Black History Month Lecture 2026: Professor Stephen A Small "Throughout the 20th century the resident Black population of Britain increased substantially from an estimated 20,000 at the start of the century, to an estimated 50,000 in the 1950s; and to an estimated 400,000 by the 1970s. By 1991 the census reported it totaled almost 900,000. Throughout this period there were far more Black people with immediate origins in the Caribbean than in the continent of Africa. Unsurprisingly, most research on Black Britain in this period is focused on this population - the so-called ‘Windrush Generation’ – that is, West Indian settlers that arrived since the 1940s, developed family units with two West Indian parents, primarily in London, and with limited firsthand experience or collective memory of legacies of slavery and imperialism in England itself. While Black Liverpool shared much in common with Black London and other cities in this period, Liverpool’s assemblage of features - what I denote as a racialised anomaly - wasmarkedly different. There were more Africans than West Indians, more long-term citizens than recent immigrants, the highest proportion of inter-racial marriages and people of mixed racial origins in any city in the nation, more extensive first-hand experiences and a far more vivid collective memory and first-hand experience of imperialism in West Africa. These differences arose, inter alia, from the city’s unique involvement in imperial trade in West Africa, and the settlement in imperial Liverpool of overwhelmingly male seamen from West Africa. In this presentation, drawing on research for my recently published book – Black Liverpool: ‘the real thing’ - I examine how the historical trajectory of Black Liverpool gave rise to unique configurations of Black cultural expression in that city in the final decades of the 20th century. Specifically, how the Black community in Liverpool pursued, embraced and transformed waves of transnational Black culture from Africa, and the diaspora. I highlight in particular the influences from West Africa, and the novel forms that Black cultural expression took in the city. The role of gender ideologies, institutional practices and the agency and experiences of Black women are closely examined. One implication of this study is that an analysis of Black Britain based on a London-centered account of the so-called ‘Windrush Generation’ is unrepresentative and misleading."Tickets are free via Eventbrite, as the link.Professor Stephen A. SmallStephen Small is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he began in January 2025 after he retired from 30 year’s teaching on campus. He researches the history and sociology of Black people across the diaspora, with a primary focus on legacies of slavery and imperialism, public history and collective memory. He is a faculty member of the Black Europe Summer School (BESS) (since 2007) – a two-week program in Amsterdam, founded and directed for Dr. Kwame Nimako; and has held visiting positions at universities in Brazil, England, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Zimbabwe. He was Guest Curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Transatlantic Slavery Gallery (now the International Slavery Museum) in Liverpool that opened in 1994.His most recent book is Black Liverpool: ‘The real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American Culture at the end of the twentieth century published by Liverpool University Press in June 2026. Recent publications include In the Shadows of the Big House: Twenty-First Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana (2023) and 1981- Black Liverpool, Past and Present (2022) (co-written with Jimi Jagne). He is also co-editor (with Darlene Clark Hine and Trica Danielle Keaton) of Black Europe and the African Diaspora (2009). He is currently working on his next book tentatively entitled Imperial Liverpool and West Africa. And he is writing his auto-biography. Stephen earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1989); his MS.C in Social Sciences from the University of Bristol (1983); and his B.A. (honours) in Economics and Sociology from the University of Kent at Canterbury (1979). Stephen was born and raised in Liverpool, England – the city with the nation’s longest-standing Black population. Tags Black History Month Lecture History Oct 22 2026 16.00 - 17.00 Black History Month Lecture 2026: Professor Stephen A Small The 2026 Black History Month Lecture will be given by Professor Stephen A. Small (Berkeley). Meadows Lecture Theatre, G.07 Doorway 4, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG Find the venue Tickets (free) This article was published on Monday 14 September 2026
Black History Month Lecture 2026: Professor Stephen A Small "Throughout the 20th century the resident Black population of Britain increased substantially from an estimated 20,000 at the start of the century, to an estimated 50,000 in the 1950s; and to an estimated 400,000 by the 1970s. By 1991 the census reported it totaled almost 900,000. Throughout this period there were far more Black people with immediate origins in the Caribbean than in the continent of Africa. Unsurprisingly, most research on Black Britain in this period is focused on this population - the so-called ‘Windrush Generation’ – that is, West Indian settlers that arrived since the 1940s, developed family units with two West Indian parents, primarily in London, and with limited firsthand experience or collective memory of legacies of slavery and imperialism in England itself. While Black Liverpool shared much in common with Black London and other cities in this period, Liverpool’s assemblage of features - what I denote as a racialised anomaly - wasmarkedly different. There were more Africans than West Indians, more long-term citizens than recent immigrants, the highest proportion of inter-racial marriages and people of mixed racial origins in any city in the nation, more extensive first-hand experiences and a far more vivid collective memory and first-hand experience of imperialism in West Africa. These differences arose, inter alia, from the city’s unique involvement in imperial trade in West Africa, and the settlement in imperial Liverpool of overwhelmingly male seamen from West Africa. In this presentation, drawing on research for my recently published book – Black Liverpool: ‘the real thing’ - I examine how the historical trajectory of Black Liverpool gave rise to unique configurations of Black cultural expression in that city in the final decades of the 20th century. Specifically, how the Black community in Liverpool pursued, embraced and transformed waves of transnational Black culture from Africa, and the diaspora. I highlight in particular the influences from West Africa, and the novel forms that Black cultural expression took in the city. The role of gender ideologies, institutional practices and the agency and experiences of Black women are closely examined. One implication of this study is that an analysis of Black Britain based on a London-centered account of the so-called ‘Windrush Generation’ is unrepresentative and misleading."Tickets are free via Eventbrite, as the link.Professor Stephen A. SmallStephen Small is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he began in January 2025 after he retired from 30 year’s teaching on campus. He researches the history and sociology of Black people across the diaspora, with a primary focus on legacies of slavery and imperialism, public history and collective memory. He is a faculty member of the Black Europe Summer School (BESS) (since 2007) – a two-week program in Amsterdam, founded and directed for Dr. Kwame Nimako; and has held visiting positions at universities in Brazil, England, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Zimbabwe. He was Guest Curator at the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Transatlantic Slavery Gallery (now the International Slavery Museum) in Liverpool that opened in 1994.His most recent book is Black Liverpool: ‘The real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American Culture at the end of the twentieth century published by Liverpool University Press in June 2026. Recent publications include In the Shadows of the Big House: Twenty-First Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana (2023) and 1981- Black Liverpool, Past and Present (2022) (co-written with Jimi Jagne). He is also co-editor (with Darlene Clark Hine and Trica Danielle Keaton) of Black Europe and the African Diaspora (2009). He is currently working on his next book tentatively entitled Imperial Liverpool and West Africa. And he is writing his auto-biography. Stephen earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1989); his MS.C in Social Sciences from the University of Bristol (1983); and his B.A. (honours) in Economics and Sociology from the University of Kent at Canterbury (1979). Stephen was born and raised in Liverpool, England – the city with the nation’s longest-standing Black population. Tags Black History Month Lecture History Oct 22 2026 16.00 - 17.00 Black History Month Lecture 2026: Professor Stephen A Small The 2026 Black History Month Lecture will be given by Professor Stephen A. Small (Berkeley). Meadows Lecture Theatre, G.07 Doorway 4, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG Find the venue Tickets (free) This article was published on Monday 14 September 2026
Oct 22 2026 16.00 - 17.00 Black History Month Lecture 2026: Professor Stephen A Small The 2026 Black History Month Lecture will be given by Professor Stephen A. Small (Berkeley).
