Tottenham Green Radicals

The Black Lesbian and Gay Centre Project (BLGC)  

In 1985 the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre Project (BLGC) was established, funded by the Greater London Council. It was based in an annex of Tottenham Town Hall. Here the small but dedicated team of part-time staff and volunteers co-ordinated advice and counselling services, a helpline, a library and other resources.

The BLGC organised social events, campaigns and protests, and worked with groups such as Stonewall Housing Association, and Haringey Lesbian and Gay Unit to provide wholistic support to their community. The project moved several times during the 1980s until they finally located a space in Peckham in 1992. The Centre at Peckham remained active into the 1990s, but eventually closed due to a lack of funding.

The BLGC was established prior to the council’s own Haringey Lesbian and Gay Unit, the first of its kind in the UK, which was formed in 1986 to advocate for LGBT+ rights. The unit was part of the council’s Equalities team, and members included pioneering campaigner Femi Otitoju, hear her talk about her time at the Haringey Lesbian and Gay Unit. The BLGC and Haringey’s LGBT Unit were both involved in the ‘Smash the Backlash’ march on 2 May 1987 along with the Positive Images Campaign and Haringey Black Action.
 

(From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

Further resources

Special collections about Haringey LGBTQ+ heritage and communities are publicly accessible for research at Bruce Castle Museum and Archive. This includes the Haringey Vanguard Collection, some of which is featured online.

Some oral histories can also be found online, as part of the Molly Spoon Archive, held at Bruce Castle Museum and Archive.

The Haringey LGBTQ+ Timeline

Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD)
1979-1982

OWAAD was an activist organisation for British Black and Asian women, with its founding members including Stella Dadzie, Olive Morris, Martha Osamor and Gail Lewis. The organisation was formed in response to the lack of representation for women of colour and their experiences in the mainstream feminist movements of the time.

Described as "a watershed in the history of Black women's rights activism" (Halsaa et al 2012), OWAAD considered the intersectional oppressions relating to race, class and gender, focusing on activism through community solidarity and grassroots political mobilisation.  OWAAD came to Tottenham for their second national conference, which took place in the Community Service Unit building, which belonged to Tottenham Technical College (now the College of North East London).

(A meeting of OWAAD. Image courtesy and © Stella Dadzie. From the collections of Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

May 3rd Defence Campaign 

A self-funded anti-fascist organisation, the May 3rd Defence Campaign was based at Tottenham Town Hall. It was formed to provide support for those facing charges for their involvement in resisting the National Front election meeting held at High Cross Lower School, Tottenham, on Tuesday May 3rd 1983. At least 700 anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigners assembled outside the school to protest the National Front’s presence in Tottenham and 38 of them were arrested, most of them facing criminal offences and only three released without charge.

In July 1984 the May 3rd Defence Campaign published a report detailing the socio-political backdrop to the events of May 3rd 1983 (including the Battle of Wood Green at Ducketts’s Common in 1977), the events of the day itself, and the campaign’s overall aims. The report was printed by the Tottenham Neighbourhood Law Centre at 15 West Green Road.

Saying No To War: Conscientious Objectors

There were 350 men in Haringey – from Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green – who refused to fight during the First World War. After the introduction of conscription in 1916, those who said no to war became known as Conscientious Objectors (COs). Most Haringey COs were from Tottenham, where 162 applied to tribunals. COs from Tottenham appeared before a Military Service Tribunal held at Tottenham Town Hall. Many Tottenham Quakers became COs and through the Society of Friends established ways for men to carry out important work during the war without letting go of their commitment to pacifism. One example for such work would be through the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. 

In 2018, the project ‘Conscientious Objection Remembered’ - run by Haringey First World War Peace Forum and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund - produced a booklet detailing a two-mile walk taking you through the stories of just some of the 350 COs in Haringey. You can explore more about individual COs from Haringey on the Layers of London website.

Bernie Grant MP 

Bernie Grant MP held his surgeries at the former Tottenham Town Hall. A Nubian Jak Blue Plaque on the site commemorates Bernie Grant's life, career and legacy. It reads: 'Bernie Grant (1944-2000). Trade Unionist, Council Leader, Member of Parliament and People's Champion, held legendary surgeries here, 1987-2000.'

After the 1987 General Election, he was one of the first three Black MPs in the Commons. He made his mark almost immediately by wearing a traditional Ghanaian cotton robe at the State Opening of Parliament.

Find out more about Bernie Grant.

Further resources

The Bernie Grant Archive

Bernie Grant Arts Centre

Bernie Grant had a vision for Tottenham and the future of the arts in London. Seven years after his death, the Bernie Grant Arts Centre (BGAC) opened here in 2007 at Tottenham Green, as a unique multi-art form venue primarily focused around the work of Black and ethnic minority artists and arts managers, bringing many new opportunities.

The iconic building is a landmark on Tottenham High Road. It is now London’s only Black-led combined arts venue that prioritises Black work: it exists to champion, develop and present new and cutting edge multi-disciplinary work for a world where Black-led work is given space, status and a chance to thrive – a world in which Black artists, creatives and performers no longer have to fight to have their stories made.

Read more about what’s on at BGAC.

Marcus Garvey Library 

It was Bernie Grant, when he was Leader of the Council, that ensured this library was built in Tottenham. The foundation stone was laid in the year that he became Tottenham’s MP in 1987. The library is named after the Black political and civil rights activist Marcus Garvey 1887-1940). It is one of the nine libraries run by Haringey Council.

Marcus Garvey's son, Marcus Garvey III, was invited to visit the site of the new library on 7 August in the Afrikan Jubilee Year in 1987-88 to lay the building's foundation stone. That year was chosen as it commemorated the centenary since the birth of Marcus Garvey but also marked the beginning of Black History Month in this country.
The foundation stone reads --" THE MARCUS GARVEY LIBRARY. This Foundation Stone was laid by Marcus Garvey Jnr 7th August 1987. It Commemorates the Centenary of the Life and Works of the Right Honourable Brother Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The African born in Jamaica W.I . on 17th August 1887. The People of Haringey and indeed throughout the World honour his Life Commitment to his people in regenerating Black Pride, Self Reliance and Confidence ."

The foundation stone is now displayed in the foyer of the library along with a portrait bust of Marcus Garvey.
The library has a Black literature section, as well as a large collection relating to Marcus Garvey, including biographical books, speeches and essays about Garvey. There are also portraits of Marcus Garvey on display.

Dedication to Peace: Memorial plaque and tree to Olof Palme

In 1986 a tree was planted at Tottenham Green (East Side) to honour the memory of Olof Palme (1927-1986), the Swedish Prime Minister and leading Social Democrat politician who was assassinated in 1986. 

The accompanying original plaque by the tree (as seen in the photograph) read: ‘This part of the park is dedicated to the memory of Olof Palme 30th January 1927 - 28th February 1986. Swedish Prime Minister and lifelong campaigner for international peace. September 1986"

In the spirit of local communities’ commitment and long history of activism and campaigning for peace, this area of Tottenham Green had been commemorated as a Peace Garden in 1985, joining other spaces around the borough dedicated to peace.

Another plaque to Olof Palme was also laid at this site and can be seen today near to path on the east of Tottenham Green (East Side). Similar plaques to Olof Palme (along with other memorials) can be found in different countries throughout the world.

The borough is also twinned with Sundbyberg in Sweden. 

The borough was declared a Nuclear Free Zone on 7 July 1988 at a council launch attended by Haringey resident Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022), the peace campaigner and leader of CND.