Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is 'one of Europe's leading specialist libraries on migration, race and ethnicity'.^[1] Open to members of the public as well as to students and researchers, it is an open access library on race, ethnicity and migration located in Manchester, England. It actively celebrates cultures and (with its sister organisation, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust) fosters race relations through a range of work and initiatives. The Centre is part of The University of Manchester and is located in Manchester Central Library.

History

Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre

The impetus to create the Centre arose from the need to find a home for the increasingly large personal collection of books and other material about race relations which had been collected since the 1960s by Lou Kushnick OBE, then Professor of Sociology (and subsequently Honorary Professorial Fellow in Race Relations) at The University of Manchester. In discussion with colleagues, Kushnick considered donating the material to the University of Manchester Library, but decided he would like it to be readily available to people outside the University as well as to students and researchers, envisaging a collection that would ‘have huge research value, but also be instrumental in celebrating cultures and combating racism.’ ^[2] He approached Professor Martin Harris, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, who agreed to provide rent-free space to support the initiative.^[3] The Centre was established (as the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive) in 1999, with Lou Kushnick as its first Director.^[4] Initially based on the university campus, the Centre had a number of homes, including at the University of Manchester’s Sackville Street Building, before moving to its present location in Manchester Central Library when that building reopened following refurbishment in 2014, making access to the Centre by members of the public more readily available than before.^[5]

The Centre is named after Ahmed Iqbal Ullah, a 13-year-old who was murdered in a playground incident in 1986 and whose death and the public inquiry into it highlighted deficiencies in UK race relations education of the time. The name was adopted for the Centre because Kushnick ‘wanted to send a signal’ and aimed for the material to be used ‘in outreach programmes to teachers in schools with limited resources [and] a narrow curriculum [to] encourage an environment where all children could flourish.’ ^[6]

Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust

The Education Trust, a registered charity, developed from the work of the Centre and was created as a separate entity in 2001 to promote social and community cohesion, to challenge racism and to remove social and ethnic barriers. It works with schools and local communities, as well as the University of Manchester, arranging educational activities to encourage people of all ages and ethnicities to learn more about the contribution of Britain’s ethnic minorities while raising aspirations among young people and their communities. The Trust works from the Race Relations Resource Centre.^[7] Its first book, A Long Way From Home, in which young refugees in Manchester told their stories through poetry, short stories and mini biographies, was published in 2002 in association with Save the Children.^[8] The Trust has since published a range of books for children as well as teaching resources for schools.

Collections

Collections held by the Centre include unique primary resources and extensive secondary resources related to local, national and international race relations and migration. Materials in the collection include physical objects as well as books, magazines, reports, posters and ephemera. Particular strengths include:

• The history of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) communities in the Manchester area, including oral histories and many rare and unique items.
• Materials documenting the debates around race and schooling in the UK from the 1960s to the present, as well as teaching materials which are made available to school teachers to enhance their educational activities.
• A wide range of materials relating to the US Civil Rights Movement, including material on the struggle for civil rights stretching from long before the American Civil War to the present day.
• A significant collection of published journals and magazines, including hard-to-find specialist publications.
• The library of the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) was acquired by the Centre when the CRE closed, and includes extensive historical material documenting the changing issues around race relations in the UK, including documents relating to inquiries, and reports published by the CRE, Runnymede Trust and other bodies.^[9]

Archives

The Centre is a partner in Archives+ which brings together a range of organisations to provide a holistic range of archive and heritage services from its city centre location in Manchester Central Library.^[10] Notable material within the Collection’s Archive includes:

• Steve Cohen collection. Cohen was a Manchester-based lawyer and campaigner who helped found the Law Centre in Longsight, Manchester, and the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit. The Collection include publications, newspaper cuttings, banners, posters, badges and t-shirts from more than 70 anti-deportation campaigns fought in Manchester between the 1970s and 1990s.
• Roots Oral History Project. Life story interviews were carried out with members of Manchester’s African and Caribbean communities in the 1980s and 1990s; this collection includes audio recordings and transcripts from 26 interviews.
• Ann Adeyemi collection. Documents the life of Adeyemi, a Manchester woman of Irish and Liberian heritage whose mixed-race mother was born in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1920. The collection includes photographs and other ephemera as well as a recorded interview.
• The Hulme Study. A large collection of material documenting plans to regenerate the Hulme area of Manchester in the 1990s.
• Controversial Material. A collection of items whose content is problematic in today’s world. The collection (which includes important material relating to fascism) shows the history of changing ideas and attitudes around race in the UK.
• Race Relations in the UK. An increasingly large collection of documents, publications and ephemera which reveals the history of race relations in the UK since 1950.

Publications

A range of books and resources for schools and young readers are published through the Education Trust.^[11] These include:

• Folk tales written and illustrated by children.
• Biographies of Black British heroes, including:
  • Olaudah Equiano
  • Noor Inayat Khan
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
• Personal testimonies and local history.
• Teaching resources to support multicultural education.

Other Activities

With the Education Trust, the Centre holds, participates in and supports a range of activities, including theatrical, musical and literary events. It is particularly active during the annual Black History Month.

Notes

See also

• The University of Manchester
• Campaign for Racial Equality
• Manchester Central Library

Links

• Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre
• Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust
• Using our cultural assets for your studies: the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre. (Video.)
• Archives+ Partnership, Manchester City Council.
• Archives+ home page.
• Reading, Race, Collecting Cultures: Collections at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre. (Blog.)
• Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre Facebook page.
• Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Twitter account