Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a Birmingham-based reggae band. The band was formed in around 1975 whilst its members were still at school when they would meet on a Sunday to play cover versions of their favourite songs ...
Les Ballets Nègres
'Les Ballets Nègres'- the first black dance company in Europe- was formed in London in 1946. It was founded by Jamaicans Richey Riley and Berto Pasuka who both came to Britain to pursue careers in dance. ...
Female American Serenaders
This advertisement for the Female American Serenaders from 1847 represents a form of performance that was popular in Victorian England during the nineteenth century- blackface minstrelsy.
The performance ...
Bull's Run Hero
Report from the Birmingham Journal describing the court appearance and conviction of John Thompson ‘a man of colour’ for drunk and disorderly conduct, 18 June 1864. Two important battles of the American ...
The Cave
A number of black arts centres have been founded in Britain which have provided an important space for the development and performance of black artists. Their development, primarily in the 1980s, reflected ...
Chung Ling Soo- magician and masquerader
Chung Ling Soo- magician and masquerader
Chung Ling Soo was the stage name of William Ellsworth Robinson, a stage magician from America. Born in 1861, Robinson modelled his act on Chinese magician ...
Black Performance on Sale
The image of the black minstrel was popular in Victorian England and was used to advertise products. This advertisement for 'Austin's Starch Glaze' appeared in a programme for the Prince of Wales Theatre ...
African Roscius
This is a playbill for a production of Othello, performed at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham in 1846. The production starred renowned black actor Ira Aldridge, who was known as 'African Roscius.'
Aldridge ...
Gospel Festival
This is a flyer for an American gospel festival which took place at Birmingham Town Hall on 1st February 1965. It was one show from a European tour of American black gospel music and included 'The Five ...
Paul Robeson
In 1949 Birmingham was host to two performances by American actor, singer and activist, Paul Robeson. Both concerts took place at Birmingham Town Hall and one was organised in conjunction with the Birmingham ...
Katherine Dunham
Born in Illinois in 1909, Katherine Dunham was a pioneer in the field of black dance in the United States and across the globe.
This poster refers to her tour of Europe during which she visited Birmingham ...
Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Jubilee Singers, The Ex-Slave Singers of Fisk University, At Birmingham Town Hall,February 26th and March 3rd, 1874.
Founded in Nashville in 1866, Fisk University was one of a number of educational ...
The Nautch Girl
Britain's encounters during the period of colonial expansion led to a proliferation of ideas about, and representations of, 'the East.' The attitudes of the colonial administration towards its 'subjects' ...
The Indian Mutiny
This advertisement for 'The Indian Mutiny'- a comedy by George Daventry- was performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Birmingham in April 1894. The title refers to the Indian rebellion of 1857 or first ...
Tamasha Theatre Company
Formed in 1989 by Sudha Bhuchar and Kristine Landon-Smith, Tamasha Theatre Company was designed to reflect through theatre 'the Asian experience.' Using classic texts and work by contemporary writers, ...
Poetic performance- Benjamin Zephaniah
Britain's most celebrated oral/dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah was born in Birmingham and grew up in Handsworth during the 1970s. Zephaniah popularised the poetic form of dub poetry which originates from ...
Politics and performance
Performance played an important role in consolidating a sense of community and identity for migrants. Many cultural performances were organised by the Indian Workers Association, including those for Jagmohan ...
Indian Cinema
Indian cinema has played an important role in the cultural life of the diaspora in Britain. Popular 'Bollywood' films, with their vibrant colours, music and melodrama provided entertainment and escapism ...