The museum’s main lift will be closed for necessary maintenance from Tues 28 May to Mon 3 June 2024, affecting lift access to Gallery Two.
Our smaller lift allows access to Gallery One.
Find out more about access at PHMBlack and Asian people have had a long presence in Britain. People’s History Museum’s (PHM) archive focuses on labour history and black and Asian people have been an integral part of these movements, campaigns and organisations. This guide outlines just a few of the collections that document this history – there is much that is not covered here.
Before exploring these sources, it should be noted that the language used in these historical documents has changed over time, is contextual and there will certainly be language rooted in racism reflecting inequalities and oppression. It is important we examine these sources critically; some of the sources are in the words of black and Asian people themselves, while other documents speak of or for these subjects. The sources can serve as evidence of inequalities as well as resistance. There are also ‘silences’, or gaps in PHM’s collections, for example in the collections of individuals’ papers you can see how skewed the material is to histories of men.
Thomas Bangbala
This collection consists of material on the life of Thomas Bangbala who was born in Nigeria on 21 April 1907, and in 1924 came to Liverpool on the Elder Dempster Ship ‘Apapa’ as a seaman. Bangbala was the first black member of the Manchester Central Branch of the Electrical Trade Union and was active in the Labour Party, campaigning for black people’s rights.
Ref: BAN
Rajani Palme Dutt
Rajani Palme Dutt was a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. His father was from India but Dutt was born in Britain. Dutt wrote and theorised on India and colonialism and was editor of Workers’ Weekly (the archive has a full run of this publication). His papers held in the archive run from 1908 to 1971.
Ref: CP/Ind/Dutt
Shapurji Saklatvala
Shapurji Saklatvala was an activist and politician of Indian Parsi heritage. He was the first person of Indian heritage to become a British Member of Parliament for the Labour Party, and was also one of the few members of the Communist Party of Great Britain to serve as an MP in Britain.
Photographs: CP box 55
Ref: SAK Biography collection
Kay Beauchamp
Kay Beauchamp was a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Her papers cover her involvement in the Movement for Colonial Freedom/Liberation, and her papers on anti-racism and anti-imperialism, as well as her activities in Hackney organisations.
Ref: CP/IND/KAYB
William Cuffay
Info: Cuffay was a Chartist leader in Britain. His father was previously enslaved and originally from St Kitts. Cuffay was arrested for his Chartist activity and transported to Tasmania where he continued his activism this time organizing servants. The archive holds a book of Byron’s poetry gifted to Cuffay and signed by the London Chartists which he took with him to Tasmania.
Ref: CUFF/1
Communist Party of Great Britain:
Labour Party: