Catalogue description Bernie Grant Collection

Collection of original documentation and publications relating to Bernie Grant's personal life and public role, largely dating from his entry into the United Kingdom in 1963 until he died on 8 April 2000. The collection includes: correspondence (eg racist/hate mail, correspondence re Gulf War, Black Businesses, Ministerial and general correspondence); personal papers (eg tributes/condolences, biographical files, legal papers); speeches; press files; trade union papers; subject files (general and international affairs); racial incident dossiers; files re Council Matters; Campaign files (eg Broadwater Farm and Joy Gardner); files re Parliamentary Affairs; Party Political Papers; MP Constituency case files; published reference material; ephemera (eg campaign fliers, invitations); objects and clothing (eg African robes, campaign placards, posters, awards/plaques); photographs; and audio and video recordings (eg interviews/speeches, television and radio appearances).

Almost all the key activities undertaken by Bernie Grant are represented in the archive, and there is a particular concentration of material from the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to the records personally created by Bernie Grant, the archive also includes a notable collection of records belonging to the organizations that he helped to establish: many of these were the first institutions of their kind in the United Kingdom (see 'system of arrangement' below for listings). Among such organizations, the papers of the African Reparations Movement form the largest body of records within the collection, providing invaluable research material on black history, art and culture as well as material encompassing the history of slavery, colonialism, and the return of cultural artifacts to their countries of origin. A small collection of trade union papers help to document Bernie Grant's early activist years in addition to revealing his pioneering efforts in establishing organizations such as the Black Trade Unionists Solidarity Movement.

Bernie Grant kept no personal diaries, but his personal letters, biographical files, memorabilia, photographs and handwritten notes all provide a more intimate portrait of the public figure.

Council papers and files regarding landmark campaigns such as Joy Gardner, Broadwater Farm and the 'Tottenham Three', are among record series that document the historic measures undertaken by Bernie Grant throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Archival records relating to other campaigns are also well represented within the collection. For example, as part of the African Reparations Movement campaign for the return of Benin Bronzes, the archive contains campaign files and the original 'repossession' notice, which Bernie Grant and fellow campaigners positioned on the front steps of the British Museum.

Files such as those relating to party political matters, parliamentary affairs, MP constituency cases and the Parliamentary Black Caucus, are among the many records that provide an important insight into Bernie Grant's role as a politician. For example, there is considerable research potential for examining issues such as:

Bernie Grant's relationship with the Labour Party, Parliament, and his constituents; How Bernie Grant used the parliamentary democratic system to campaign for racial equality and social justice; The numerous lobbying efforts undertaken concerning the development of black leadership, representation and empowerment in the political arena..

The traditional African dress that Bernie Grant wore into the State Opening of Parliament may be viewed at the archive as well as press files documenting the widespread and intense media reaction leveled against Bernie Grant. The countless tributes and letters of condolence recording the widespread public affection provide a stark contrast to the vitriolic hate mail he received throughout his political career.

An important and sizeable series of files relate to general, mainly UK issues whilst international subject files provide firsthand evidence of the extensive range of issues championed by Bernie Grant on a local, national and global scale, related to a wide range of people.

Overall, the Bernie Grant Archive documents the concerns of numerous oppressed peoples and diverse communities as championed throughout various campaigns for social and racial justice, often initiated by Bernie Grant. This includes individual cases such as those relating to racial harassment, miscarriages of justice and appeals for the release of hostages during the 1990 Gulf War.

The collection has been organically arranged into 12 encompassing record groupings as follows:Bernie Grant - Personal records; African Reparations Movement (ARM) records; Standing Conference on Racial Equality in Europe (SCORE) records; African University Project (AUP) records (also known as 'Black University Project'); Black International Construction Organisation (BICO) records; Black Trade Unionists Solidarity Movement (BTUSM) records; Caribbean Links records; Parliamentary Black Caucus (PBC) records; Bernie Grant Memorial Trust - Memorial Committee records; Global Trade Centre (GTC) records; Bernie Grant Centre (BGC) records; Organization of Africans in Europe (OAE) records.

Working from general to specific, each of the above categories are further subdivided into record series (and occasionally record subseries) and then files. The material has been arranged into record series reflecting either the form of the record (eg everyday objects, papers, photographs, audio-visual material such as video tapes of television interviews) or the activities to which they relate (eg International affairs, Joy Gardner Campaign, Racial Incidents/'Cases of Injustice' Dossiers etc).

The Runnymede Trust Collection held at Middlesex University, Cat Hill, contains important related research material and publications documenting the history of the campaign for racial equality in Britain and the British civil rights movement. Other items relating to Bernie Grant [eg regarding his local Labour Party activities] are currently held by Haringey Archives and Museums Service.

Grant, Bernard Alexander Montgomery, 1944-2000, MP

Copyright and intellectual property rights are predominantly held by the Bernie Grant Trust. Copyright on material wholly produced from the collection will remain with the Trust, except where copyright already exists with the original author/publisher.

Reproduction of material remains at the discretion of the Archivist and Sharon Grant c/o the Bernie Grant Trust. Decisions re reproduction will be subject to conservation considerations (eg condition and fragility of the material) and copyright restrictions.

The collection is located at the Bishopsgate Institute.

While most records are openly available for public viewing, some records may be closed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation. Access to closed files may be granted under certain conditions upon making application to the Bernie Grant Trust.

The collection was transferred to Bishopsgate Institute from Middlesex University Archives.

Member of Parliament constituency case files were previously culled by Bernie Grant and later Sharon Grant prior to donation. A representative sampling of case files remain within the collection. Only duplicate and routine administrative material has been culled by the Archivist for possible destruction pending the Bernie Grant Trust's final approval.

Minor additions expected

The Bernie Grant Archive website also contains: online visual exhibitions and showcases, biography/chronology, testimonies, interactive memory box and general archive information.

• Labour Party, 1906
• Africa
• Asia
• Europe
• Middle East
• Tottenham, London, Greater
• USA
• West Indies
• African diaspora
• African-Caribbean peoples
• Asian peoples
• Black peoples
• Civil and political rights
• Cultural heritage
• Cultural identity
• Curriculum development
• Interethnic relations
• Immigration
• Labour movements
• Migrants
• Multiculturalism
• Pan-Africanism
• Police
• Political participation
• Politicians
• Politics
• Press
• Protest movements
• Racial discrimination
• Refugees
• Returnees
• Resistance to oppression
• Trade Unions

This catalogue of the collection is also available in hardcopy format at the archive itself as well as online through the Bernie Grant Archive.

The senior of the first Black politicians elected to British Parliament (as Member of Parliament for Tottenham); first Black Leader of a local authority in Europe (Leader of Haringey Council); Anti-Racist campaigner; Freedom Fighter; Pan-Africanist; humanitarian and pioneering activist for racial equality.

Bernie Grant was born on 17th February 1944 in Georgetown, Guyana, to Eric and Lily Grant, both schoolteachers. He was educated at St Joseph's RC, Sacred Heart and Ituni Government Schools, and later at St Stanislaus College, and worked then as an analyst in the Demerara Bauxite Company, Guyana. He came to Britain in 1963 with his family, working first as a railway clerk, before studying at Tottenham Technical college in 1965-67, and going on to study Mining Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh 1967-1969. He left the University in 1969 in protest against discrimination against black students.

For the next 9 years, he became an International Telephonist, quickly becoming involved in the Union of Post Office Workers, fighting for the rights of fellow workers. In 1978 he became a full time Area Officer for NUPE, responsible for its local authority and health workers. Bernie founded the Black Trades Unionists Solidarity Movement (BTUSM), and worked for it full time between 1981 and 1984.

Bernie joined the Tottenham Labour Party in 1973, and held numerous positions within the local party before being elected a councillor in 1978. His impact was immediate, and within a year he was Deputy Leader of the Council. By 1985 he had become the Leader of Haringey Council, the first ever black person to hold such a position in Europe. The disturbances on Broadwater Farm Estate in 1985, brought him to national prominence, as he defended the youth who rioted against police harassment.

He met with the full force of the racism of the British press and media, but refused to compromise, even though his position as a Parliamentary candidate hung in the balance. He was however elected to Parliament in 1987, as one of the first black MP's in modern times. Famously, he entered his first State Opening of Parliament in African dress, attracting outrage in some quarters - but huge respect in others.

In Parliament he founded the Parliamentary Black Caucus, and took up a leading role in establishing contacts with black people and politicians throughout the world. He traveled widely, especially to Africa and to his beloved Caribbean region. In 1990 he accompanied the Reverend Jesse Jackson to South Africa, greeting Nelson Mandela on the day of his release. Later he established an information technology centre amid the townships in the Free State, which is named after him.

He was Chair of the All Party Group on Race and Community, and of the British Caribbean Group. In 1997 he was appointed as member of the Select Committee on International Development, and he was the only MP amongst those appointed to the Home Secretary's Race Relations Forum in 1998. He founded the Standing Conference on Racism in Europe in 1990, and also established the Africa Reparations Movement in Britain. In 1995, he founded the Global Trade Centre. A dedicated constituency MP, his last battle was to establish a major arts and cultural facility in his Tottenham constituency, the International Centre for the Performing Arts (Bernie Grant Centre), a project yet to be completed.

On the floor of the House of Commons he was outspoken in the cause of eliminating racism both in Britain and the world. He campaigned against racist policing methods, and deaths in custody, on institutionalised racism in health, housing and education, for refugees, and for greater resources for inner city areas. Internationally he fought for the elimination of overseas debt for poor nations, and for the recognition of the past injustices of colonisation and enslavement.

Contrary to popular belief, however, he fought not only for racial justice, but for oppressed people whoever they were. He will be remembered by many thousands for the individual attention he gave to their personal difficulties.

Bernie Grant channeled the concerns of his community to the highest levels of Government, and was regarded as the authentic voice of Britain's ethnic minorities. By the time of his death, the outspoken activist of the seventies and eighties was seen as a statesman of great integrity. At his funeral at London's Alexandra Palace in April 2000, attended by some 5000 people, it was said that he had changed the course of British history.

• View Record