Black Culture Archives
Depicted here is a photo of a newsletter page on a woman's argument towards the "Ban on Foreign Husbands." [UNKNOWN] © Black Culture Archives: Brixton, London
A Fight Well Fought
“...she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.”
– Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway;
inspired by a visit to the Black Culture Archives
And to be me,
was to live with an eye
behind my back–
eyes wide open,
for being me,
was to live with bricks
on my shoulders, that I used
to build a world
that I saw fit, for all to live in,
of which had a place for me,
and her,
and them,
because without Us,
a path would have never been made–
no seat would have been saved,
and no future would have been guaranteed.
Aaron Asparin
Our program's visit to the Black Culture Archives was absolutely incredible. While relatively modern, the Black Culture Archives had so much to offer in regards to allowing the public to understand and immerse themselves in the Black culture of London and the U.K. The work they had done to archive, categorize, and overall organize the documents that they had acquired over the course of years was phenomenal, and sifting through the boxes of documentation they provided for our review was intense yet utterly satisfying. This poem was inspired by witnessing the powerful effects of the British Black and Black women empowerment movement, which laid the foundation for so much more in the future-- in specific, inspired by an excerpt written by such women in a newletter called "FOWAAD." This includes the queer movement across the world, which connected so well with my own personal experiences as being a queer activist has shown me that the Black queer movement was so influential towards global queer policy and queer societal integration. Thus, this poem is dedicated towards the hard work the Black community has put in, and how much they have affected the lives of so many other marginalized groups.