The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain

“As relevant as ever … Heart of the Race gives a huge amount of insight into black women’s agency and activism in British history.” Institute of Race Relations

“Vivid.” National Geographic Traveller

“A scholarly examination of black women’s position in British society via the prism of slavery, colonialism and migration.” Camden New Journal

“A groundbreaking book … which helped educate generations of women about the struggles and triumphs of Black women in Britain.” Tobi Thomas, Guardian

“A pioneering work that serves as a bedrock for our book as well as the discourse around intersectional feminism in the UK.” Yomi Adegoke, Observer

About the Authors

Beverley Bryan is a founding member of the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent and recently retired from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, as Professor of Language Education.

Stella Dadzie is best known for her co-authorship of The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s lives in Britain which won the 1985 Martin Luther King Award for Literature, and was recently re-published by Verso as a Feminist Classic. She is a founder member of OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent), a national umbrella group that emerged in the late 1970s as part of the British Civil Rights movement, and was recently described as one of the “grandmothers” of Black Feminism in the UK. Her career as a teacher, writer, artist and education activist spans over 40 years.

Suzanne Scafe is an Associate Professor of Literature at London South Bank University. She was a member of OWAAD and the Brixton Black Women’s Group.