Digging deeper with Norma Gregory

BY DAVID MYLES

When it comes to African history and ancestry in Britain, there is a misconception that the black presence in Britain only came into fruition after 1948. By boat, HMT Empire Windrush brought 1,027 people from the Caribbean region who arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex in Post War Britain. However, prior to this time frame, there was a black presence that has been dangerously obscured. Despite the ‘Ancient and Modern Britons’ series of books published by Scottish antiquarian, David Mac Ritchie and ‘Blackamoors’ by law lecturer and historian, Onyeka and popular publications such as ‘Staying Power: The History of Black Britain’ and more recent work by the likes of David Olusoga’s book ‘Black and British: A forgotten History’; the black presence within the dominant hegemony remains confined to Caribbean Post War Britain.

Norma Gregory, who is an historian with over twenty-seven years of experience, has been unravelling and documenting the vast black presence in Britain prior to 1948 and after. Gregory published the book ‘Jamaicans in Nottingham’ in 2015. The book showcases historical figures of Nottingham such as George Africanus (c 1763 – 1834), who was said to be a former West African enslaved person who went on to triumph as an entrepreneur. Other notable mentions include Professor Cecile Wright, who currently serves as an honorary lecturer and independent researcher at the University of Nottingham.

During her younger years Gregory worked as a model and briefly worked as a security guard at Harrods, before deciding to return to evening classes at college while at Harrods. She describes this period as “A key turning point in my life.’’   Reflecting on this time, Gregory said, “I just enjoyed learning. I realized how much I didn’t know about, so I really just delved into books, delved into life changing questions.’’

Completing a two-year journalist course at college with the combination of English and French, Gregory then embarked on a degree in English and theology and would later complete a Masters Degree in Education at the University College London’s Institute of Education (I.O.E). “Education has been a factor stream running through my life,’’ notes Gregory.

Gregory recalls not being taught any black history, or world history at school. “All I can remember about history at school was The Battle of Culloden. That’s your lot. Henry VIII, that’s it.” Not knowing who she was and feeling she lacked the knowledge of where she was coming from as a community, inspired her to become an historian. Fundamental questions were unanswered such as: “Why are we here? Why are we in the Caribbean?’’ The former secondary school teacher who also acquired a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate Education) in English adds “All kinds of basic questions were turning around for years and I just felt frustrated with not knowing enough about who I was, what I was doing here and my purpose.’’

Reading the biography of Christine Keeler had a profound effect on Gregory. She declared that this was the first book she read entirely in her early twenties. “Her misdemeanours, her life with the Profumo Affair. A bit racy, the book was, but it actually got me thinking about people’s life stories and the importance of recording that as well as hearing people’s perspectives on things.” Gregory continues, “I am sure it wasn’t as bad as what the media made out. As a woman, she was really persecuted and Mandy Rice (her friend), they got the worst of that media frenzy. I just looked at that; the powerlessness of women sometimes, but we have got to change that.” The trajectory towards women empowerment stemmed from this point, though Gregory reveals that she spent most of her twenties lacking in confidence.

Fast forward to 2019, Gregory believes things have changed since her early twenties, but she insists, “Not massively.” She cites the Me Too Movement as the ongoing struggle. “That big storm in the media and it is still ongoing; it just shows how vulnerable we are sometimes as women and how sometimes, we sell ourselves short in what we will accept. We often think men run the companies, men run the media stations.”

With a couple of directors, Gregory founded Nottingham News Centre, a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2013. Her motivation for establishing the Nottingham News Centre was to, “Transmit the information about heritage, preserving it and sharing knowledge through our past in order to learn about our present and future.”

The Nottingham News Centre CIC is currently hosting their latest heritage project; The Black Miners Museum Project, Digging Deep Exhibition 2019–2020. The exhibition explores the lives of former African Caribbean Miners across the UK. The exhibition (which was initially scheduled to run from September 30^th until January 5^th 2020) has been extended by two months until mid-March 2020 due to the excellent feedback they have received.

The Jamaican High Commissioner, the Deputy and the team from the High Commission in London will be visiting the Digging Deep Exhibition on Tuesday, December 10^th 2019; former miners will also be making an appearance. The Digging Deep Exhibition has its roots in the book ‘Jamaicans in Nottingham.

Gregory reveals, “When I did my ‘Jamaicans in Nottingham’ book, two of the chapters were on miners.” It was in circa 2012 and 2013 that Gregory was interviewing two miners for her then forthcoming book that “A historian said to me, you should look into this subject a bit more, about black miners and I started to look. I tried to find books. Nothing. I found a couple of books initially that had pictures that I spotted, but there was no writing about the fact that it was a black miner in the picture.” Incidentally another historian who specialises in coal mining told Gregory that there were no black miners. Not only were there black miners in Nottingham, but across the UK, namely the Northern regions.

The Digging Deep Project Exhibition will run until mid-March 2020 at the National Coal Mining Museum, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. For further details and more about this amazing woman visit https://www.blackcoalminers.com/,https://www.nottinghamnewscentre.com/ ,https://www.normagregory.com/, or call Tel 01924 848806. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund East Midlands & East and National Lottery Players