The Birmingham African-Caribbean Black Women's Group is a self-help organisation.

The Birmingham African-Caribbean Black Women's Group is a self-help organisation. Initially set up in the 1990s to provide mutual support and celebrate key events, it also began collecting information on the history of black women in Birmingham. The group meets at St Martin's, Highgate and is open to women of 16 and over. Some common themes have emerged from their recollections:

• The importance of their Caribbean grandmothers in establishing values for their lives.
• Discouraging experiences on their arrival in Birmingham. Many of them were told that their English was not good enough or that they were too ambitious.
• The importance they attach to education for themselves and their children.
• The role of adult education in helping them to progress in their careers, often from Access courses onto degrees.
• Links between their experiences and those of other migrants to Birmingham from Scotland, Wales or Ireland.
• Their attachment to Birmingham. All look at themselves as Brummies by choice.

Failure? I'm not ashamed to tell it, I never learned to spell it, Not failure.

For more details contact Erma Newell at the St Martin's Centre: Telephone: 0121 622 2005

Originally published in the Millennibrum Supplement "Black History in Birmingham", The Birmingham Post, Wednesday November 1 2000.

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