New Cross Massacre Campaign

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): NCMC

Title: New Cross Massacre Campaign

Date(s): 1981 - 1981

Level of description: Fond

Extent and medium of the unit of description: c.75 files

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: The New Cross Massacre Action Committee was formed within days of the firebombing of a house in Lewisham, south London, which killed 13 black youth and seriously injured 27 others in January 1981. The aims of the Committee were to protest at the bias and inadequacy of the police investigation and challenge the indifference of the media to the event. It also established a Fact-finding Commission to compile its own evidence through interviews with survivors and the bereaved. The Committee's other activities included the monitoring of inquest court proceedings resulting from the incident, the establishment of the New Cross Memorial Trust and the organisation of the Black People's Day of Action, held on 2nd March 1981, where c.20, 000 people went on an anti-racism march through the centre of London in memory of the 13 young people who died at New Cross.

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Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The collection comprises minutes of meetings and administration files; correspondence relating to the organisation of the Black People's Day of Action and a video recording of the event; Fact-finding Commission papers, including reports of interviews with the bereaved; papers and letters relating to the formation of the New Cross Memorial Trust; New Cross Memorial Service programme and newspaper reports; letters of support from the general public; Inquest transcripts and witness statements; audio cassettes of news reports; New Cross Massacre Action Committee fliers, handbills, photographs and press cuttings; International Committee of Inquiry papers.

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CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Currently there is no public access to the collections, but reference access (by appointment) will be possible from 2003 onwards. In the interim all research enquiries should be sent to the George Padmore Institute by post, fax or email c/o: George Padmore Institute, 76 Stroud Green Road, London N4 3EN, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7272 8915. Fax: +44 (0)20 7281 4662. Email: info@georgepadmoreinstitute.org.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed list

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

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DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 2 December 2001

Interest: Black

Specific group: African-Caribbean peoples

Subjects

Protest movements

Interethnic relations

Ethnic groups

Ethnic conflicts

Personal/Corporate names

New Cross Massacre Action Committee

New Cross Memorial Trust

Places

Lewisham, London, United Kingdom