We are Descendants of the Windrush Generation

There is a dearth of literature on Black women’s activism in the UK and indeed, on the contribution of Black British women more widely to tackling social injustice. This book aims to fill this gap and extends the feminist mantra ‘the personal is political’ by showing how the personal can shape the political through collectivist action. In drawing on personal and professional testimonies grounded in over three decades of community activism and scholarly analysis, the authors weave together the story of the Abasindi Cooperative, a British-based Black woman’s organisation famed for its progressive and far-reaching social justice programmes. Founded by descendants of Britain’s ‘Windrush Generation’ (The Windrush Generation refers to subjects of the British Empire who travelled to the UK from Africa and the Caribbean between the late 40s and 1971—often at the invitation of the British government—and who in recent years have been confronted with expulsion and illegal deportation (Windrush generation: Who are they and why are they facing problems? - BBC News). Abasindi and the women who were its lifeblood simultaneously navigated the politics of race, gender and class and initiated a practical form of intersectionality even before Kimberlé Crenshaw’s coining of the term gained currency within feminist scholarship (Crenshaw, 2023). Detailed and grounded testimonies from Abasindi women deepen understandings of discrimination and exclusion and highlight the key role Black women have played in confronting these issues and in shaping the history of Black people in Britain. Alongside Black women’s agency and the politics of representation, the book takes in colonialism, apartheid, the transatlantic slave trade and, reparation and thus extends its reach beyond British shores to the global arena.