Black British Magazines Posed for their 'True' African Nature

Speaker: Kadija George (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Chair: Nick Brown

This paper examines the presence of Pan-Africanism in two Black British magazines; Tropic, at the start of Britain granting its colonies political independence and Staunch during what has been termed the 'Black British period’. Tropic magazine was launched in 1960 as an A4 monthly lifestyle and current affairs periodical. Despite the lifestyle designed covers of Tropic which were always of a Black woman or girl-child from different countries, stories were included in each issue that were concerned with independence and the development of new nations in Africa and the Caribbean and features on African diasporic life in Britain that reflected Africa, the Caribbean, Black Britain and in less depth, Black America. Tropic signalled a new beginning and a new era when people of African descent had arrived in Britain post WW2, claiming to represent the 250,000 “coloured” people in Britain. Staunch was launched in 1978, as an A4 cultural, quarterly community periodical. For publisher Don Kinch, whose aims, and objectives for producing Staunch were about Black self-determination and Black self-help, his magazine illustrated the commonality and unifying message of Pan-Africanism. Although both magazines had Caribbean publishers, yet their publishers prioritised promoting Pan-African thought and action.

Event date: 14 June 2022

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