Leila Hassan
Leila Hassan | |
---|---|
Born | Leila Ramadhan Hassan 13 June 1948 British protectorate of Zanzibar (now in Tanzania) |
Other names | Leila Howe, Leila Hassan Howe |
Citizenship | British |
Occupation | Editor and activist |
Known for | Editor of Race Today |
Spouse(s) | Darcus Howe |
Leila Hassan Howe (born 13 June 1948) is a British editor and activist, who was a founding member of the Race Today Collective. She worked for the Institute of Race Relations and became editor of the Race Today journal in 1986. Hassan was also a member of the Black Unity and Freedom Party. She is co-editor of a collection of writings from Race Today published in 2019.
Career
Hassan was a member of the Race Today Collective from its beginning,[1] and eventually became editor of its journal, Race Today, in 1986.[2][3] She was deputy editor of the journal from 1973, with Darcus Howe as editor.[4] She was a frequent writer for the journal, examining topics ranging from the Black Power movement in the USA to the lives of black women in the UK.[5]
During the 1980s she worked alongside Olive Morris running Race Today's "Basement Sessions" at Railton Road, where art, culture and politics were discussed.[2][6][7] The Race Today Collective was led and organised by a number of women, including Hassan, whose influence on its direction needs further recognition (according to Robin Bunce and Paul Field, biographers of her husband).[8] Women involved in the organisation included Alethea Jones-Lecointe, Barbara Beese and Mala Dhondy.[9] In 1984 Hassan organised for the wives of striking coal miners to come to London to tell their stories to the journal.[4] Hassan also campaigned for Arts Council England to recognise the Notting Hill Carnival as an art form.[10] Following the New Cross Fire in January 1981, in which 13 young Black people died, Hassan was co-organiser of the 20,000-person Black People's Day of Action march[11] through London that took place on 2 March and is now described as "a turning point in black British identity".[12]
Hassan became involved in the Black Power movement in the late 1960s.[2] She worked for the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) from 1970,[5] as Information Officer.[13] During her time there she helped to overthrow the IRR's paternalistic organisation, moving it from a conservative to a more radical political stance.[4] This change in the IRR came about through a membership vote, in which Hassan had been instrumental in recruiting more members who sympathised with the proposed new direction of the organisation.[14] She was a member of the Black Unity and Freedom Party before she became involved in the collective.[13]
A 2013 exhibition about British Black Power Movements in Britain at the Photofusion Gallery in Brixton featured an interview with Hassan Howe.[15] Alongside other former Panthers, she acted as a script advisor for John Ridley's 2017 television series Guerrilla, which examines the movement.[16][17]
In 2019, Hassan Howe co-edited Here to Stay, Here to Fight, a collection of writings from Race Today, published by Pluto Press, which aimed to introduce new audiences to Britain's black radical politics.[18][12]
Personal life
Leila Ramadhan Hassan was born on 13 June 1948 in Zanzibar;[19] her family were Muslim and she grew up as a devout member of the faith.[2][20][21]
Hassan was married to the civil rights activist Darcus Howe, who was her predecessor as editor of Race Today.[22][23]
Selected works
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Use dmy dates from July 2020
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- British anti-racism activists
- Black British women writers
- 20th-century British women writers
- 21st-century British women writers
- Black British activists
- Black British women academics
- British women editors
- Living people
- 1948 births