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The League of Coloured Peoples

1937

The Keys

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  • Intro

    The League of Coloured Peoples was founded in London in 1931. They fought racism in Britain, and promoted the interests of black people in all parts of the world. These pages are from a 1937 edition of The Keys, a regular publication produced by the League.

     

    The League commissioned reports, organised social outings, and wrote to employers asking why they allowed racist practices to exist in their organisations. All these and many more activities were then reported in The Keys through essays, articles, photographs and letters. The effects of racism were also personally and emotionally expressed by writers, through their letters to the editor or poems.

     

    Here we read of letters sent between the League and the Manchester Royal Infirmary. The hospital had refused on principle to employ black nurses: ‘there was a definite rule that nobody of negroid extraction can be considered’ reads the Matron’s letter. The intervention of the League was effective in overturning this rule. The resulting letter from the hospital’s chairman reads ‘each individual application will be considered on its merits.’

     

    Shelfmark: British Library Newspaper Archive

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