Afro Solo UK is the result of 2 years research of the African diaspora of Greater Manchester. Each life story is an act of remembrance, a celebration and in some cases a reconciliation. They provide a legacy and are a declaration that this community will never again be overlooked.
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Jide James Olajide Johnson
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Paul Chartey Marbell
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Razach Ishola Finni
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Adam Mohammed Ali
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Alfred Lawrence
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Soloman Olayinka Labinjoh
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John Endomini Tottoh
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Hawton Samuel Erizia
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Ekow Francis Quainoo
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Olatunde Joseph Moses
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Solomon Quarcoopome I
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Sunday Nwagbara
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Simon Akintola Fagbore
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Larty Jacob Ladipo Lawson
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Abdul Tella
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Dr Godwin Aunko Edenma Ikomi
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Samuel Olabode Olorunshola
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Samuel Diden Yalaju Amaye
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Samuel Okante
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Ousman Fassah Saidy
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Mba Kalu Agbai
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Godfrey Toro Akingbad Akinbode
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Mussa Mohammed Conteh
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John Thomas Tottoh
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Doreen and Philomena Moses
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Erinma Bell
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June Theresa Prouse
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Jonathan Kwaku Mayisi
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Thomas Jabous Andi
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Sammy George
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Dazzy Atta
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Prince Ardaye Ankrah
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Shecku Brown Seisay
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Euisbius Abyomi Pereira
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Secka
Every picture tells a story. View the photographic exhibition below.
The launch
Afro Solo UK, a 2 year research project into the African diaspora of Greater Manchester from 1925 - 1960. Each life story is an act of remembrance, a celebration and in some cases a reconciliation.
The book
Review by Professor Graham MortAfro Solo UK should be essential reading for anyone interested in the African Diaspora or post-war migration to the UK.
Many stories narrate the frustration of fractured family histories, but there is also huge pride, nostalgia, curiosity and wonderment.
Despite uneasy memories of prejudice and suspicion, there is a prevailing sense of gratitude to those early pioneers; a realisation that what connects us is love, the tenderness and solidarity of human concern.
It is also about hidden lives, sometimes painful, sometimes heart-breaking, always important. The oral histories of relationships across the divides of race and celebrates the ways in which women sustain and support their families over time.
Like all hidden histories, these stories represent living knowledge that can inform future generations and can help us think differently about the experiences of children from interracial relationships.
Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research, Lancaster University, UK
Background on the project
A total of 78 people were initially approached. Resulting in 39 published life story chapters.
They gave their family histories, photographs, their own life stories to help create this important and unique archive.
A cultural and community history based around the lives of Africans in Greater Manchester from the 1920s to the 1960s...
Afro Solo UK might never have happened had Leslie Johnson not donated a collection of photographs to AIURR. The collection included family snaps, studio portraits and street photographs of the family and friends of Leslie’s parents, Jide and Renee Johnson. What made them special was that they were a visual record of Africans in Manchester in the 1940s. A community that had fallen beneath public awareness as increasingly the “Windrush” has become the timeline for Black communities in the UK.
AIURRRC set the photographs as an exhibition showing it in local libraries and sharing it with African community groups. The photos generated huge interest, stirring up memories and re-capturing the names of numerous people featured.
Leslie was delighted with this response: “It is great to know that some of my old family photos created so much interest, and memories for others to enjoy. I am sure my parents are looking down on me amazed that their pictures, from the bottom drawer of the sideboard could ever have been of interest to anybody else! It feels right to give these memories back, so that the Now and Future may understand.”
Leslie’s photographs form the foundations of the Afro Solo UK research of images and memories of the oft-forgotten African community in Manchester.
ASUK is dedicated to West African Jide (Jimmy) and his Mancunian wife Renee who married in 1947 and raised their family in Hulme, Moss Side and Wythenshawe before they both passed away in 1981
Jackie Ould, AIURR.
Afro Solo UK Steering Group Dr Hakim Adi, BA Hons., PhD Dinesh Allirajah, Chair of Trustees NBAA Burjor Avari MMU Honorary Research Fellow Jackie Ould, AIURRRC Paul Okojie MMU, Senior Lecturer in Law Rebecca Asgill, Community Activist
Send us feedback
Do you have any feedback about the book, the launch, or the project as a whole? Please let us know with the following form.