United Kingdom
Since 2015 I've been researching and writing about women activists in East London. After 20 years as an activist myself, I realised there is so much women of today can learn from our sisters of the past.
She marched at the first Aldermaston in 1958 and was still going 50 years later, complaining only that the crowd walked too slowly. An extract from Great Women of London on Hetty Bower - born in Hackney in 1905, protesting to the very end.
I'd got little sleep that night. Partly because I was sleeping on the floor of a warehouse; partly because I was anxious. The next day I was getting into a van with five of my friends, who were going to climb the Shard in London, which at the time was Europe's tallest building.
I’m pleased that Frances Ryan had a positive experience in mainstream school (Labour’s Send reforms get this right: disabled children in mainstream schools is transformative for everyone, 26 February). Unfortunately, the data shows that this isn’t the case for many disabled children today.
I’d been in the Women’s Library at LSE for hours, going through oral history transcripts in the Women Against Pit Closures collection. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say I felt close to tears. These women’s lives had been transformed. And all because of a few sandwiches.
Thirty years after its heyday, Esther Freeman traces the history of Reclaim the Streets, the movement's energy - and its legacy
'The squawking became screaming. The highchair rocked so hard it’s feet rose off the floor.' A short story by Esther Freeman
Scrolling through Facebook, a post from a local page caught my eye. It read: "Very sad the younger people of today think the world owes them something." It got a lot of likes. Scrolling through Facebook, a post from a local page caught my eye.
On a gloriously sunny morning, I stood outside Walthamstow Library wearing more layers of clothing than I needed. I was there with the E17 branch of the Don't Pay campaign and, while wriggling out of jumpers and jackets, saw one of the day's organisers Heidi arrive, laden with banners and flyers.
Esther Freeman on the discoveries made while researching for her project about female-led activism in East London Esther Freeman on the discoveries made while researching for her project about female-led activism in East London Fifty years ago the fight for gay rights came to London, as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) formed in the capital.
In 1888 a group of young women walked out of the Bryant & May match factory in East London, sparking one of the most important strikes in UK history. They were giants in women-led activism. So why have we forgotten their greatness?