Leila Hassan

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.

Leila Hassan
Born
Leila Ramadhan Hassan

(1948-06-13) 13 June 1948
British protectorate of Zanzibar
(now in Tanzania)
CitizenshipBritish
OccupationEditor and activist
Known forEditor of Race Today
Spouse(s)Darcus Howe

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
  • Field, Paul; Robin Bunce; Leila Hassan; Margaret Peacock, eds. (20 September 2019). Here to Stay, Here to Fight: A Race Today Anthology. Pluto Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvpbnn5q. ISBN 978-1-78680-483-9.
  • Dhondy, Farrukh; Barbara Beese; Leila Hassan (1982). The black explosion in British schools. London: Race Today. ISBN 0-9503498-6-0. OCLC 12696281.

References
  1. Jones, Feminista, 1979– (2019). Reclaiming our space : how Black feminists are changing the world from the tweets to the streets. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-8070-5537-3. OCLC 1035440566.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "5 British Black Panther women whose names you should know". gal-dem. 21 April 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. "Social activist and broadcaster who stood up for black Britain". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. "Here to Stay, Here to Fight: On the history, and legacy, of 'Race Today' | Ceasefire Magazine". ceasefiremagazine.co.uk. 31 October 2019. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. "Leila Hassan". Pluto Press. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  6. "Stories from Railton Road". Brixton Advice Centre. 5 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  7. W, Perri (9 March 2019). "A tribute to Olive Morris". Brits + Pieces. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  8. Austin, David (2015). "Review of Darcus Howe: A Political Biography". Labour / Le Travail. 76: 278–280. ISSN 0700-3862. JSTOR 44123114. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  9. The Race Today Review. RT Publications. 1987. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  10. "Revolutionary Black British Women – London Architecture Diary". city Architecture Diary. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  11. White, Nadine (2 March 2020). "Black People's Day Of Action: Inside The 1981 New Cross Fire March That Brought Britain To A Standstill". Huff Post. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  12. Andrews, Kehinde (8 October 2020). "Leila Hassan Howe: 'My life was made hell. You'd just hear a tirade against immigrants'". The Guardian.
  13. Labour and the left in the 1980s. Davis, Jonathan Shaw,, McWilliam, Rohan. Manchester. 11 December 2017. ISBN 978-1-5261-0645-2. OCLC 1021146767.CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. Bunce, R. E. R. (Robin E. R.). Darcus Howe : a political biography. Field, Paul, 1971–. London. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4742-1845-0. OCLC 897447030. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  15. Chan, Bart (11 October 2013). "Exhibition to tell story of British Black Panthers". The Voice Online. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  16. "London lends its authenticity to Guerrilla – the capital's overlooked tale of the black panthers". FilmFixer. 11 April 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  17. Hughes, Sarah (9 April 2017). "The story of the British Black Panthers through race, politics, love and power". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  18. "Book Review: Here to Stay, Here to Fight: A 'Race Today' Anthology edited by Paul Field, Robin Bunce, Leila Hassan and Margaret Peacock". LSE Review of Books. 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  19. "Leila Hassan". IMDb. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  20. "Darcus Howe papers, 1965–2008". www.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  21. Howe, Darcus (1 August 2005). "Darcus Howe finds frenzy at the mosque". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  22. "Civil rights activist Darcus Howe dies". BBC News. 2 April 2017. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  23. Bunce, Robin; Field, Paul (3 April 2017). "Darcus Howe obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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