Listen to this Story!

An exhibition about children’s literature and Black Britain

‘Listen to this Story!’ is the first exhibition ever to focus exclusively on literature by and about Black people for a child audience, and it looks at this history over the course of more than two centuries through children’s poetry, theatre, textbooks, nursery rhymes, novels and picture books. The exhibition highlights and celebrates the contribution of Black people to the culture of Britain, shedding light on the ways that Black Britons have resisted oppression, persisted in creating a literature of their own, and insisted on the value of Black British literature and history for all readers.

Through archival materials from pioneering and contemporary authors and illustrators, including Grace Nichols, John Agard, Valerie Bloom, Grace Hallworth, Ifeoma Onyefulu, Errol Lloyd, Lucy Farfort and Ken Wilson-Max, as well as the published work of young Black Britons, we highlight the importance of community, identity and voice in encouraging the growth of children’s literature by and about Black Britons.

The exhibition is based on research by British Academy Global Professor of children’s literature, Karen Sands-O'Connor, and uses archival material from Newcastle University’s Special Collections and Archive and Seven Stories archive collections.

Whose history?

In Britain, the story of British history has mostly been told by white authors. Black people rarely appeared at all in children's history books in the 19th and 20th centuries, except as curiosities, and the books were mostly aimed at white middle class British readers.

However, there are some exceptions. Some publishers strove to tell stories showing the humanity and heroism of Black people, like this story about Mary Seacole. More recently, histories focused on Black Britons, and their communities have tried to correct the erasure of Black people from history.

Now more and more Black authors are correcting the representation of Black British history. Ken Wilson-Max's new book Dream to Change the World tells the story of John La Rose, the late Trinidadian-born activist, trade unionist and writer committed to the struggle for racial equality and social justice in Britain and beyond. Here is Ken delivering a lecturer at the opening of the 'Listen to this Story! exhibition at the City Library in 2022.

Extract from A School History of England, C. R. L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling (1911). Pollard Collection, Pollard 58, Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives

Front cover of Noble Deads of the World's Heroines

Mary Seacole. Here represented in Noble Deads of the World's Heroines, Henry Charles Moore (1903). From Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor's personal collection.

Dream to Change the World, Ken Wilson Max

Image of Ken Wilson-Max at the opening of the Listen to this Story! exhibition at the City Library.

Getting to Know Ourselves, Bogle L'Ouverture (1972). Seven Stories collection.

In the book Getting to Know Ourselves, an African child is introduced to a Caribbean child as they explore why they look alike even though they're from different continents. The book subtly explore the legacy of slavery and taught many British children about a difficult but important part of Black British history.

So you see we are all African. We are all Brothers and Sisters, from Mother Africa...We are one People, and we are friends
From Getting to Know Ourselves

Pre-Windrush 20th Century Britain

Black people were not a large percentage of the population in early 20th century Britain. However, Black British people had a big impact on history of the time. Figures such as Marcus Garvey from Jamaica came to Britain to unite Black communities, and Black Briton Walter Tull became the first British-born Black footballer.

Despite the increased presence of Black intellectuals and celebrities in Britain, children's literature still often showed Black people in insulting ways. Such as the caricatures of these two children in The Pirate Twins, by William Nicholson (1929)

During the Second World War, Black people from the British Caribbean came to England to help in the war effort. Many would return to the United Kingdom permanently. Between 1948 and 1973 hundreds of thousands of people arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries in response to labour shortages after the Second World War. They were known as the 'Windrush Generation'.

Many of these migrants had been taught British history, literature and culture growing up in school, and were surprised how little the British knew about the Caribbean past. Independent Black publishers rediscovered Garvey and Tull in the 20th and 21st centuries. Their stories were retold in children's books, represented as celebrities and heroes, to present new images of Black people to all Britons.

The Pirate Twins, William Nicholson (1929). Butler (Joan) collection, Butler 823.912 NIC. Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives

Photograph of Marcus Garvey

Photograph of Walter Tull (pictured centre bottom)

Now, these stories are more commonplace. K.N Chimbiri wrote The Story of the Windrush in 2018, and now leads workshops educating children and adults about this part of history. Here she is (images below) at the 2022 'Listen to this Story! exhibition at the City Library in Newcastle.

Nursery Rhymes

Walter Crane's Alphabet of Old Friends includes a Black man as one of Old King Cole's fiddlers three. He is dressed in the typical costume of a seaside minstrel from the Victorian period. Minstrel groups, some of which were made up of Black people and some of white people in blackface, were a regular part of seaside entertainment. They normally were dressed in striped red of blue pants with a contrasting blue or red shirt, jacket or waistcoat. This outfit would later appear on golliwog figures, both as dolls and in children's stories. In many ways, Black people moved from being ordinary in children's books of the Victorian period to being gross caricatures.

When the Windrush Generation began arriving in Britain, they found the caricature had been normalised in British culture. More of a representation of books written by or for Black people was needed. Writers began publishing collections of nursery rhymes from the Caribbean for a British audience, such as Down by the River: Afro-Caribbean Rhymes, Games, and Songs for Children (1996), by Grace Hallworth.

Double page spread of letters I-R from An Alphabet of Old Friends and the Absurd ABC

An Alphabet of Old Friends and the Absurd ABC, Walter Crane (1874), from Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor's personal collection.

Front cover of Down by the River: Afro-Caribbean Rhymes, Games, and Songs for Children

Down by the River: Afro-Caribbean Rhymes, Games, and Songs for Children, Grace Hallworth (1996). BookTrust Collection, HAL DOW. Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives.

Notes by John Agard for Calypso Alphabet (1989). Seven Stories collection.

Notes by Valerie Bloom for Surprising Joy, Macmillan (2003). Seven Stories collection.

Another example is Calypso Alhpabet (1989), by John Agard is a poet who grew up on the Caribbean island of Guyana. When he moved to the UK he wrote and alphabet book using words that taught British children about life in the Caribbean.

Surprising Joy is a novel about a girl called Joy who moves from Jamaica to England. The story explores what it's like to feel lost in a new country and tells the story of what moving to the UK was like for many Caribbean children. In these notes, the book's author, Valerie Bloom, who also moved from Jamaica to England, writes her first few ideas for the book.

Libraries and Librarians

Many British children first saw Black characters in school or in the library. The 1970s and 1980s was a time of heightened racial tension, and children's books were a way to break down barriers between people in Britain.

White Lambeth librarian, Janet ill, wrote a guide called Books for Children: The Homelands of Immigrants but could not initially get her work published as it was critical of children's book depictions of race.

Black storyteller and librarian, Grace Hallworth, wrote Stories to Read and Tell, a guide focused on good books to be used in storytelling. Hallworth, a storyteller herself, chose books with humour and repetition, and included stories from cultural heritage of British children.

Ziggi Alexander, a Black British Librarian from Brent, was part of the Whole Library Movement. This movement focused o libraries being community centres. They should respond to the local community with not only books, but also music, lectures, and art exhibitions tied to the people who lived htere.

Front over of Books for Children: The Homelands of Immigrants in Britain

Books for Children: The Homelands of Immigrants in Britain: Africa Cyprus, India and Pakistan, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Turkey, The West Indies, Janet Hill (1971). Alderson (Brian Collection, Alderson HIL BOO. Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives,

Stories to Read and Tell, Grace Hallworth and Julia Marriage (1978), from Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor's personal collection.

The Library Movement: Changing Practice in Multicuktural Librarianship, Ziggi Alexander (1992), from Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor's personal collection

The librarian and activist, Rosemary Stones, worked with the book publisher, Penguin Books, to make this list of multicultural books for children of all ages.

Front cover of A Multi-Ethnic Book List for Children of all Ages

A Multi-Ethnic Book List for Children of all Ages, Penguin (1979). Seven Stories collection.