When I was growing up in North Carolina, it was still very segregated. I must have been 5 years old when my mum explained racism to me and told me why my black friend wasn’t invited to the neighbourhood barbeque. I remember next time my mum invited them and all the white families were angry, some of them left the party. It really confused me.
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Last autumn we ran an experimental online public engagement series called 'earliest political memories'. We collected a total of 68 memories that were generously contributed by members of the public. You can read all the contributions here. The series caught the attention of our colleague Rachel O'Connell in the School of English who…
In "earliest political memories"
When I was 5 in North Carolina my mum told me to sit while my class did the Pledge of Allegiance. She made me promise never to join in.
In "earliest political memories"
Being on a bus with my mum looking through the window at people protesting and police repressing when a big wooden stick hit the window next to me, from the other side. It was Santiago, Chile, by the end of Pinochet;s dictatorship[. I was about 4 years old. …
In "earliest political memories"