Speak Out (newsletter)

Speak Out
CategoriesWomen's liberation, Black feminism
Founded1977
CompanyBrixton Black Women's Group
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inLondon

Speak Out was a second-wave feminist newsletter, launched in 1977 by the Brixton Black Women's Group (BBWG).[1][2][3] The aim of the newsletter was to keep alive the debate about the relevance of feminism to black politics and provided a black women's perspective on immigration, housing, health and culture.[4]

The editorial of the first issue describes one of its objectives to "we free our minds to free our bonds and our sisters bonds!"[5] The fifth and final issue was published in 1983.[6]

The publication "frequently used a 'Marxist framework' to criticise the racism of the State".[7] Contributions to Speak Out marking International Women's Day in 1982 connected local Black feminist activism to international efforts towards furthering women's rights around the world.[8] Group member Melba Wilson explained how the magazine was a way of furthering BBWG's aims to support other causes, including "independence for Palestine. Groups fighting for South African independence […] We worked with Irish groups who were fighting for Irish independence and those kinds of initiatives."[9]

Speak Out was one of several feminist small press publications in the 1970s-1980s which supported communities of Black and Asian women, which included addressing issues facing mothers, workers, lesbians and queer women, including FOWAAD (published by OWAAD), We Are Here, and Mukti.[7][10]

Notable contributors

Beverley Bryan,[11] Stella Dadzie, Liz Fajemisin, Sindamani Bridglal, Takumba Ria Lawal, Monica Morris, Suzanne Scafe, Jocelyn Wolfe, Amina Mama, Sylvia Erike, Gerlin Bean, Olive Morris, Lindiwe Tsele, Olive Gallimore, Judith Lockhart, Joan Morris, Dorothea Smartt, Claudette Williams, and Melba Wilson.[9]

Legacy

Speak Out!: The Brixton Black Women's Group,[12] a collection of the writings of BBWG, was published in 2023, edited by Milo Miller with an introduction and interview by Jade Bentil.[13][14]

Issues of Speak Out are held by collections including the Bishopsgate Institute, and Feminist Library.

References

  1. ^ parkerson, michelle (1982). "british black women organize". Off Our Backs. 12 (8): 17. ISSN 0030-0071. JSTOR 25774567.
  2. ^ Brixton Black Women's Group (1984). "Black Women Organizing". Feminist Review (17): 84–89. doi:10.2307/1395018. ISSN 0141-7789. JSTOR 1395018.
  3. ^ Thomlinson, Natalie (2016), Thomlinson, Natalie (ed.), "Black Women's Activism, c. 1970–1990", Race, Ethnicity and the Women's Movement in England, 1968–1993, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 64–103, doi:10.1057/9781137442802_3, ISBN 978-1-137-44280-2, retrieved 2024-10-06
  4. ^ Andi, Su; Smartt, Dorothea; Leeming, Carol (2017-02-07). "Women, Black Arts, and Brixton in the 1980s: A Conversation". Contemporary Women's Writing. 11 (2): 137–148. doi:10.1093/cww/vpw039. ISSN 1754-1476.
  5. ^ Black Women's Group Brixton, Black Women's Group Brixton. "Speak Out Pamphlet".
  6. ^ Speak Out!: The Brixton Black Women's Group (1st ed.). Verso. 2023. p. 255. ISBN 9781804291979.
  7. ^ a b "FOWAAD". Liberating Histories. 2024-05-23. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  8. ^ "International Women's Day in Feminist Magazines: A Short but Radical History". Liberating Histories. 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  9. ^ a b Mullings-Lawrence, Sireita (2019-07-03). "Voices from the Front Line : Young People Interrogating Railton Road's Heritage". Photography and Culture. 12 (3): 337–350. doi:10.1080/17514517.2019.1643170. ISSN 1751-4517.
  10. ^ Thomlinson, Natalie (2016). Race, ethnicity and the women's movement in England, 1968-1993. Palgrave studies in the history of social movements. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-44280-2.
  11. ^ Bryan, Beverley (2022). "From migrant to settler and the making of a Black community: an autoethnographic account". In Scafe, Suzanne; Dunn, Leith L. (eds.). African-Caribbean women interrogating diaspora - post-diaspora. London New York (N.Y.): Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-72613-3.
  12. ^ Brixton Black Women's Group, Brixton Black Women's Group; Bentil, Jade (2023). Miller, Milo (ed.). Speak Out!: The Brixton Black Women's Group (1st ed.). Verso.
  13. ^ Thomas, Tobi (2023-10-24). "'It was amazing to find sisters': Brixton Black Women's Group on their revolutionary newsletter". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  14. ^ "Speak Out: The Brixton Black Women's Group". Huck. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2024-10-07.