Huntley Archives Timeline

The establishment of Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications, to promote radical Black writing. Bogle-L’Ouverture went on to publish texts by Walter Rodney, Bernard Coard, Lemn Sissay and Valerie Bloom.

Supporting The Supplementary School Movement, created to supplement the shortcomings of an education system that was failing Black children.

Founding member of the Caribbean Education and Community
Workers Association (CECWA), the first specialist Black education group to have been established in the UK.

Involvement with the Anti-Banding protest movement organised by the North London West Indian Association (NLWIA) that played an important part in challenging Haringey Council’s plans to assess all pupils in its schools using the now discredited IQ tests and to teach children in “bands” according to their performance.

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The Huntley’s opened their Bogle-L’Ouverture Bookshop in West Ealing, London, which quickly became a place of importance for Britain’s Black community.

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The Black Parents Movement (BPM) formed following the arrest and assault by Haringey police of a Black schoolboy named Cliff McDaniel outside his school. This organisation built up alliances with similar organisations nationally and internationally going on to participate in campaigns involving political crises in South Africa, Grenada and Guyana.

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The bookshop suffers from racist attacks. However, persistent campaigning lead to the police having to take action to protect this and other similar bookshops.

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The bookshop is renamed ‘Walter Rodney Bookshop’ after his assassination.

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Organisers of the Black People’s Day of Action March that attracted 20,000 black Britons from all over the country and was the largest protest march of black people.

First International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books took place, which ran annually until 1995 in partnership with New Beacon Books.

The bookshop was forced to close due to insurmountable competition from large multinational conglomerates. However, the efforts of "Friends of Bogle" a loyal group of supporters, contributed to the Huntleys' ability to resume publishing as Bogle-L'Ouverture Press, once again operating from their own home.

The Huntleys’ publish Cry a Whisper by Lucy Safo, winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book.

The Huntley's deposited their archives at the London Metropolitan Archives
(LMA) and begin work to arrange the annual ‘Huntley’ conferences at the LMA
the first of which is held the following year.

The first Huntley Symposium takes place and Friends of the Huntley Archives is granted charity status. Sadly Jessica passed away in October, and Eric continues to work with the Conference planning group while also accepting speaking invitations and pursuing his personal writing.

The art and archives exhibition and public programme project, No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 was launched in conjunction with partners, City of London’s Guildhall Art Gallery and London Metropolitan Archives and Heritage Lottery Fund.