The Heart of the Race

The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain was a 1985 book by Beverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe. A socio-historical study, it looked at the realities of life for Black women in the United Kingdom after the Second World War.[1] Although credited to Bryan, Dadzie and Scafe, they weren't the only authors of the book which was in fact written not only by those three but also by several other women in the Brixton Black Women's Group (BWG), which all three were members of.[1][2] The BWG originally planned for The Heart of the Race to be credited to the "Brixton Black Women's Group" as a whole. The book's publisher Virago Press refused to use a collective name and instead credited three members of the BWG.[1][2] Namely, Bryan, Dadzie and Scafe.[1][2] The Heart of the Race was dedicated to Olive Morris, a co-founder of the BWG who died in 1979.[1][2]

The Heart of the Race
AuthorBeverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe (official) Brixton Black Women's Group (actual, group included the three women listed above and others)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreSociology
PublisherVirago Press
Publication date
1985
Pages250 (first edition)
ISBN9780860683612
OCLC1050057930

The book discusses the history of Afro-Caribbean immigration to the UK, specifically focusing on the experiences of Black British women. The BWG focused on the role played by Black British women in the postwar economy, including the development of the National Health Service (NHS), in addition to discussing the anti-racist work Black British women were involved in.[3]

The book won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize in 1985.[4]

The Heart of the Race was later republished in 2018 by Verso Books.[1][2]

References
  1. "Beverley Bryan: The British Black Panther who inspired a generation of women". TheGuardian.com. 28 January 2021.
  2. Donnell, Alison (11 September 2002). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. ISBN 9781134700257.
  3. Cecily Jones (2007). "Heart of the Race". In David Dabydeen; John Gilmore; Cecily Jones (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Black British History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923894-1.
  4. "Stella Dadzie", The British Library.


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