Olive Morris

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Olive Morris
London College of Printing
  • Victoria University of Manchester
    • Occupation(s)Community leader and activist

    Olive Elaine Morris (26 June 1952 – 12 July 1979) was a Jamaican-born British-based community leader and activist in the

    squatted buildings on Railton Road in Brixton; one hosted Sabarr Books and later became the 121 Centre, another was used as offices by the Race Today collective. Morris became a key organiser in the Black Women's Movement in the United Kingdom, co-founding the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent
    in London.

    When she studied at the

    Lambeth Council named a building after her – and by the activist group the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC). Friends and comrades recalled her as fearless and dedicated to fighting oppression on all levels. She was depicted on the B£1 note of the Brixton Pound
    and has featured on lists of inspirational black British women.

    Early life

    Olive Morris was born on 26 June 1952 in Harewood,

    London College of Printing (now named the London College of Communication).[1][10]
    : 151 

    Adult life and activism

    In the late 1960s and early 1970s, black British activists embraced the multi-ethnic political discussions concerning

    classism and imperialism in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, as well as in the United Kingdom.[11]: 72–73  Their overriding goals were to find their identity, cultural expression and political autonomy by helping their own communities, and others with similar struggles.[11]: 75 [12]
    : 207 

    Despite the passage of the Race Relations Act 1965, Afro-Caribbean people (alongside other minority groups) continued to experience racism; access to housing and employment was restricted in discriminatory ways and black communities were put under pressure by both the police and fascist groups such as the National Front.[1][11]: 75  To combat these issues, black Britons used anti-colonial strategies and adopted African-inspired forms of cultural expression, drawing on black power movements, or black liberation movements in Angola, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.[12]: 207–208 [10]: 148–150  Similarly, black British activists challenged ideas of respectability by the choices they made for their adornment, clothing, and hair styles.[12]: 207  They listened to reggae and soca from the Caribbean and soul from the United States, and displayed images of internationally known revolutionary figures, such as Che Guevara and Angela Davis.[12]: 210  Their fashion sense was also influenced by the civil rights movement.[13]

    Morris was drawn into this movement because it allowed her to affirm her Caribbean roots and blackness, while also providing a means for her to fight against problems affecting her community.[12]: 213  Just over five feet tall, she gained a reputation as a fierce activist.[11]: 74 [14] She was described by other activists as fearless and dedicated, refusing to stand by and allow injustice to occur.[14][15][16]: 127  Oumou Longley, a gender studies and black history researcher,[16]: 135  notes that Morris's identity was complex: "A Jamaican-born woman who grew up in Britain, a squatter with a degree from Manchester University, a woman with a long-term white-skinned partner and a woman who during this time had intimate relationships with other men and women". She deliberately appeared androgynous,[16]: 127  adopting a "queer revolutionary soul sister look".[12]: 215  Morris smoked, preferred jeans and T-shirts, either went bare-footed or wore comfortable shoes, and wore her hair in a short-cropped Afro.[12]: 215  Her personal style choices challenged not only notions of what it meant to be British, but also Caribbean.[12]: 213 [16]: 127 [17] African-American scholar Tanisha C. Ford observes that Morris was gender-nonconforming in the same way as the activists of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the US, who cut their hair short and switched from wearing dresses and pearls to overalls.[12]: 215 

    Mistreatment following the Gomwalk incident

    On 15 November 1969, Nigerian diplomat Clement Gomwalk was confronted by Metropolitan Police officers while parked outside Desmond's Hip City, the first black record shop in Brixton.[18]: 11 [19] The Mercedes-Benz car he was driving bore a different number on the licence plate to that on the licence disc; police officers pulled him from the car and questioned him under the "sus law" (a stop and search power), disputing that he was a diplomat. A crowd formed around them and then a physical altercation took place.[2][18]: 11 [20] Local journalist Ayo Martin Tajo wrote up an account of the events a decade later which stated that Morris pushed through the crowd and attempted to stop the police hitting the diplomat; this led to the police assaulting her and several others. On Morris's own account as published in the Black People's News Service (the newsletter of the British Black Panthers), she arrived after Gomwalk had been arrested and taken away in a police van.[18]: 12–13 

    The situation with the police officers escalated after the crowd began to confront them about their brutal treatment of Gomwalk. Morris recalled her friend being dragged away by police, shouting "I've done nothing" as his arm was broken.

    intersectional, focusing on racism worldwide whilst aware of the connections to colonialism, sexism and class discrimination.[23]

    British Black Panthers

    Morris decided to campaign against police harassment and joined the youth section of the British Black Panthers at the beginning of the 1970s. The group was not affiliated with the

    British consulate in Tangier for help to return home.[27]
    : 8 

    In the early 1970s, there were many court cases involving black activists on trumped up charges.

    Mau Mau Uprising.[28]: 172–173  When the case came to trial in October 1972, the nine police officers gave contradictory evidence, including about the footwear Morris had been wearing, a crucial point since she was accused of kicking an officer.[28]: 173  The jury acquitted her and the other defendants.[29]

    Upon the demise of the British Black Panthers, Morris founded the

    The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain, which was published by Virago Press in 1985. Three women from the collective were credited as authors because the publisher refused to use a collective name. Dedicated to Morris, the book was republished by Verso Books in 2018.[24][31]

    Squatting in Brixton

    Exterior of two storey brick building
    121 Railton Road in 2023
    Exterior of two storey brick building with shop space on ground floor
    165–167 Railton Road, where Race Today was produced and C. L. R. James lived. The blue plaque commemorating James' residency is visible in the centre of the photograph.

    Having begun to

    The Evening Standard, Morris said "the prices for flats and bedsits are too high for me".[1][33] The Advisory Service for Squatters used a photograph of Morris climbing up the back wall of the squat on the cover of its 1979 Squatters Handbook.[11]: 75–76  The building became a hub of political activism, hosting community groups such as Black People against State Harassment and the Brixton Black Women's Group.[1][24] Sabarr Bookshop was set up by a group of local black men and women that included Morris and through it, activists were able to work with schools to provide black history reading materials for a more diverse curriculum.[11]: 75 [34]: 181  Morris and Obi then moved on to another squat at 65 Railton Road.[32]
    : 101 

    The 121 squat later became an

    self-managed social centre known as the 121 Centre, which existed until 1999.[1] Anthropologist Faye V. Harrison lived with Morris and her sister in the mid-1970s; she later recalled that Morris saw housing as a human right and squatting as direct action to provide shelter, so she was keen to encourage other people to squat.[11]: 75–76  Morris was also involved with the Race Today collective, which featured Farrukh Dhondy, Leila Hassan, Darcus Howe and Gus John. When it split from the Institute of Race Relations in 1974, she helped it find a base in the squats of Brixton.[28]: 148 [35] The offices were eventually located at 165–167 Railton Road, where the collective produced the magazine and held discussion sessions in the basement.[36][35] C. L. R. James lived on the top floor of the building.[37] The offices later became the Brixton Advice Centre.[35]

    Manchester

    Morris studied economics and social science at the Victoria University of Manchester from 1975 until 1978.[1][10]: 154  She quickly integrated with grassroots political organisations in Moss Side, co-founding the Black Women's Mutual Aid Group and meeting local activists such as Kath Locke and Elouise Edwards.[38][39] Locke had set up the Manchester Black Women's Co-operative (MBWC) in 1975 with Coca Clarke and Ada Phillips; Morris got involved and members later recalled her vigour.[40]: 1, 14, 16  She also campaigned against the university's plans to increase tuition fees for overseas students.[23] After her death, the MWBC folded due to financial mismanagement and reformed as the Abasindi Women's Co-operative; from its base in the Moss Side People's Centre, Abasindi organised educational, cultural and political activities without any public funding.[38][40]: 2 [41]

    Morris helped to establish a supplementary school after campaigning with local black parents for better education provision for their children, and a black bookshop.[10]: 153  As part of her internationalist perspective she participated in the National Co-ordinating Committee of Overseas Students and travelled to Italy and Northern Ireland.[1][10]: 153  In 1977, she travelled to China with the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding and wrote "A Sister’s Visit to China" for the newsletter of the Brixton Black Women's Group. The article analysed anti-imperialist praxis and community organisation in China.[14][30]

    Return to Brixton

    After graduating in 1978, Morris returned to Brixton and worked at the Brixton Community Law Centre. With her partner Mike McColgan she wrote "Has the Anti-Nazi League got it right on racism?" for the Brixton Ad-Hoc Committee against Police Repression. The pamphlet questioned whether the Anti-Nazi League was correct to fight fascism whilst ignoring institutional racism.[1] With educationalists Beverley Bryan and Stella Dadzie, plus other women, Morris set up the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) in London. It held its first conference at the Abeng Centre in Brixton, which Morris had helped to found.[1][10]: 151, 241  Bryan later remembered Morris as a "strong personality".[24]

    At the conference, 300 African, Asian and Caribbean women from cities including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester and Sheffield came together to discuss issues that concerned them, such as housing, employment, health and education. OWAAD aimed to be an umbrella group linking struggles and empowering women, whilst also opposing racism, sexism and other forms of oppression.[11]: 79, 82  Alongside the Brixton Black Women's Group, OWAAD was one of the first organisations for black women in the United Kingdom.[2] Morris edited FOWAD!, the group's newsletter, which continued to publish after her death.[11]: 79 [30]

    Death

    Whilst on a cycling trip in Spain with McColgan in 1978, Morris began to feel ill. Upon her return to London, she went to King's College Hospital and was sent away with tablets for flatulence, only to later receive a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in September.[16]: 127, 130  The cancer treatment was unsuccessful and she died on 12 July 1979 at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, at the age of 27. Her grave is at Streatham Vale Cemetery.[1]

    Recognition and legacy

    Exterior of large three storey red brick and glass building next to road
    Olive Morris House at 18 Brixton Hill, in 2013. It was demolished in 2020.

    Alongside other women such as Liz Obi, Morris played an important part in the creation of a feminist Black Power movement in the UK and anthropologist Tracy Fisher describes her contributions as "immeasurable".

    housing benefit office was based there; Morris had demonstrated outside the office for better housing rights.[44][45]

    The naming of the building followed the 1985 Brixton riot, which had been triggered by the police shooting of Cherry Groce; it was demolished in 2020.[46][47] A playground was also named after Morris in Myatt's Fields.[1]

    In 2000, Obi put on an exhibition about Morris at Brixton Library.[15][27] Ana Laura López de la Torre launched the "Remember Olive Morris" blog in 2007 to commemorate Morris' legacy and the following year the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) was launched, with members including Ford and Obi.[1][18]: 8 [48] It commemorated the life of Morris, collating information and situating her experiences within a broader history of black Brixton; the pamphlet Do You Remember Olive Morris? was published in 2010 and distributed to local schools in Lambeth.[18]: 10 [49]: 11 [50] ROC set up the Olive Morris Memorial Awards in 2011, in order to offer financial support to women of African or Asian descent aged between 16 and 27.[1][51] In 2019, the collective was re-launched as ROC 2.0 since the council building bearing Morris's name was scheduled for demolition and the group wanted to ensure that she would continue to be remembered.[52]

    Ford sees ROC as driven by community historians, who in the UK are often behind projects such as the Black Cultural Archives, the Feminist Library and the George Padmore Institute.[18]: 10  De la Torre and Obi deposited the materials they had collected into the Olive Morris Collection at the Lambeth Archives.[15][30] The archives were based at the Minet Library until it was announced in 2020 that they would move to the new Olive Morris House, which would be constructed on the site of the old building as part of the Your New Town Hall housing project.[30][53]

    Morris is depicted on the B£1 note of the

    Sharon White, Malorie Blackman, and Zadie Smith.[57] Morris was recognised with a Google Doodle in the UK on 26 June 2020 to mark what would have been her 68th birthday.[58] Morris's life and activism was dramatised in the BAFTA nominated 2023 short film The Ballad of Olive Morris.[59]

    In 2021 Olive Morris Court opened in Tottenham, on the site of a former storage yard. The project included 33 modular-homes designed to support people experiencing homelessness and rough-sleeping .[60] [61]

    Notes

    1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states: "Olive attended Heathbrook primary school and then Lavender Hill Girls' Secondary School and Tulse Hill secondary school".[1] A BBC News article says "Lavender Hill Primary School and Dick Sheppard School in Tulse Hill".[4] Heathbrook Primary School does exist;[5] Lavender Hill Girls' School was attended by Morris and later closed down in 1979;[6] Dick Sheppard School was for girls only until its closure in 1994 and was attended by Morris;[4][7][8] She did not go to Tulse Hill School since it was for boys only.[9]

    References

    1. ^
      ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership
      required.)
    2. ^ a b c Tsang, Amie (30 October 2019). "Overlooked No More: How Olive Morris Fought for Black Women's Rights in Britain". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
    3. ^ a b "Memories of Olive: A Very Strong and Fearless Black Sister". Speak Out. No. 3. Brixton Black Women's Group. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
    4. ^ a b c d "Google Doodle: Who was Olive Morris?". BBC News. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
    5. Lambeth Council. Archived
      from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
    6. ^ Reid, Sue (5 April 1979). "School Axe Agreed". Evening Standard. p. 11. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
    7. ^ "Dick Sheppard School, Tulse Hill". National Archives. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
    8. ^ Architectural correspondent (25 May 1956). "Experiment and Inspiration in L.C.C. Building". The Guardian. p. 5. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
    9. ^ Murphy, Kevin (18 October 1974). "NF Teacher "Sick" – Misses Demo". Evening Standard. p. 10. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
    10. ^
      ISBN 978-1786635860. Archived
      from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
    11. ^
      ISBN 978-0-230-33917-0. Archived
      from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
    12. ^
      ISBN 978-1-137-39270-1. Archived
      from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    13. ^ Arboine, Niellah (23 June 2018). "The Windrush Generation: 70 Years of Caribbean Fashion". gal-dem. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
    14. ^ a b c d e Osborne, Angelina (2 August 2020). "Black History Month: The Power of Olive Morris". Fawcett Society. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
    15. ^ a b c Chidgey, Red (25 July 2010). "Do You Remember Olive Morris?". Red Pepper. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
    16. ^
      S2CID 244348631. Archived
      from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
    17. ^ Norbert-David, Rianna (5 November 2021). "The Psychology of Windrush Style". London: Museum of London. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
    18. ^
      S2CID 148436220. Archived
      from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
    19. ^ The National Archives (United Kingdom). "Moving Here". National Archives. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
    20. ^ "Nigerian Diplomat (Arrest)". Hansard. 17 November 1969. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
    21. Gale CS84898449
      .
    22. ISBN 978-1-60486-200-3
      .
    23. ^ a b Reilly, Felix (13 October 2019). ""Black Women Who Have Struggled to Make Our Efforts Possible": Olive Morris and the Legacy of Black Power in Manchester". History at University of Manchester. University of Manchester. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
    24. ^ a b c d e f Thomas, Tobi (28 January 2021). "Beverley Bryan: The British Black Panther Who Inspired a Generation of Women". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    25. EBSCOhost 36334336. Archived
      from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
    26. S2CID 143188389. Archived
      from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
    27. ^
      OCLC 608352127. Archived
      (PDF) from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
    28. ^
      ISBN 978-1-4742-1845-0
      .
    29. History Extra. London: Immediate Media Company. Archived
      from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
    30. ^ a b c d e Hunter, Virgillo (9 February 2020). "Olive Elaine Morris (1952–1979)". BlackPast.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
    31. ^
      ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7. Archived
      from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
    32. ^ a b c Bettocchi, Milo (2021). Fairies, Feminists & Queer Anarchists: Geographies of Squatting in Brixton (Thesis). University of Nottingham. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
    33. ^ "Student Squatters Win Back Home". Evening Standard. 7 February 1973. p. 12. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    34. ISSN 1477-4569
      .
    35. ^ a b c "Stories from Railton Road". Brixton Advice Centre. 5 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
    36. ^ Dalilah, Zahra (21 April 2017). "Five British Black Panther Women Whose Names You Should Know". gal-dem. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
    37. ^ Bunce, Robin; Hassan, Leila; Field, Paul (31 October 2019). "Here to Stay, Here to Fight: On the History, and Legacy, of Race Today". Ceasefire Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    38. ^ a b "Abasindi Co-operative – Black History Month". Archives+. Manchester Central Library. 23 October 2018. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
    39. ^ Johnson, Elizabeth Ofosuah (4 September 2018). "She Was a Pioneer Black Female Activist Who Fought for Women's Rights in Britain but Died at 27". Face2Face Africa. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    40. ^
      S2CID 236255801
      .
    41. ^ "Black Women's Abasindi Co-operative in Troubled 1980s Moss Side". University of Huddersfield. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    42. ^ Baker, Emma (2021). "Elizabeth Obi and Olive Morris". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
    43. ^ "Memorable Protest Poetry from England". The Gleaner. 25 January 1981. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    44. ISBN 978-1-78374-565-4. Archived
      from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
    45. ISBN 9780191727337. Archived
      from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    46. ^ "1985: Riots in Brixton After Police Shooting". BBC News. 28 September 1985. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
    47. ^ Urban, Mike (25 September 2020). "Walls Come Tumbling Down: Olive Morris House Demolition in Photos, Sept 2020". Brixton Buzz. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    48. ^ Ruiz, Sheila (16 October 2009). "Do You Remember Olive Morris?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
    49. doi:10.1177/0096144220955165
      .
    50. ^ Lopez de la Torre, Ana (23 January 2010). "Do You Remember Olive Morris? Publication". Remembering Olive Collective. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    51. ^ "Olive Morris Memorial Award". Operation Black Vote. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    52. ^ "Olive Morris Collective Says Memorial Must Not Be Lost". Brixton Blog. 21 June 2019. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
    53. ^ Cobb, Jason (9 September 2020). "Lambeth Archives Finally Finds New Home with £10M Move to the New Olive Morris House". Brixton Buzz. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    54. ^ "A Struggle to Survive". Brixton Bugle. May 2017. p. 1. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    55. ^ "Brixton: Meet Boniswa". Brixton Blog. 25 April 2017. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
    56. ^ Sinclair, Leah (6 February 2018). "Suffrage 100: The Black Women Who Changed British History". The Voice. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
    57. ^ Chambers, Georgia (11 October 2018). "Inspirational Black British Women You Should Know About". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
    58. ^ Barr, Sabrina (26 June 2020). "Who Was Olive Morris, the Activist Who Campaigned to Improve the Lives of the Black Community?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
    59. Screen Daily. 30 August 2020. Archived
      from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
    60. ^ Handley, Eskarina (14 October 2021). "Modular homes help tackle homelessness in Haringey". Planning, Building & Construction Today. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
    61. ^ Turner, Liam (31 May 2023). "Haringey Council secures five more modular homes for homeless people". Housing Digital. Retrieved 5 June 2023.

    External links

    Archives and related collections

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olive_Morris&oldid=1217955121"