Stone laid by the Bishop of Carlisle celebrating the African cultural influence brought to Northern England in the third century BC. (Image courtesy of Beverley Prevatt Goldstein)
It all started over a cup of coffee in Heaton Park, Newcastle, during Covid lockdown August 2020. Two strangers, Beverley Prevatt Goldstein and Barbara Kent, met to reflect on racism in Newcastle following a brief exchange at an online webinar.
The outcome: A decision to create a calendar on African Lives in the North East, to challenge the myth that black people are newcomers and spongers. Utilising the interest in black history expressed pre-Covid by members and friends of the North East of England African Society and a network of historians and community activists, a calendar was produced in three months. Its success led to two further calendars, a booklet, online school resources, a website, and online and live Newcastle walks. A dedicated team of volunteers and the financial and/or practical support of Newcastle Antiquaries and Historic England, among others, made these achievements possible.
We were here – Roman soldiers,Tyneside workers
African Romans, a recurring theme in all the publications, reflected our excitement at the discovery of the first African village in England being nearby, in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumbria. This story of ordinary soldiers and their families in Cumbria affirmed us in including ordinary lives and a range of locations.
Recorded in our calendars is Elizabeth Hunter (1824-71), a free Jamaican woman who worked as a laundress in a rectory in Gateshead, married a local stonemason and had four children. Also, Malcolm Patterson, a labourer, who probably worked on the saltpans in Seaton Sluice and is recorded as a ‘free man of African descent’ in his wife’s burial entry (1780).
Developing the walks – from the region to the city
Nevertheless, our research highlighted that it was the famous visitors to the city of Newcastle that dominated the records and this led to the development of our Newcastle Walks. I highlight three characters on the walk, two who delight me, Ida B. Wells and Paul Robeson for their commitment to challenging interlinked oppressions, and one, William Fifefield, because he’s ordinary, because he is Caribbean (like me) and because he is a puzzle.
Ida B. Wells – the ‘uncontrollable’ champion
In 1894 Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) spoke against lynching at Brunswick Chapel, a hub of anti-‘slavery’ activity. In the words of her grandson ‘She did not suffer fools gladly and she found fools everywhere’. Well-known for her outspoken verbal and written challenges to lynching, (posthumously winning her the Pulitzer Prize) she was both a civil rights champion, refusing to move from a whites only railroad carriage and co-founding the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and a community activist founding a hostel for black men who were denied entry to the YMCA, supporting the rail porters union in their strike. She was an ardent feminist, founding numerous associations encouraging women to vote and challenging the segregation on the National Women’s Suffrage March, in 1913. She fought for justice despite the risks (her printing press burnt down) and despite being sometimes ostracised as an uncontrollable woman.
Paul Robeson – the activist actor
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) who also challenged lynching stated ‘An artist must take sides, slavery or freedom. I have made my choice’. Well-known as an actor and singer, he visited Newcastle and Gateshead from the 1930s to 1950s staying at the Royal Station Hotel and performing at City Hall in 1958. He developed his race consciousness and activism through meeting Caribbean and African students in London and working-class activists in the Northern towns. He changed the words of his songs, the plays in which he performed, supported the left in the Spanish civil war, the miners in England, the rights of the indigenous people in the USA and the aborigines in Australia. He was impressed with Russia where ‘a black man can walk freely’ and his ardent Communism and his outspoken criticism of the treatment of black people in the United Stated led to his passport being withdrawn and an interruption to his career and earnings.
William Fifefield – the local ferryman
William Fifefield (1769-1834) arrived from St Kitts in 1794, married a Northumberland farmers’ daughter at St Mary’s Church, Gateshead and lived and worked in Newcastle as a ferryman and volunteer drummer. He was part of the city, living in the tenements around the Black Gate, in the steep, densely populated Tuthill Stairs, with his son having a barber shop at Cloth Market and Groat Market. His life and the Newcastle he inhabited (pre the 1835 developments by Grainger) appear very different to that of the famous visitors above. But we have no idea how he looked, how he felt and thought; how he was treated.
I hope that you are similarly intrigued by these stories and will use our website to learn more and to contribute your thoughts, your knowledge.
Find out more
African Lives in Northern England – More information on these characters and the doctors, sailors, campaigners, actors, sportsmen, singers, students, nurses, with pictures, speeches and songs, and information on the buildings linked with them can be found on the website.
