BLACK HISTORY MONTH
EVERY YEAR, CAMBRIDGE RECOGNISES THE HIDDEN HERITAGES OF THE CITY THROUGHOUT OCTOBER – MIRIAM BALANESCU INVESTIGATES UNIQUE INITIATIVES TO FIND OUT MORE who was also at Girton and came before Gloria, but she got what was then known as a ‘graduate certificate’ because at that point, women were not awarded degrees in Cambridge. Gloria was in the first group of women who came to Cambridge and then graduated with a degree in 1948.” Constantly a work-in-progress, “these processes of trying to uncover black history in Cambridge are not linear,” says Rumbidzai. Though it is crucial to remember these figures, it is equally important to not smooth over the cracks of the past. “We talk about the difficulty in being the first on our tours, because you want them to be someone you can hold up as a positive example,” explains Leah. “In some ways, Crummell was a positive example – an abolitionist and influential pan-Africanist read by the likes of WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. But he was a complicated figure, as he supported the formation of Liberia – a project of colonising parts of west Africa to become a new homeland for freed African Americans, set up by the American Colonization Society. He took a negative view of black people in Africa.” The tours, founded in Oxford and starting this year in Cambridge, aim for a nuanced view. “We don’t want to flatten history and turn these people into perfect
ambridge was relatively slow to celebrate Black History Month; the event was first marked in 1987 in the UK, but only reached Cambridge in 2005. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the country in 2020, however, the importance of honesty regarding the true legacies of black history around the country has finally come to the fore – and of not shying away from the more uneasy undercurrents of the past. As a university town, much of the city’s racial history is linked to that institution. Inquiries have been launched into the legacies of slavery, finding donors with damning ties to the slave trade – including Tobias Rustat, Bartholomew Wortley and Edward Goodland, whose names have peppered the national news. “There are more statues of slave traders and slave holders than there are of black people in the university,” remarks Leah Wild, of Uncomfortable Cambridge tours, in reference to calls for the removal of a memorial to Rustat (an investor in the Royal African Company, which transported more slaves from Africa to the Americas than any other single institution) which were blocked by the Church of England. With increasing interest in black history throughout Cambridge – and a
TO THE ARCHIVES Alexander Crummell, pan-Africanist and alumnus of Queens’ College
sore awareness of the lack of diversity in the student body – colleges are also celebrating their own alumni of African heritage. The Black Cantabs Research Society has been delving into this history since 2015. “Initially, we believed the first black graduate of Cambridge was Alexander Crummell, who graduated from Queens’ College in 1853,” says president Rumbidzai. “George Bridgetower at Trinity Hall turned out a few years later to be earlier than Alexander Crummell. We know that he got his music degree in 1811, but there’s no record of his matriculation. “The earliest woman whom we have on record to have matriculated and graduated is Gloria Carpenter, who matriculated in 1945 from Girton College; she was of Jamaican descent,” continues Rumbidzai. “But, interestingly, we also have the record of Amy Ida Louise King,
THE REST IS (HER) STORY Forgotten Voices at the Town & Gown on 12 October tells the story of a remarkable woman, written by her grandson, David Moorhead. Eva Moorhead Kadalie was the widow of Clements Kadalie – the first Black trade union leader in South Africa, he played a pivotal part in rallying for black rights in the region “Without the Kadalies, Nelson Mandela and the ANC would not have been so organised,” says David. “Eva and Clements were part of that long walk to freedom. I decided that if I were to tell her story, she had to be centre stage – not a vessel for her husband’s story. I read a lot about the history of South Africa at that time through research at Cape Town University. The 1927 Native Administration Act banned criticism of the white ruling class and labelled people racist if they stood up for black rights. The parallels with today’s world are stark.”
46 OCTOBER 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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