Launch of the Dorothy Kuya Archive Project

Writing on the Wallis a dynamic, Liverpool-based community organisation that coordinates projects and events that celebrate writing in all its forms. We work with a broad and inclusive definition of writing that embraces literature, creative writing, journalism and non-fiction, poetry, songwriting, and storytelling. Writing on the Wall works with local, national and international writers whose work provokes controversy and debate. We work with all of Liverpool’s communities to promote and celebrate individual and collective creativity.

Writing on the Wall

Join Writing on the Wall and National Museums in launching the personal archive and library of activist and educator, Dorothy Kuya.

Archives Centre Maritime Museum

Join Writing on the Wall and National Museums Liverpool for the launch of a major Creative Heritage Project to explore and catalogue the personal archive and library of activist and educator, Dorothy Kuya. Dorothy’s family have loaned her personal archive and library to the National Museums Liverpool, which, will be made available to the public. Selections from Dorothy’s archive will be available to view, and members of the public are invited to explore her work and sign up to this Creative Heritage. Working with historians, writers and artists the project offers skills development in archiving and heritage, as well as the opportunity to respond through creatively, raising national awareness of this important archive and Dorothy Kuya’s life, work and activism. Dorothy Kuya was a tireless campaigner against discrimination and racism. Born and brought up in Liverpool, she became the first Community Relations Officer on Merseyside in the 1960s, later moving to London as Head Race Equality Adviser for Haringey Council. On returning to Liverpool, Dorothy was a key figure in the community, involved in the setting up of the International Slavery Museum and playing a leading part in the Granby Residents Association. As a young Communist Party of Great Britain activist, Dorothy greeted acclaimed singer and activist Paul Robeson when he visited Liverpool in 1949. She moved to London to become a teacher, and continued her activism, founding a new organisation, Teachers Against Racism. Upon returning to Liverpool in the 1990s, planning to retire, she instead found herself campaigning once again to halt the demolition of housing in the L8 area. This laid the foundation for the campaign around the Granby Four Streets today. Two of Dorothy’s proudest and most enduring legacies are the founding of the International Slavery Gallery, opened by poet and activist Maya Angelou in 1994 (renamed the International Slavery Museum in 2007), and her role in founding the International Slavery Remembrance Day, which is held annually on 23rd August. The annual lecture was renamed in her honour in 2014, becoming The Dorothy Kuya Slavery Remembrance Lecture. In August 2022, this was delivered by writer and poet, Bonnie Greer. Saturday 22nd October 2022 Archives Centre Maritime Museum Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Waterfront Liverpool L3 4AQDrop In 1pm-4pm Introductory Talks: 1:30pm, 3pm

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