gal-dem's Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and Leah Cowan on the forgotten women of the Windrush generation
This article has been published to coincide with an episode of Mashable's new podcast, History Becomes Her. Listen here.
gal-dem is a UK publication written by women and non-binary people of colour that is actively addressing the way people of colour are portrayed in the media.
Founded by Liv Little in 2015, gal-dem’s mission statement is clear: To empower and support young women and non-binary people of colour, to disrupt racist stereotypes, and shine a light on stories and experiences that matter. Two women playing a vital role in doing that are gal-dem journalists Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and Leah Cowan.
You May Also Like
Brinkhurst-Cuff is head of editorial at gal-dem, and author of Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children. Cowan is gal-dem's politics editor, and she also works at Imkaan, a black feminist organisation dedicated to addressing violence against black and minoritised women and girls.
In this episode of History Becomes Her, Cowan and Brinkhurst-Cuff discuss their book "I Will Not be Erased": Our Stories about Growing Up as People of Colour and their personal experiences of erasure.
You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Each episode of History Becomes Her begins with the same question: Is there a woman from the past or present who's had a profound impact on your life? For Cowan, the answer to that question is: American political activist Angela Davis. Brinkhurst-Cuff named Myrna Simpson, mother of Joy Gardner who died in a botched deportation in 1993, as her source of inspiration.
In this episode, Cowan and Brinkhurst-Cuff explore the forgotten women of the Windrush generation and their vital role in shaping the NHS. The term Windrush refers to the ship MV Empire Windrush, which arrived in Essex in June 1948, bringing people from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands. People arriving in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971 are referred to as the Windrush generation.
Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, wrote that "black women weren’t just part of the history of the Black Power movement, they led it in Britain.” But in some fictionalised narratives of the movement, women's roles have been decentred and erased.
The episode also delves into women's role in Britain's Black Power movement, and one activist who has been overlooked: Olive Morris. Morris was a member of the British Black Panthers, and she founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group. She died at age 27 from cancer in 1979. But in her short life, she had a huge impact on community activism in Britain.
Subscribe to History Becomes Her on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Topics Activism Social Good
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
