In August, YHP interviewed Marika Sherwood; a renowned historian, writer, educator, and activist. Marika is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and has worked as an academic researcher in New York, Sydney, London, and New Guinea. Her vast collection of publications, including Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile (1999) and After Abolition: Britain and the Slave Trade Since 1807 (2007), demonstrate her lifelong commitment to Black history. In 1991, she helped found The Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA) and has since organised numerous significant conferences, such as the 50th Anniversary Civic Celebration of the 1945 Pan-African Congress. Inspired by her teaching career, Marika has continuously campaigned for a reform of the history curriculum in the UK. In 2022, Marika received an honorary doctorate in History from the University of Chichester for her services to academia. A group of YHP researchers, Perry, Ilham, and Sewa, filmed an oral history interview with Marika as part of an upcoming project titled 'Each One, Teach One': The Pioneers of Black British History. Below is Ilham’s reflection on their meeting. We would like to extend a huge thank you to Marika for inviting us into her home and sharing her wonderful insights with us.
Our interview with Marika led us to reflect on the wealth of knowledge obscured behind the dominating narratives of history. During our conversation, we learnt of her unflinching commitment to uncovering hidden histories. Unafraid to question authority figures or ask the difficult questions, Marika appeared to be a seasoned and persistent investigator. Her approach to research typically involved questioning details that seemed misplaced, inquiring about the backgrounds of artefacts and documents, and taking account of evidence of historic ethnic diversity in Britain. For instance, she told us about a trip to Faversham Town Hall where she found a variety of foreign names listed on a board commemorating the historic mayors of Kent. There she found records of a Black man who was on the Faversham council during the 16th century. Marika also told us of her disagreement with officials at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest about what she believed to be the omission of the great number of Baptism certificates which belonged to Jewish people. As a Jewish survivor of the Budapest ghetto during the Second World War, Marika has previously shared that “I had to move away from where I was living, because Jews couldn’t live there. I couldn’t go to school. I would have died were it not for the Christians who baptised us and shared papers with us to save us.”
It was fascinating to see that her historian’s eye had become the default lens through which she approached the environment around her, including unsuspecting public areas of the small town in which she lived. As a result of our meeting, I unwittingly borrowed this ‘eye’. During my journey home, I was hyper-aware of the complex history that exists behind the places and people surrounding me. For instance, a conversation with a cab driver about his family’s origins made me think about how we are all immigrants in one sense or another. This reminded me of Marika’s discussion of the lineage of English people. She described meeting Kentish people who were unsure of whether they were descended from the Romans, Vikings, or Anglo-Saxons. This presents the intriguing possibility that many ‘native’ Britons could be classed as foreigners – a term that has become increasingly contentious in political commentary.
Speaking with Marika revealed to me the extent of the manipulation and erasure that has warped British records of history. For instance, she described the government’s censorship of records related to the journalist, author, and activist George Padmore, which were only released after significant protests. This has a long precedence within the British government, as thousands of colonial–era files were similarly hidden in inaccessible Foreign and Commonwealth Office archives, or destroyed. The state’s desire to erase history seems to be concerned with a desire to cover who they are, or have been.
“Glorious Britain might prove, in fact, to be Inglorious Britain.” – Marika Sherwood
Our interview with Marika highlighted the argument that history taught from the British media and curriculum’s perspective is highly one-sided. Despite governmental claims of having achieved social and racial equity, there is a significant lack of cultural reckoning with historical issues of Empire, slavery, and race. This is evident in the national curriculum, as many communities do not feel that they are accurately reflected, or even included, in the syllabus.
To those who wish to silence parts of history, Marika’s research can appear contentious or a great aggravation. She has been removed from events, refused collaborative ventures, censored, and smeared. Despite this, she continues to inspire the next generation of writers and academics. Her story debunks the notion that one needs to be a professional historian or to hold a PHD to critically investigate mainstream narratives. I feel that we all have the capacity to be like Marika.
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