Join friends of WoW, Professor Stephen Small and community organiser Jimi Jagne, in a dynamic conversation centering on their recent publication 1981 – Black Liverpool Past and Present a fascinating and timely insight into the history of Liverpool’s Black communities.
Focusing on the 1981 Uprising as a pinnacle moment, Jagne and Small contextualise Liverpool’s Black history before and after. In doing so, they recognise the people who have shaped Liverpool and their stories of resistance and self-determination. Designed as an accessible starting point for studying Liverpool’s Black history, the stories within this collection will educate and entertain.
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 organizations and was a research assistant to the Right Honourable Bernie Grant, MP, in the 1990s.
Jimi Jagne is a local historian and L8 activist who is concerned about misconceptions surrounding the ’81 Uprising, which he believes was an uncompromising form of local resistance seeking justice. He has been involved in activism for over 41 years, starting with defending the streets from the National Front and being arrested for his involvement in the revolt.
Jimi has also been an anti-apartheid campaigner, managed a mentoring program, and co-founded Toxteth Against the Riots in response to disturbances in 2011. Jimmy has been featured in interviews with local and national newspapers, radio stations across the UK, and national radio including the BBC’s ‘The Today Programme’ and ‘Witness’ daily strand. He has also provided historical expertise on television productions such as ‘A House Through Time’ and has been profiled in two books on the L8 Uprising.
The event host is Janaya Pickett, WoW’s Project Manager, who is currently overseeing their Creative Heritage work on the archive of Dorothy Kuya at National Museums Liverpool.