ll be discussing the book in UK Black History Month, and following it with discussions on autobiographies by Angela Davis and Benjamin Zephaniah at our events in November and December, but you do not need to attend all three events or have been to any of our previous events to come along to this one.

Resources

• Buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up, or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £20. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £17.60, a saving of £2.40)
• Buy the e-book for £8, from publishers Verso
• Read a free excerpt excerpt from the preface to Speak Out!, in which editor Milo Miller shares context about the group and the impetus for the book (approximately 8 minute read)
• Read a free excerpt from Speak Out!: by Jade Bentil (4,200 words)
• Watch ‘Black Feminism and the Black Struggle’, reading of an article in Speak Out, issue no. 4, c. 1980 – 1985 (3 minute video, embedded below)
• Listen to a 2 minute recording of Gail Lewis talking about the Brixton Black Women’s Group (embedded below)
• Listen to Melba Wilson, former member of Brixton Black Women’s Group discussing Speak Out! on Inspirit with Jumoké Fashola (BBC Sounds, 15 minutes)
• Watch Dr. Beverley Bryan, founder member of the Brixton Black Women’s Group in conversation with Jade Bentil, a Black feminist historian and author REBEL CITIZEN, which draws upon oral history interviews to explore the intimate recollections of African and African-Caribbean women who migrated to Britain following the Second World War (1 hour 16 minutes, embedded below)

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

Reviews

“For a new generation of feminist thinkers the relevance of this collection cannot be overstated. Intended for local distribution, the articles are a testament to the continuous theoretical study, fierce discipline, comradeliness and revolutionary love central to resistance against the most violent arms of the state…A balm, an instruction manual a historical object that defies temporality and a response to the forces that seek to depoliticise the history of racialised women’s struggle for freedom in Britain.

Lola Olufemi, author of Feminism Interrupted [which we discussed in 2021]

“An important testament to the pioneering Black British feminists of the 1970s and ’80s who set up groups and centres, and bravely and brilliantly campaigned against discrimination and for social change in the face of extreme opposition. Long ignored and undervalued, their grassroots activism adds unique and essential layers to the recorded histories of the era”

Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other