Mapungubwe: Farming, Gold and Power in Southern Africa
Mapungubwe’s sandstone hill was the centre of a thirteenth-century African state. Fields, livestock, traded beads and skilled metalwork reveal the society behind its famous gold rhinoceros.
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Work and Everyday Life
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Read the article: Mapungubwe: Farming, Gold and Power in Southern Africa
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Black Miners in Britain: Working Lives in the Coalfields
Read the article: Black Miners in Britain: Working Lives in the CoalfieldsBlack miners helped sustain Britain’s coal industry through skilled work, dangerous shifts and community life. Their recorded memories reveal different routes into mining, experiences of solidarity…
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Bill Morris: Trade Unionism, Equality and the Right to Be Heard
Read the article: Bill Morris: Trade Unionism, Equality and the Right to Be HeardBill Morris rose from Birmingham’s engineering industry to lead the Transport and General Workers’ Union. His career connects the everyday work of representation with campaigns against…
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Black Seafarers and Britain: Work, Mobility and Port Communities
Read the article: Black Seafarers and Britain: Work, Mobility and Port CommunitiesBlack seafarers helped operate the ships that carried Britain’s trade and fought its wars. Their history also belongs ashore, in boarding houses, families and port neighbourhoods.…
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Caribbean Nurses and the Building of the NHS
Read the article: Caribbean Nurses and the Building of the NHSCaribbean nurses helped staff an expanding health service while building professional lives of their own. Their history includes training institutions in the Caribbean, demanding hospital apprenticeships,…
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Daphne Steele: Nursing, Leadership and Life in Ilkley
Read the article: Daphne Steele: Nursing, Leadership and Life in IlkleyDaphne Steele’s appointment as an NHS matron in 1964 made national history. Her wider career connected Guyana, London, the United States and Yorkshire. Following her work…
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Asquith Xavier: Challenging the Railway Colour Bar
Read the article: Asquith Xavier: Challenging the Railway Colour BarAsquith Xavier was already an experienced railway guard when a transfer application exposed a colour bar at Euston. In 1966, the dispute reached Parliament. It exposed…
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London Transport’s Caribbean Recruitment: Jobs, Journeys and Working Lives
Read the article: London Transport’s Caribbean Recruitment: Jobs, Journeys and Working LivesLondon Transport began recruiting directly in Barbados in 1956. The scheme brought new workers into buses, stations and catering, while official films presented a particular image…