January 11, 2020

Grant Winner: Marjorie Morgan, Oral History In North Of England

By Benjamin Yeoh

I’ve awarded a grant to Marjorie Morgan based on her work documenting unheard voices. Recent work has included the Wind Rush generation and this grant will enable further documentation of communities around Liverpool.

A blog about the project below, more information on grants here.

#WeTalk Podcast Project by Marjorie H Morgan

This #WeTalk Liverpool Podcast Project is a continuation of oral history work and recording stories that I have been doing for decades. 

I have been writing and recording personal stories from marginalised voices - especially in the Black community -  for a many years. I was a director and oral history researcher for the Northamptonshire Black History Association (NBHA) before I moved to Liverpool where I have continued this work as an individual community archivist since my relocation in 2014. During my time with the NBHA we arranged interviews and researched histories of the target group, BAME people of Northamptonshire, and recorded and deposited the interviews in the local record office, as well as producing an award winning book: Sharing The Past.

This ThenDoBetter Grant will enable me to dedicate time to the initial research, interviews, the editing and the purchase of additional storage for the video and audio recordings for the continuation of this project in the Liverpool 8 area. Since confirmation of this gift I have now secured a location for the regular recording sessions, and I will be confirming the schedule of the next interviewees by the end of January 2020. 

I have chosen to focus on the people of the Liverpool 8 area with the aim of forging greater connections with the marginalised communities in Liverpool, specifically the Black and Ethnic Minority communities in the Toxteth and Dingle areas of the city: people who live outside of these area will not be excluded if they express an interest in contributing to the archives of these community regions.

The podcast format is designed to give people the time and space to talk about subjects that interest and matter to them. This can be personal, social, or political. The contributor can decide who and what they talk about - e.g. A Letter to … (this can even be a letter that was never sent but one the contributor wishes they could share with their earlier selves or another person).

Once recorded and edited, each individual podcast will be made available online, and a community screening will also be arranged where an edited version of all the stories can be shared, and later accessed as required. It is my vision that these podcasts will be both enlightening and informative, and that listeners will thereby build valuable connections in their communities.

The screening of this phase of #WeTalk Liverpool Podcast Project will either take place at the John Archer Hall at 68 Upper Hill Street, Liverpool, L8 1YR or at Toxteth TV, 37-45 Windsor Street, Liverpool, L8 1XE as these venues are in the centre of the communities identified.

The digital records will also be deposited at the Liverpool Central Library in the Record Office with Helena Smart, Archivist, for use throughout the Liverpool City Region Library services, including Toxteth Library, Windsor Street, Liverpool, L8 1XF.In 2018 I worked with the elders from the Steve Biko Housing Association to record some of their stories relating to their individual Windrush histories. See more here: https://youtu.be/UfdDyqMsa9o

In 2019 I interviewed a then 103 year old, British man (Jamaican-born) who served in several theatres of war for the British armed forces and has lived the majority of his life in Liverpool, Merseyside : https://youtu.be/OnePR4bj_Ak

You can see this below:

To get involved with #WeTalk Liverpool Podcast Project, or to recommend someone for me to talk with, please contact via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjoriemorgan/

Or via the contact form here, Ben will send on details.

For more details on my work: www.marjoriemorgan.com

Other links: 

http://www.northants-black-history.org.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharing-Past-Northamptonshire-Black-History/dp/0955713919

https://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/archives-family-history

https://www.stevebikoha.org