Event type: Talk

Leonisha Barley brings you a rehearsed reading and feedback session of her debut play ‘Deported in a Windrush’.

‘Deported in a Windrush’ is a play based on the book: The Windrush Betrayal – exposing the hostile environment’ by Amelia Gentleman. A book which revealed how the government’s immigration policy created a hostile environment for thousands of law-abiding people, when they were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.

The play ‘Deported in a Windrush’ follows the journey of Claudette Daley an unassuming 61 year old grandmother who love language is feeding people and how the comfortable life she’d built for herself and her little family was turned upside down when she started to receive letters claiming she had no right to be the UK and threatening to have her deported back to a country she hadn’t been back to since she left at the age of 6.

She has a special relationship with her feisty granddaughter Naomi, and we see how she stands up for Claudette and becomes her support system through the turmoil that’s been created in their lives by Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment.’ Claudette and Naomi retell their experience to Jessica, a Guardian journalist who points out the gross imbalances of power and shares the experiences of many more people from the commonwealth countries whose lives were destroyed due to the treatment they suffered when they too were misclassified as illegal immigrants.

Music is used to bring a lighter touch to these harrowing stories as well as caricatures of political figures such as Theresa May who is made to answer for her inhumane decision- making systems during rounds of political question time; throughout which UKIP leader Nigel Farage quite literally spits his dummy out.

As the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation arriving in England is celebrated across England in it’s important that the stories of the thousands of victims still waiting in for the compensation in 2023, that they were promised back in 2018 are not overlooked but shared with the hopes of reigniting conversations leading to action which forces the current government to give the compensation they promised; which really is the least they can do for the victims of the Windrush scandal.

About the writer

Leonisha Barley is a lover of all things creative and a past participant on WoW’s highly acclaimed Write to Work project. She is an emerging actress and playwright from Liverpool. She endeavours to create work for stage and TV that celebrates culture and life experiences while addressing important societal issues. Leonisha enjoys using poetry as a powerful tool to express emotion and tell a story. She’s looking forward to diving deeper into the creative industry through writing and acting. Hopefully you’ll be seeing her work soon on a stage near you!

Remembering Pastor Daniels Ekarte and the African Churches Mission

Pastor George Daniel Ekarte was a minister and community activist from the Calabar region of Nigeria who arrived in Liverpool about 1915 and established the African Churches Mission in Hill Street, Toxteth in 1931, in which he not only conducted services but also fed and clothed the poor of the community, and housed seamen and others denied accommodation due to the colour of their skin.

He also provided a home for the unwanted children of local white women left behind by their fathers, African American servicemen who returned home when World War II ended. As a radical supporter of pro-independence and anti-racist movements in the African Diaspora, he was regarded as troublesome by the Establishment, and therefore received no state or voluntary support, not even from the Anti-Slavery Society. Nevertheless, he and his mission soldiered on for over thirty years, until the dilapidated building was finally demolished by the Council in 1964.

Using British and International sources, historian Marika Sherwood has pieced together an account of his remarkable life and work, retelling an inspiring story of kindness, activism, Black pride and resilience in a city built on the exploitation of his continent.

Join friends of WoW Stephen Small, Tayo Aluko and Author Marika Sherwood as we explore Pastor Daniels’s life in Liverpool and the history of the city’s Black community.

Marika Sherwood is an internationally recognised scholar, who has dedicated her life to challenging racial discrimination, was given an honorary Doctor of History which she collected alongside hundreds of graduating students. The Hungarian-born historian, who became a refugee in the 1940s, has published 13 critically acclaimed books about slavery, colonialism and the history of African and Caribbean people Britain in a long and distinguished career as a teacher, writer, and social campaigner. She has since been at the forefront of attempts to diversify the curriculum across schools and higher education.

She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London. She has published many books, including Kwame Nkrumah and the Dawn of the Cold War (Pluto, 2019) and Kwame Nkrumah: The Years Abroad (Freedom Publications, 1996). Her most recent book is World War II: Colonies and Colonials (The Savannah Press, 2013). She has published innumerable articles in academic journals, Pambazuka News, and the Runnymede Trust.

Stephen Small is a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, where he has been teaching since 1995. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley, and his research focuses on the history and sociology of Black people in the diaspora. He has held visiting positions at universities in several countries, including Great Britain, France, and Japan. Stephen is the author of several books, including 20 Questions and Answers on Black Europe, and is currently working on a new book on slavery and imperialism in Black Liverpool. He is also co-editor of Black Europe and the African Diaspora, 2009. Stephen was born and raised in Liverpool and is a child of the Windrush Generation. He has been involved with various Black and multi-racial organisations and was a research assistant to the Right Honourable Bernie Grant, MP, in the 1990s.

Nigerian-born Tayo Aluko is an actor, singer and playwright, based in Liverpool, UK, where he worked previously as an architect. His art is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring progressive activism by showing how Black History is everybody’s history.

National Museums Liverpool have commissioned Writing on the Wall to deliver a Creative Heritage Programme working with the archive of lifelong Black British activist Dorothy Kuya (1933-2013).

The Dorothy Kuya Walking Tour

Dorothy Kuya was born in 1933 into Liverpool’s Black community, one of the oldest in Europe. She grew up during a time of monumental upheaval and global change. She began her life of activism after joining the Young Communist League at age 13 and was an early member of the Movement for Colonial Freedom (now Liberation). The Dorothy Kuya walking tour will take you on a journey through three stages of Dorothy’s life and activism:

Early Years

During this part of the tour, we will be exploring the effect of Pan-Africanism, Communism and trade-unionism on the post-war political activities of Liverpool’s Black Community.

Community Relations

In 1970 Dorothy became the first Community Relations Officer for the newly established Liverpool Community Relations Council. As CRO, during this period she also began her research into racism in education and children’s books.

Granby Resident

In 1993 Dorothy was a founding member of the Granby Residents Association, set up in response to plans to demolish many houses in the area. She was also integral in advising National Museums Liverpool on what would eventually become the International Slavery Museum.

Come along for this rare opportunity to learn more about this radical Black British figure. As part of Black History Month 23 we present: Ms. Dorothy Kuya.