Liz Obi
Elizabeth Obi is a British activist who was involved in the feminist, black nationalist, and squatters' rights campaigns of the 1970s. A close friend of Olive Morris, in 2009 she founded the Remembering Olive Collective, which researches and documents Morris's life.
Life
[edit]Obi was close friends with fellow activist Olive Morris and, in 1972, they attempted to visit Eldridge Cleaver in Algeria, but only made it as far as Morocco.[1] They joined the British Black Panthers together and met other young black feminists and black nationalists such as Jackie Blake, Geneva DaCosta and Stella Dadzie.[1][2] Also in 1972, the two women squatted a privately-owned property above a laundrette at 121 Railton Road in Brixton.[3] Morris and Obi then moved on to another squat at 65 Railton Road.[1][4]: 101 The 121 squat became the 121 Centre and continued to be occupied until 1999.[3] Together with Beverley Bryan, Obi and Morris established the Brixton Black Women's Group (BBWG) in 1973.[5]
In 2008, Obi set up the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) in tandem with Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, intending to commemorate the life of Olive Morris.[6]
In 2015, Obi took part in the conference "Black British Feminism: Past, Present and Futures" at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton organised by a new generation of Black British feminists such as Chardine Taylor-Stone and others.[7][8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Allotey, Emma (24 May 2012). "Morris, Olive Elaine (1952–1979)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/100963. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Ford, Tanisha C. (22 February 2016). "Violence at Desmond's Hip City: Gender and Soul Power in London". In Kelley, R.; Stephen Tuck (eds.). The Other Special Relationship: Race, Rights, and Riots in Britain and the United States. Springer. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-137-39270-1.
- ^ a b Queen of the Neighbourhood Collective. (2010). Revolutionary women: A book of stencils. Oakland, CA: PM Press. ISBN 9781604864649. OCLC 700457644.
- ^ Bettocchi, Milo (2021). Fairies, Feminists & Queer Anarchists: Geographies of Squatting in Brixton (Thesis). University of Nottingham.
- ^ Akpan, Paula (1 September 2020). "Why the teaching of Black British history must be transformed in our schools". Good Housekeeping. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
- ^ Longley, Oumou (November 2021). "Olive and me in the archive: a Black British woman in an archival space". Feminist Review. 129 (1): 123–137. doi:10.1177/01417789211041898. ISSN 0141-7789. S2CID 244348631.
- ^ "14 March 2015 12:00 ~ Black British Feminism: Past, Present and Futures – Black Cultural Archives – London | womensgrid – women's news". www.womensgrid.org.uk. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ Bangura, Siana (13 March 2015). "I too am Black and a Feminist: On the importance of Black British Feminism". Media Diversified. Retrieved 16 December 2022.