Words of Colour’s executive director Joy Francis has been selected to give the annual C.L.R. James Legacy Lecture 2026 on Saturday 3rd October 2026 from 6pm-7.30pm after the official plaque unveiling outside the Dalston CLR James Library.
Francis’ lecture, titled Hiding in plain sight: Unravelling the pivotal role of Black British women in community activism and cultural change explores how James and other Black male intellectuals, activists and writers were visible while Black women’s pivotal role as activists, community organisers, feminists and incisive writers were largely rendered invisible due to racism, sexism and patriarchy.
She highlights how James’s political world was significantly shaped by Black women activists, asks how far have we come, and highlights the risks and challenges Black women face in the quest to be visible with a particular focus on some of the Hackney-based Black women activists, politicians and cultural agents (past and present).
Francis’ relationship with Hackney libraries, archives, museum and council spans 20 years. She curated some of the most well-attended Black History Month events and hosted standalone events, including Hackney History Youth Quiz 2012 with Hackney Museum, The Great Sports Debate 2013 featuring sports journalists, academics and athletes, including Olympian Christine Ohuruogu and Chelsea Football Club legend Paul Canoville, and panel discussions on Black British publishing and the impact of Maya Angelou on Black British literature.
As executive director of Words of Colour she created and ran the two-year citizen journalism and newspaper publishing programme for the acclaimed Mapping the Change initiative in Hackney and Waltham Forest, recording the changes to the lives of East London communities in the run up to the London 2012 Games. Francis also hosted Literary Bites with Andrea Enisuoh in partnership with Yum Yum Thai Restaurant, Hackney, where award-winning Black authors such as Alex Wheatle and Dreda Say Mitchell, dined, read from and discussed their books with their readers. She also secured Hackney as a signatory to the UK’s first national pledge to reduce ethnic inequalities in mental health systems as co-director of the Synergi Collaborative Centre.
After the lecture, Francis will be signing copies of Challenging Brittania: Black British Women Speak Volumes published by the George Padmore Institution in partnership with Speaking Volumes, which will be on sale. Prominent Hackney-based creative entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker and community activist Hyacinth Myers’ latest book Living into Legacy: A Sacred Guide to Life, Legacy and Leaving with Grace will also be available to purchase.
The C.L.R. James Legacy Lecture is free to attend but you have to register in advance, which you can do here.
