GERLIN BEAN: MOTHER OF THE MOVEMENT
This book recovers the neglected history of Gerlin Bean, an activist and community organiser in Britain’s Black radical movement.
Gerlin Bean was one of the movement’s most active participants, but like many such women little is documented about her life and work. This is the first book to focus on Gerlin’s contributions to Black radical organising, looking at her activism across a number of influential organisations and initiatives, from youth programmes to Black Power politics and autonomous Black women’s groups.
Based on interviews with people who knew her along with original archival research work, this book explores Gerlin’s experiences against the backdrop of the revolutionary potential and vigour of the latter half of the twentieth century, reclaiming her as a critical figure in Black British history. The second title in LW’s Radical Black Women series, Gerlin Bean: Mother of the Movement is essential reading for historians of Black Britain, archivists, educators and activists engaged in decolonising British history and culture.
A worthy and well-researched tribute to an undersung she-ro of the UK civil rights movement. Essential reading for anyone seeking an insight into the pivotal role played by Black women in the struggle for equal rights and justice.
– Stella Dadzie, author of A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery & Resistance (2020), co-author of The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s lives in Britain (1985)
A long overdue and important history. A biography that re-establishes Gerlin Bean as a central political figure at the heart of the movements for Black Liberation, Women’s Liberation and people’s empowerment in Britain and beyond.
– Hakim Adi, author of African and Caribbean People in Britain (2022), editor of Many Struggles: New Histories of African and Caribbean People in Britain (2023)
This book chronicles the activism and contributions of Gerlin Bean and places her centre-stage in the Black liberation struggle in Britain. In doing so, it takes on a key challenge: to capture, archive and validate Black history.
– Ansel Wong CBE
There are angels who light our way and Gerlin Bean is one of those iridescent beings whose quiet, determined radicalism transformed the racial political landscape of twentieth-century Britain. Francis’s moving book is a love letter not only to Gerlin but to all the pioneering Black women of her generation – those unsung heroes who gave so much to so many, armed with nothing but their life.
– Heidi Safia Mirza, Emeritus Professor UCL Institute of Education, Visiting Professor Race, Faith and Culture, Goldsmiths College
A.S. Francis’s careful study of the life and work of Gerlin Bean is a work of recovery that reminds of the importance of histories of Black women’s activism, their visions for Black liberation and their efforts to support those who are often neglected and disregarded. This book is more than a biography. It is a history of radical politics and Black feminist organizing that fills a void in our understanding of twentieth century British history.
– Kennetta Hammond Perry, author of London Is The Place For Me: Black Britons, Citizenship and the Politics of Race; Associate Professor at Northwestern University
