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BHM26: Professor Stephen Small – Black Liverpool

Thursday 1st October 2026

Professor Stephen Small returns to his home city to launch Liverpool’s Black History Month programme with a special discussion of his new book, Black Liverpool: ‘The Real Thing’.

 

The book explores West African, West Indian and Afro-American culture in Liverpool during the final decades of the 20th century.

During the 1970s, individuals and organisations across Liverpool 8 created new waves of cultural and artistic activity. The community challenged the silence surrounding Liverpool’s involvement in slavery and imperialism, as well as the damaging ways Africa and Africans were represented in schools and books.

L8 residents drew inspiration from Black communities in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States. Soul, funk, reggae, calypso and West African music became central to the area’s cultural life, while reggae sound systems and the Rastafari movement brought music, knowledge and faith into the community.

Drawing on interviews with more than 70 people and documents produced by community organisations, Professor Small’s book brings the memories and achievements of Liverpool 8 to life.

The presentation will celebrate the people, groups and institutions that helped shape the community’s cultural identity and made Liverpool 8’s African presence increasingly visible.

This is an important account of L8’s legacy and a powerful reminder that the history of Black Britain cannot be complete without the history of Black Liverpool.

About Professor Stephen Small

Born and raised in Liverpool 8, Professor Stephen Small gained knowledge and cultural insight through local organisations including the Blackie, South Liverpool Personnel and the Charles Wootton Centre.

He worked as a research assistant on reparations for the Rt Hon Bernie Grant MP. He was also a guest curator and advisory board member for the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum, which opened in 1994 and was later expanded to become the International Slavery Museum.

Professor Small holds a BA from the University of Kent, an MSc from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, where he taught for 30 years.

His research examines the African diaspora in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe, with a particular focus on the history and continuing legacies of slavery and imperialism in Liverpool.

Professor Small has written five books, co-authored or edited six more, and contributed to over 50 journal articles and book chapters.

This event is presented in partnership with the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre.

Event enquiries:
info@writingonthewall.org.uk

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