Living Archives: 1964

Participatory Research Project

A series of workshops were held at the partner organisation the Shaheed Udham Singh Welfare Centre, Handsworth, Birmingham conducted by Savita Vij and Jagdish Patel (with organising support from Charnajeev Kaur). These workshops explored the origin stories of the IWA Birmingham and links with movements for Indian Independence like Ghadar and post-war agitations to the role of revolutionary figures like Udham Singh. The role of the British media in fuelling stories about the problems of “coloured immigrants” linked with housing and diseases of the 60s and 70s resonated with much of the contemporary discourse on migration. Archival material and a visit to the Smethwick archives was a key way for young people to directly access the history. A plaque commemorating where Malcolm X walked is located in Smethwick and stands in stark contrast to the areas industrial history, once dubbed ‘Britain’s workshop of the world’ then with ‘Britain’s most racist election’ in 1964 with the election of Peter Griffiths and now a typically British multicultural suburb. An exhibition of Artwork produced from the series of workshops: Notes of Refusal was launched in October 2024.