In the late 1930s a newcomer made her way onto British cinema screens: Princess Kouka. From Sudan, Princess Kouka, born Tahia Ibrahim Belal, had been spotted by film producer Walter Futter, who was determined for her to appear in his next film. Using newspapers from the time, we uncover the legacy of this largely forgotten film star, who travelled to Britain and impressed audiences across the country. ‘A Notable Newcomer’ On 18 December 1936 London’s Daily News reported on the …
Black History
American-born jazz age superstar Adelaide Hall (1901-1993) was a Black music legend, who from 1938 onwards made Britain her home. She went on to have a long and successful career in the UK. In this very special blog, as part of Black History Month on The Archive, we will celebrate this jazz age queen who came to Britain and entertained thousands of people via her stage and radio performances, using newspapers taken from our Archive. A Star Is Born To …
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Born in 1909 in Chicago, ‘dancing anthropologist’ Katherine Dunham was known as the ‘matriarch and queen mother of Black dance.’ Her father was a descendant of enslaved West Africans and Madagascans, whilst her mother hailed from Canada. A multitalented artist, academic and activist, for many years Katherine Dunham ran the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supporting African-American dance troupe in the mid-twentieth century. It was during this time that Dunham toured the United Kingdom, and in this special blog, …
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At the British Newspaper Archive we are always delighted to hear how The Archive has been used to inform a range of different research interests. In this very special guest blog, Sidonia Serafini of Georgia College & State University and Barbara McCaskill of the University of Georgia take a look at the work of the Reverend Peter Thomas Stanford, Birmingham’s first Black minister, as reported in the British press, through the newspapers to be found in our collection. In March …
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In the aftermath of the First World War, severe competition for jobs, especially in the ports of the United Kingdom, became widespread. Alongside this competition, a new awareness of Britain’s Black and minority ethnic population arose, fuelling the perception that such so-called ‘foreigners’ were stealing the scarcely available jobs. This toxic atmosphere would ultimately lead to the race riots of 1919, which began in January and lasted until August of that year. Violence broke out in cities across the United …
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This week the presses have gone into overdrive to bring you half a million brand new newspaper pages, or 505,430 brand new pages to be exact. We’ve added ten brand new newspapers from across the world, from Guyana and Antigua, as we continue to tell the often confronting story of the British Empire. Meanwhile, we’ve also added new newspapers from England and from Wales, whilst we’ve made updates to a staggering 75 of our existing titles. So read on to discover more about all of our …
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As part of Black History Month this October, we have taken a look at the extraordinary life of Learie Constantine (1901-1971), a cricketer from Trinidad who would go on to become the United Kingdom’s first ever Black peer. The first player to take a Test match wicket for the West Indies, and described as one of the best all-round cricketers the world has ever seen, Learie Constantine’s career extended beyond sport, as he fought tirelessly against racial discrimination, as he became a writer, broadcaster, and even …
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This week at The Archive we have added 46,718 brand new pages to our collection, with three brand new newspaper titles joining us in all. Two of our new titles illuminate the pan-Africanism movement of the early twentieth century, telling the story of the struggle against British colonial rule. Meanwhile, our new title of the week hails from London’s East End. So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to find out about Cecilia Amado Taylor, a …
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This week at The Archive we have added an amazing 322,444 brand new pages, with eight brand new titles joining us in all, from Scotland, England and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, we’ve made one million more newspapers free to view as part of our collection, which you can find out more about here. We’ve also made extensive updates to 23 our existing titles, so read on to find out more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to discover more about the …
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This week the Caribbean is calling us here at The Archive, as we have five brand new titles from Jamaica, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago joining us, which augment our collection of international titles. These titles help to tell the often confronting story of the British Commonwealth, chronicling the rise, the rule and the decline of the British Empire. Meanwhile, we have added 69,589 brand new pages to our collection this week, with the further addition of two brand new Irish titles. So read on to discover more …