Get Involved in “Seeking the Pioneers”

Earlier this year, Birmingham Race Impact Group launched Seeking the Pioneers - an exciting new project that will connect and inspire people and communities with the history of local race activism from the 1940’s to the present day.

With the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we will be recruiting a team of history detectives, researchers, curators and digital creatives to seek out and platform the racial justice pioneers whose shoulders we stand on today.

Last month I joined the projects as our Heritage Development Officer.

This month, we’re pleased to announce the recruitment of Samantha Harper-Nunes as our new Media and Communications Officer. She will play a crucial role in engaging young people in this crucial work, while making history accessible and fun!

We’ve also recruited our new Literature Review Collective, who will research the rich history of anti-racism activism in Birmingham, and work with local communities and other key stakeholders to co-develop an interactive anti-racism timeline for our forthcoming “Seeking the Pioneers’ Website.

To find out more about the project we would like to invite you to an in-person Open Day at 6 p.m. on Monday, 5th August at the Warehouse Cafe, Alison Street Digbeth. 

This will be an exciting opportunity for young people in Birmingham to find out more about the project and discover why this work is so important.

Following our Open Day, we will begin recruiting our history detectives throughout August - providing them with the training they need to interview anti-racism pioneers, and capture the rich history of Birmingham’s anti-racism heritage. Our training will equip them with practical leadership and community research experience, and teach them new creative production and oral history interview skills.

With racism still ever present in our society we must all double our efforts to defeat it.

Birmingham is now the most diverse City in Britain and the youngest City in Europe. Today’s youth are the true custodians of Birmingham’s rich anti-racism heritage and future prosperity. They must be encouraged and supported to identify the intersecting racial disparities that impact their lives, and work together to uproot structural racism wherever they find it.

At BRIG, our duty is to ‘Pass the Baton’, and equip young people with the critical thinking skills, practical experience and confidence they need to build on the lessons of the past.

By working intergenerationally and across communities, BRIG hopes to secure a future for all that is free from racial hatred and discrimination. 

If you would like to know more about the project or are interested in becoming a history detective please contact kwesi@wearebrig.co.uk