Brixton Black Women’s Group

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The Brixton Black Women’s Group was started by Olive Morris and other women who had been active in the Black Panther Movement. The Group was formed to address the specific issues faced by Black women, and to offer advice and support to those in difficulties. It originally operated from Olive and Liz’s squat at 65 Railton Road. With the years, the BWG developed and transformed into the Black Women Centre, relocating its premises to Stockwell Green.

I have found references for two academic papers about the BWG, but they are not publicly available on the Internet. If anyone can access hard copies, it’d be of great help in tracking down the history of the Group.

Brixton Black Women’s Group
Feminist Review, No. 17, Many Voices, One Chant: Black Feminist Perspectives (Autumn, 1984), pp. 84-89

Brixton Black Women’s Centre: Organizing on Child Sexual Abuse
Marlene T. Bogle
Feminist Review, No. 28, Family Secrets: Child Sexual Abuse (Spring, 1988), pp. 132-135

At The Women’s Library, there are also some material relating to Olive Morris and the Black Women’s Group, Brixton, within an archive box containing the papers of Janet E Hadley. Janet E Hadley was born in 1949, in her 20s she was very much involved in the radical politics of the 1960s and 1970s, predominantly the women’s liberation movement as well as socialist revolutionary politics. These materials are not cataloged and as such are not publicly accessible.

The BWG was one of the organisations that was closest to Olive’s heart, amongst the many she founded and worked for. On the commemorative plaque at Olive Morris House, the BWG is the only organisation mentioned. It would be wonderful to get more information, comments and memories from the women that shared those times with her.