Stella Dadzie

Stella Dadzie (born in 1952, London) is a British educationalist, activist, writer and historian. She is best known for her involvement in the UK's Black Women's Movement, being a founding member of the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) in the 1970s and co-authoring The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain with Suzanne Scafe and Beverley Bryan.

Stella Dadzie
Born1952 (age 68–69)
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
OccupationEducationalist, activist, writer and historian
Notable work
The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain (co-author)

Early life and career

Dadzie was born in London to a white English mother[1] and Ghanaian father, who was the first trained pilot in Ghana and after joining the RAF and flew as a navigator in missions over Belgium during the Second World War.[1] Dadzie was in foster care in Wales for about 18 months, before being returned to her mother at the age of four.[1] Interviewed in 2020, Dadzie said: "We experienced poverty, homelessness and racism – my mother was ostracised as she had a black child and was a single parent. We moved around London a huge amount, as we were constantly getting thrown out by racist landlords. There was a lot of pain and suffering."[1] Dadzie did not meet her father and siblings until she was 12.[1]

In her twenties she attended protests in London and Greenham Common.[1]

She was a founder member of the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (1978–1982),[2] a group that challenged white domination of the feminist movement.[3] The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain was published in 1985 by Virago Press, having been commissioned by the publisher five years earlier in 1980.[4] The authors relied on interviews and their stories are woven together to address the experiences of Black women in Britain and the development of the UK's Black Women's Movement. The Heart of the Race won the 1985 Martin Luther King Award for Literature.[5] The book was reissued by Verso (with a new foreword by the Guardian columnist Lola Okolosie) in 2018.[6] In a final chapter added to the new edition, Dadzie states: "In these crucial times we need to remember who we are, remember what we've come from, remember what we've achieved, and never let that be forgotten, because it gives us power, strength and vision. This is what feeds the enthusiasm and the energies of the next generation."[7]

Dadzie has written widely on curriculum development and good practice with black adult learners, and the development of anti-racist strategies with schools, colleges and youth services.[5] Her poetry has been published in Tempa Tupu! Africana Women's Poetic Self-Portrait (Africa World Press, 2008), and in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby).[8]

Selected works
  • The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain, with Beverley Bryan, Suzanne Scafe; Virago, 1985, ISBN 9780860683612. New edition, Verso Books, 2018, ISBN 9781786635860
  • Essential Skills for Race Equality Trainers, with Andy Forbes, Gurnam Heire; National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 1992, ISBN 9781872941165
  • Older and Wiser: A Study of Educational Provision for Black and Ethnic Minority Elders, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 1993, ISBN 9781872941486
  • Blood, Sweat and Tears: A Report of the Bede Anti-Racist Detached Youth Work Project, National Youth Agency, 1997, ISBN 978-0861551712
  • Toolkit for Tackling Racism in Schools Trentham, 2000, ISBN 9781858561882
  • A Kick in the Belly: women, slavery and resistance, Verso, 2020, ISBN 9781788738842

References
  1. Sethi, Anita (21 November 2020). "Stella Dadzie: 'Women resisted slavery at every stage of the journey'". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  2. Ford, Tanisha (2015). "Gender Violence and Black Panther Style in 1970s London". Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul. UNC Press Books. p. 154. ISBN 9781469625164.
  3. Boles, Janet K.; Diane Long Hoeveler (2004). Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Scarecrow Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-8108-4946-4.
  4. Samantrai, Ranu (1998). "The Weapons of Culture: Collective Identity and Cultural Production". In Thomas, Brooke (ed.). Literature and the Nation: Volume 14 of Yearbook of research in English and American literature. Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN 9783823341680.
  5. "Stella Dadzie - The British Library". British Library. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  6. "The Heart of the Race" at Verso.
  7. Siddiqui, Sophia (6 September 2018). "Still The Heart of the Race, thirty years on". Institute of Race Relations. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  8. "The Cluster's Gender and Diversity Office presents the Intersectionality and Critical Diversity Literacy (ICDL) Lecture / Workshop Series". Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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