The RU-vid channel for The Mixed Museum, a digital museum preserving and sharing the history of racial mixing in Britain as part of our contribution towards widening knowledge around Britain's longstanding Black, Asian and diverse presence.
Great discussion! It's brilliant that SuAndi's work and history is available and being used in schools. Black British history - we need so much more of this.
A fantastic panel showcasing the amazing work that SuAndi has dedicated her life to. Well done to Chamion and the whole team for such an impactful resource and brilliant discussion here too.
This is an important contribution to the better understanding of dual heritage identity. I was honoured to be part of the panel. This video and the web site on SuAndi has much to teach us and help us better understand ourselves & each other in a society that is so quick to judge by skin colour.
Great to see SuAndi's work getting a deeper interpretation, and appreciation. I enjoyed it immensely. Lots of aspects of the various contributors struck a chord with me. James Mayer's dad looks a bit like Phil Lynott btw. 😎
These stories are beautiful but sad at the same time. I am mixed and i am so thankful my parents were able to marry. I am just do sad these children never were able to grow up with a mama and daddy like they should have ❤❤😢
It’s wonderful that you’ve done this. I’ve got such a soft spot for these brown babies - both our British and German counterparts as well. I’m a mixed-race half British half African American woman myself. I’m several generations younger than the brown babies but from the same demographic my father is an African American GI and my mother is (white presenting mixed-race) British.
My late mother was from England and emigrated to New Zealand after the WWII. She had some photos of a little "brown" girl whom we suspect was her daughter. All I know is that her maiden name was Elizabeth Marshall. She spent her whole life looking for the girl.
What I don't understand is some married women used to go these american bases for the dances and it's not rocket science as to how things would conclude end of the night with a few drinks down the ladies - that wasn't the case with Biill's mum but it happened a lot during WW2.
Thanks Sasha, your explanation was clear, easy to follow. Had I been part of the webinar, my question would be why there is low participation in DNA testing in the African States. Is there an active program to encourage this or is DNA testing a privilege of Western societies? Or another explanation is there is no interest, as the many ethnic groups in Africa, see no need.
Hi Deborah, Sasha here; thank you so much for your comments. Positively, many African scientists have made significant efforts to carry out genetic testing to address these big gaps. Generally, low participation can be a mixture of all the things you mentioned. Genetics tends to happen in countries with the money and resources to do it, and researchers outside of Africa will often test the populations most accessible to them. Research hasn't always considered how important it was to have a good representation of everyone in the data, but that has changed, and many scientists and institutions around the world now work to change that by collaborating with African and indigenous researchers in Africa and around the world. Some communities may also rightly be hesitant and mistrust genetics because of its past. Generally, everyone tends to want to participate in research that tells them more about their family, health and their children's health, but providing services people can trust and access is not the same for everyone. I hope that helps.
@@sacafrique1592 Thank you, Sasha, It could be fascinating to prove that mankind really does originate from Africa. As you know the Indigenous Australian populations claim to be the 'oldest surviving culture, which personally I refute, but the claim serves both a social & political purpose. Best wishes, Deborah
It was an absolute delight to work with you on this, and I'm so pleased with the result. Your point that so many in those Brighton audiences saw a Black man for the first time in this context is so important. The complete 1930 recording is here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V2tHUYb_fdI.html&t
My grandfather stationed in Germany back then, and my mom was told by him before he passed there’s possibilities he fathered children… Racism sucked so bad smh
Meet The Mixed Museum's very first Artist in Residence: folk musician Saskia Tomkins. Thanks to Folk Alliance International (FAI) and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Saskia will be taking up a digital residency with us over the next year. Saskia is the daughter of Susan, one of the approximately 2000 children who were born to Black GIs and white British women during WW2 and whose story features in our award-winning ‘Brown Babies’ exhibition. To learn more about Saskia and our Artist in Residence partnerships, visit: www.mixedmuseum.org.uk/AIR For more about Saskia, visit: saskiatomkins.com/ For more about Folk Alliance International, visit: folk.org/ Learn more about the history behind Saskia's music at our Brown Babies exhibition: www.mixedmuseum.org.uk/brown-babies
My dad is now 76 and has never known his father, not even a picture of him. his father came over during the war and had a relationship with our nan, he went back to America and never came back. My dad had it really hard growing up in a small town and him being the only brown kid. He says it’s never bothered him about not having or knowing who his dad was, but we know it’s always hurt him. God I wish this dna stuff was around about 20 years ago, it’s too late now. . Our dad is past it now and just won’t entertain the idea
This book looks great I just discovered your channel and I have been watching lots of your videos they are really informative and interesting I will definitely check out your museum Keep up the amazing work
@@Isntittru23 You can also read for free online thanks to Project Gutenberg Canada: gutenberg.ca/ebooks/shuten-chequerboard/shuten-chequerboard-00-h.html
The Mixed Museum's book club is reading The Chequer Board, a rare example of 1940s' fiction depicting interracial relationships in Britain. Published in 1947 and written by 'A Town Called Alice' author Nevil Shute, a key narrative of 'The Chequer Board' focuses on the relationship of David Lesurier, a Black GI stationed in Trenarth, Cornwall, with local girl Grace Trefusis. The novel also highlights the presence of mixed race children in rural wartime Britain. Dubbed 'Brown Babies' by the African-American press, these were the children born as a result of the many relationships between Black GIs and local white British women. Find out more about the history of Black GIs and the 'Brown Babies' of WW2 Britain in our award-winning digital exhibition: www.mixedmuseum.org.uk/brown-babies And if you are reading 'The Chequer Board' along with us, we'd love to know your thoughts on the novel in the comments below.
To read more about Bill's emotional journey to find his father, and to learn what happened after the show, read our follow up interview with Bill at The Mixed Museum: mixedmuseum.org.uk/news/bills-texas-dream/ While Bill’s story does not feature in our digital exhibition on the 'Brown Babies of WW2' - as the African American press at the time dubbed them - he shares a similar life history with many other children born to white British women who had relationships with Black GIs who were stationed across Britain during the Second World War. Bill’s father Wilbert, an African American GI, met Bill’s mother Betty when he was stationed in the UK during World War Two, and Bill was born in 1944. After the war, Wilbert returned to the US - and neither Bill nor his mother had any contact with him or his wider family again. During this time, interracial marriages were illegal in the majority of US states. The only information Bill ever had about Wilbert - who was stationed at Leicestershire airbase - was the name written on his birth certificate. Yet incredibly, the team from the BBC series 'DNA Family Secrets', managed to find out what happened to his father, along with other revelatory information.
Ann Evans grew up in Holnicote House, a National Trust property requisitioned by Somerset County Council during WW2 to house the children born to Black GIs and white British women. In this video, Ann tells the story of how she came to be placed at Holnicote House and the secret her mother carried. To learn more of her history and those of other ‘Brown Babies’ of WW2, visit www.mixedmuseum.org.uk/brown-babies/
Isabel Adonis is an artist and writer based in North Wales. In her new book, 'And', she explores the life of her mother Catherine Hughes, a white Welsh woman, who met and married her father Denis Williams, a Black Guyanese artist, in the 1940s. Listen to Isabel read an extract from 'And', a memoir reflecting on the nature of identity, culture and desire as shaped by her childhood impressions of her parents. Want to know more? Visit The Mixed Museum, where we talk to Isabel about her life and work as part of our new interview series with those also exploring mixed race histories in their work. mixedmuseum.org.uk/interviews... Many thanks to@headlinerapp for our subtitles.
All of the stories I’ve heard have been heartwrenching. A lot of their lives have been marred with no being accepted by their community, on top of the void of wanting to know about their absent fathers, One woman’s teacher used to personally verbally tease and abuse her more the school kids. SMH.
I am going through this now...meeting family in the UK...they reached out to me because my DNA matched theirs...we still need help on pinpointing who their dad father was....I have an idea but we are still not sure.
