Kieran Connell - Black Handsworth: Race in 1980s Britain

Black Handsworth

The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Fletcher Jones Foundation Imprint in Humanities.

BERKELEY SERIES IN BRITISH STUDIES

Edited by James Vernon

The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain, edited by Simon Gunn and James Vernon

Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 19451975, by Ian Hall

The Savage Visit: New World People and Popular Imperial Culture in Britain, 17101795, by Kate Fullagar

The Afterlife of Empire, by Jordanna Bailkin

Smyrnas Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and the Birth of the Middle East, by Michelle Tusan

Pathological Bodies: Medicine and Political Culture, by Corinna Wagner

A Problem of Great Importance: Population, Race, and Power in the British Empire, 19181973, by Karl Ittmann

Liberalism in Empire: An Alternative History, by Andrew Sartori

Distant Strangers: How Britain Became Modern, by James Vernon

Edmund Burke and the Conservative Logic of Empire, by Daniel I. ONeill

Governing Systems: Modernity and the Making of Public Health in England, 18301910, by Tom Crook

Barbed-Wire Imperialism: Britains Empire of Camps, 19761903, by Aidan Forth

Aging in Twentieth-Century Britain, by Charlotte Greenhalgh

Thinking Black: Britain, 19641985, by Rob Waters

Black Handsworth: Race in 1980s Britain, by Kieran Connell

Black Handsworth

Race in 1980s Britain

Kieran Connell

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

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University of California Press

Oakland, California

2019 by Kieran Connell

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Connell, Kieran, author.

Title: Black Handsworth : race in 1980s Britain / Kieran Connell.

Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] | Series: Berkeley Series in British Studies ; 15 | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018036127 (print) | LCCN 2018037563 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520971950 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520300668 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520300682 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH : BlacksEnglandBirminghamSocial conditions20th century. | Handsworth (Birmingham, England)Social conditions20th century. | Handsworth (Birmingham, England)Race relationsHistory20th century.

Classification: LCC DA 690. B 6 (ebook) | LCC DA 690. B 6 C 76 2019 (print) | DDC 305.896/042496dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036127

Manufactured in the United States of America

26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For A.S.F.
and
in memory of K.H.C.

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

This book is the culmination of many years work. It is the product of scores of interviews in cafs, libraries, and front rooms; of early-morning writing routines in bedrooms, in offices, and at kitchen tables; of conversations with friends, loved ones, and colleagues; and of an infinite number of cups of very strong coffee. Because of this, there are a great many people without whom a book of this kind would never have been possible. First of all, a huge thank-you to all those people who took the time to talk to a young student about their memories of 1980s Handsworth. All of them shaped this book in indispensable ways, though special thanks are due to Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, and Brian Homer, who gave up far more of their time than they had to and have subsequently become much-valued collaborators and friends. Thanks also to all those photographers who granted me permission to use their work in this book and to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which at various points provided a crucial source of funding that allowed me the time and space to research and write it.

Academically, over the years a large number of colleagues have offered invaluable support, guidance, and friendship. At the University of Birmingham, I am grateful to the late Michael Green for the coffees, cakes, and crucial cultural studies connection. Thanks to Dave Gunning, who cosupervised my PhD; Tony Kushner, who examined it and helped me to think about how I could develop it; and Richard Clay, for too many pints to mention. Thanks also to Chris Moores and Gavin Schaffer, for the advice and, just as important, the football chat. The History Department at Queens has provided an incredibly supportive environment in which to finish this project, and thanks particularly to Sean OConnell, who kindly read sections of the final manuscript. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers of that manuscript and James Vernon, the editor of the Berkeley Series in British Studies at University of California Press, who bought into the project from the beginning and offered input and feedback that went far beyond the call of duty. What follows is an infinitely better book because of it. Finally, it is difficult to quantify the debt of gratitude I owe to Matthew Hilton for believing in an enthusiastic MA student and for subsequently becoming a much-valued PhD supervisor, collaborator, mentor, and friend. Thank you.

I would also like to thank my friends and family. Thanks to Josie Kelly, who employed me as a postgrad on the basis of a Specials badge and to whom I will eventually return her voice recorder. Thanks to the Hall Green and Badock crews for the endless nights of escapism, and to my brother Laurence Connell for always being there. Finally, I would like to thank my parents. My mother, Myra Connell, has read almost every draft of everything I have ever written. She has been a constant source of emotional and intellectual support and remains a complete inspiration. My father, John Dalton, provided the initial spark for many of this books key themes through his involvement in Birminghams community arts scene. He died in March 2013 and left a big gap behind. Without either mum or dad, none of this would be possible.

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