Communities of Liberation is a historical research and public art initiative which aims to increase awareness of the long history of the African presence in London’s East End 1567 - 1802 from the earliest documented Africans here until the development of the West India Docks.

FEBRUARY 2024 

Join the team | Paid opportunity
Co-Producers vacancies
Closing 2 April 2024
There is no public recognition of African people who lived in the East End 300 years ago.

Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives is seeking six local people of African heritage to research in the archives and produce new creative work – visual, text and sound – which imagines and gives life to these neglected stories.

Please get in touch if you:
  • Have African or African Caribbean heritage - age 16 to elder
  • Live in Tower Hamlets or have a strong connection and familiarity with the borough
  • Are keen to do historical research and creative work inspired by your findings
  • Do not have formal training in history or visual arts – people with no specific qualifications or experience are particularly welcome
  • Are available to attend fortnightly 2.5 hour workshops in East London during Friday daytimes

What do you get out of it?
  • Your work featuring in a groundbreaking public exhibition, on digital platforms and in audio portraits
  • Training in archival research from heritage experts
  • Support to creatively imagine the lives of African people found in the archives using visual arts, writing, sound recording and editing
  • Payment for your time at London Living Wage - £13.15 per hour (total fee available £1,270)

You’ll be expected to:
  • Commit 4 x half-days per month during May to November 2024 (12 days in total)
  • Collaborate and share your experiences with the group throughout the project
  • Take responsibility for completing the tasks assigned to you

Sound good?
  • Send us an email telling us a bit about yourself, why you fit the bill and want to be involved
  • If it’s easier, you can email a video or voice note instead
  • Elders supported by younger family members are welcome

Deadline for applications: 5pm on Tuesday 2 April 2024
Email for more info and to submit applications  Tony.T@towerhamlets.gov.uk more here 

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Launch Event 
22 February 2024, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
277 Bancroft Rd, London E1 4DQ
Book here

There is no public recognition of African people who lived in the East End 300 years ago. We’re launching a groundbreaking project researching in the archives and producing new creative work which gives life to these neglected lives and stories.

The aim of the project is to identify the places, spaces and networks in which African people lived, worked or socialised during the period of operation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Join us at our launch event to find out more and how you can get involved!

If you can’t come along, this information will be posted on the project website and social media platform with regular updates about our activities, discoveries, and creative re-imagining throughout the year.

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ABOUT THE PROJECT

We will identify the places, spaces and networks in which African people lived, worked or socialised during the period of the operation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We do this by focusing specifically on excavating and sharing stories of individuals who lived here in the 17th and 18th centuries  

Communities of Liberation will locate names, stories and experiences of everyday life of working Londoners; and map them to specific locations. We will better document and share the buildings or spaces, the taverns and churches, where "working class" African Londoners would gather, meet and coalesce as a community.

Communities of Liberation is working in partnership with Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives. 

Contact us: 

communitiesofliberation [at] gmail.com


Image:  Tower Division from Middlesex map c. 1750,  Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives