The Life and Story of Dorothy Kuya

Image: South Liv Surveyor

Next month will mark the ten-year anniversary of the death of Dorothy Kuya, described by the director of National Museum - Liverpool as "Liverpool's greatest fighter against racism and racial intolerance". Kuya was born in Toxteth, 1933 to a white Liverpudlian mother and a black father from Sierra Leone. Growing up in a close-knit community that faced extreme poverty and discrimination, she was a tireless campaigner for civil rights in the UK throughout her life. With a glimpse of her life story available to see in the Black, Female, Scouse exhibition at Liverpool Central Library, we remember the life’s work of one of the UKs most prolific civil right activists.

Attending her first meeting of the Young Communist League at just 13, it wasn’t long before Dorothy was selling copies of the Daily Worker on the streets of Liverpool and was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain by the 1940’s. Her work brought her into contact with civil rights activists such as Paul Robeson and famed artist Pablo Picasso, who mixed in British communist circles. Dorothy was also instrumental in convincing the then labour government in Liverpool to re-evaluate eligibility criteria for social projects like the Urban Program. Under previous criteria, many black families were barred from receiving help. Thanks to Dorothy’s efforts, the programmes that aimed to give more job opportunities and better assimilate communities were made available to those who needed.

The co-curator for the Black, Female, and Scouse project Vicki Caren, first got involved with documenting Liverpool’s black history after volunteering for the Writing on the Wall’s creative heritage project ‘Great War to Race Riots’. It was here that she became familiar with the life’s work of Dorothy Kuya. Speaking on her legacy, Vicki said: I think the material in Dorothy Kuya’s archive shows her thirst for knowledge, from a library of books and publications to correspondence with organisations around the world. The scale of her interests, campaigning, and employment is breath-taking.”

Later training to be a nurse and then a teacher, Dorothy moved to London in 1980 and co-founded Teachers Against Racism with fellow communist Bridget Harris. She also became the head of race equality for Haringey Council and worked closely with Labour Party MP Bernie Grant. While in London she worked diligently to combat racism in Britain's school system, establishing the Racism Awareness Unit with funding from Greater London Council. She later became general secretary of the National Assembly of Women and then Liverpool's first Community Relations Officer.

She spent her retirement years back at home in Liverpool and upon her return she was told she'd be rehomed as her house would be demolished, so she fought in the Granby Residents Association. Dorothy was a hands-on activist who commissioned a report for the Council on alternatives to the demolition of her home along with over 200 others. Her suggestions included selling the houses for one pound and a few months before her passing in 2013, 20 people were selected through a draw to buy the £1 properties.

During her return to Liverpool, she increased her voluntary work, particularly in related topics to African heritage, and focused on campaigning for the opening of a slavery museum in Liverpool. Dorothy helped set up African Presence which promoted heritage and culture and Dorothy bequeathed her library to it, including over 200 books and publications.

The International Slavery Museum was opened in 2007 with efforts by herself and fellow activist, Eric Lynch. They instituted and conducted the Liverpool Slavery History Trail tours helping to reveal Liverpool's hidden history. When the museum opened, Dorothy was said to have been filled with joy as one of her final campaigns had been completed. Dorothy was also involved in the Martin Luther King Foundation which resulted in the successful development of South Liverpool Personnel, a community-based employment and training agency. Upon her death in December 2023, Louis Julienne, a journalist, author, and lifelong activist, said: “Dorothy was kind and generous with her time and a role model to me, we will miss this great daughter of Liverpool.”

Because of her major role in the opening of Liverpool’s International slavery museum, an annual lecture was named after Dorothy. It has attracted renowned professors and workers in the fight against discrimination like Professor Stephen Small and Professor Hakim Adi, who both mention Dorothy in their lectures and books about the history of the transatlantic slave trade and the civil rights movement. “I am so proud to have finished what they had started and taking the necessary steps to create a more inclusive and diverse campus.”

Her legacy still lives on to this day where in 2021 Liverpool University renamed one of their student accommodation buildings after Kuya. Originally named after William Gladstone the Liverpool Guild held a poll to rename the building due to the ex-Prime Minister’s connection to the slave trade. Over four and a half thousand students voted for the name to be changed to an influential black figure from the community and it was decided to be named after Dorothy herself. Guild President, Adnan Hussain, said “Students have been at the heart of this campaign, and I wanted to personally thank all previous students and Student Officers for working so hard on this. I would like to thank student groups such as BAME, Student Network, Afro-Caribbean Society, BME Medics, Politics Society, and many others who engaged with the Guild and the University in order to push for Racial Equality at the University of Liverpool, I am so proud to have finished what they had started and taking the necessary steps to create a more inclusive and diverse campus”.

The Dorothy Kuya Archive Project is produced on Spotify by Janaya Pickett and goes into a great amount of depth about Dorethy’s life and the battles she fought throughout her life. The host presents interviews and discussions on Kuya’s life. In episode 5 she speaks with Chief Angus Chukwuemeka, who knew Dorothy when he was a student. He goes into detail about how she battled with militant leader Derek Hatton and how it led to her becoming the Head of Race Equality for Haringey Council. The podcast has five episodes, all 30 minutes to an hour, describing her early life, her involvement in the civil rights movement and her work from the 70’s up to her passing.

We spoke to Becky Smith who had amassed a collection of documents and articles from the late 1990s and was a major contributor to the Black, Female, and Scouse exhibition and was a leading example of why we should archive our own history or what small pieces of history we have. When asked about how important she felt it was to bring any documents to the archives she said “People may not realise that old files they’ve had hidden away are of value to anyone, they may think like I originally did which was to just recycle them. I’d like to see something in the local radio or press that tells people that their old papers are of value otherwise how will people know where to go? The subject matter is immense and as the speakers detailed, this is only a small spoon-full of the history involving black women in Liverpool. They have been in so many parts of this city's society and I think the talk was really great.”