Resistance in a Hostile Environment: Subnormal

Streaming video - 2021

In the 1960s, while young black adults were getting to grips with the struggle for black power and a long fightback against police abuse was starting, the majority of West Indian migrants were keeping their heads down. They were working hard and counting on providing better opportunities and education for their children. However, in a white-dominated country, where the politics were becoming increasingly racialised, there was a question of how society, and its teachers, saw these young black children. Before having a chance to develop intellectually, they were labelled as stupid, difficult and disruptive. This documentary reveals how black children in the 1960s and 70s were sent to schools for the subnormal, and how parents, activists and t...eachers came together to fight this injustice. more