Education - The Black British Experience (Then & Now)

Join us for “Education: The Black British Experience (Then and Now)”, an event that will delve into the significant historical and contemporary challenges faced by Black British students in the education system. This event will explore the practice of wrongly labelling black children as ‘educationally subnormal’ in the 1960s and 1970s. It will reflect on the emergence of supplementary schools as a vital response to these challenges and the key role they played in providing culturally relevant education and support. Our speakers will bring us up to date on ongoing disparities and will aim to foster a constructive dialogue around strategies for future success, emphasising the importance of community and parental involvement, advocacy and innovative educational practices.

We hope this vital conversation will contribute to conversations around the empowerment of future generations and the desire for an educational system that brings out the best in all students.

Speakers

• Professor Gus John (co-founder of CEN) 
• Maisie Barrett (ESN school survivor, author, and activist)
• Dr Nkasi Stoll (Researcher, mental health, and well-being of Black students in Universities)
• Dionne Campbell-Mark (Advocacy Manger and Parent Co-ordinator, CEN)

Professor Gus John is a writer, education campaigner, community activist and  life-long Pan-Africanist, a learning facilitator, and management consultant.  He co-founded the first Black Supplementary School in Oxford (Cowley and Blackbird Leys) in 1966 and Birmingham (Handsworth) in 1968.   He was Britain’s first Black Director of Education and Leisure Services.  John chaired the Black Parents Movement (Manchester) and co-founded with Gerry German, the Communities Empowerment Network (CEN).  He is author of several books including The Crisis Facing Black Children in the British School System (2003), Taking A Stand: On Education, Race, Social Action and Civil Unrest, 1980-2005 (2006) and more recently Don’t Salvage the Empire Windrush (2023).

Maisie Barrett is a passionate author, advocate, and community leader dedicated to justice, equality, and the power of storytelling. Featured in Steve McQueen’s documentary “Subnormal: A British Scandal,” She overcame systemic racism in the British education system. Her experiences inspired her to write Subnormal: How I was failed by the British Education System and Colonial Family (2023) and A Windrush Story: What If? (2025), a fantasy scenario exploring how her life might have been different if she had received proper educational support. Despite early setbacks, Barrett earned four university degrees. She is also a prominent figure in the campaign to secure acknowledgment, apologies, and compensation from the government for the systemic racial injustices faced by the children of her generation.  Barrett’s book will be available for purchase and signature on the day of the event.

Dr Nkasi Stoll is a qualitative researcher who specialises in understanding and tackling race, health and education inequalities. She completed her PhD in Psychology at King's College London, which focused on exploring the racialised experiences and institutional factors that impact Black undergraduate and postgraduate students' mental health and wellbeing. She has experience working on research studies and within clinical services to improve the lives of children, young people and their families who present with mental health struggles.  She is also the co-founder of Black People Talk, a not-for-profit, that runs peer wellbeing support programmes for Black university students.

Dionne Campbell-Mark is an Advocacy Manager and Parent Co-ordinator for the Community Empowerment Network (CEN).  Campbell-Mark worked for over twenty-years in the the civil service Department for Communities and Local Government, where she gained experience in project management and policy.  She took redundancy in order to support her child’s education, complete a diploma in counselling and train as a teaching assistant.  Her concern with education was taken a step further when she became Chair of the George Mitchell School’s Local Governing Board.  Her experience in the education sector has enabled her to develop strategies for success.

This event will be chaired by Dr Juanita Cox. Cox is Black British History Community Engagement Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and co-curator of the Senate House Library exhibition In the Grip of Change: The Caribbean and its British Diaspora.  She was Research Fellow on the three-year AHRC funded ‘The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and Commonwealth Context’ project and the earlier scoping project, ‘Nationality, Identity and Belonging: An Oral History of the Windrush Generation and their Relationship to the British State, 1948-2018’. Her publications include When Home is a Hostile Environment: Voices of the Windrush Generation and their Descendants (2024). She also has a passion for Caribbean literature and is currently the leading authority on the life and work of Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965) and editor of the compendium, Creole Chips and Other Writing (2018). She is a trustee on the board of the Oral History Society, co-founder of the ground-breaking series, Guyana SPEAKS and on the editorial board of Black Histories: Dialogues.