Project History

The Northamptonshire Black History Project was a three year, community-led initiative. It was primarily funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and ran from July 2002.

The aim of the project was to record and promote the histories and stories of Northamptonshire’s Black communities and individuals over at least the past 500 years. It built upon work carried out in the county over the last 20 years. To this end, the project involved three main activities: historical research, community archiving and oral history interviewing. Follow the links to find out more

The lead agency for the project was Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council and a range of Black-led community groups and individuals who made up our management committee. The work has been undertaken by a large team of paid staff, sessional workers and volunteers.

To ensure that the work of the project continued, and with resounding support from the local communities, it evolved into the Northamptonshire Black History Association.

Our community representatives on the project’s management committee over the last three years have included the following groups:

African Association
Bethel United Church
Council for Ethnic Minority Communities
Dostiyo Asian Women and Girls Centre
Ghana Union
Islamic Pakistani Community Centre
Liberian Association
Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council (lead agency)
Northamptonshire Somali Community
Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Kettering
Wellingborough Black Consortium
Wellingborough African Caribbean Association (WACA)
West Indian Parents Association