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The Keys, the journal published by the League, not only used essays and reports as a means of communicating the feelings of Black people, it also frequently published letters from readers, and sometimes poems, such as 'Nigger' by Una Marson, (who would sometimes step in as acting editor of The Keys), and Disillusionment (After seeing the Trooping of the Colour) by Sylvia Lowe. (The Keys vol. 1, no. 1 July 1933 pp7-8 poem Vol. 1, no 2, October 1933,p28).


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The first 4 verses of Una Marson's protest poem Nigger. Download and read this and other copies of The Keys .
Moving Here catalogue reference (BL) 025KEYS193307 |
Also, keeping an ever-watchful eye on those who presented images of Black people to the public through the arts, the organisation was heavily critical of the BBC when one of their announcers used the word 'nigger' on air in 1940. The letter they wrote in response to this was published in Letter No.9 , the wartime newsletter of the League, as was the reply and apology from the BBC. (Letter no 9, p39June 1940). Read the Leagues protests against press censorship in the Caribbean.
The League's interest in the representation of Black people in the media extended to their portrayal in film, and in 1940 a review of Gone With the Wind was published in The Keys . As its author, W. Arthur Lewis pointed out, the representation of Black people had traditionally suffered in the cinema. Lewis, professor of economics at Manchester argued that in the book on which the film was based, Black people had been portrayed as domestic tyrants, ruling wisely and living over the most intimate domestic affairs of the white household. In the film, however, Black people provided mere light entertainment, giving an impression of a people whose every act was comic - an image, that although unlikely to do much harm, would hardly do much good. (Letter no 9, June 1940, p50)
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Creators: T. Caroline A. Bressey
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