Happy Birthday Len!

Today we remember the life of the pioneer Len Kwesi Garrison, (13th June 1943 – 18th February 2003) our co-founder of the Black Cultural Archives.

He was known for being an Educationalist, Historian, Poet and Photographer, whose work involved the catalogue of the development of the Black British identity and its history to promote the works of young Black writers and education for children.

His legacy continues to live on through the Black Cultural Archives.

NOT MY CHILDREN

I am a Black man

I demand the rights of all mankind that you strive to deny me

I want only to let my children live a life I was not afforded

Yet I knew was mine.

My toil and blood built this civilisation

I suffered in those fields of human misery

I demand for my children the peace of mind to exist without misery.

I am human and won’t stand any more humiliation for me nor my children

I am in no mood to wait any longer for my patience is at an end.

By Len Kwesi Garrison , Beyond Babylon Collections of Poems , (1972 -1982)