In today’s episode, author A.S. Francis is joined by guest host Isabella Kajiwara for a powerful conversation on the life and legacy of Gerlin Bean – otherwise known as “Mother of the Movement.”
Together, they explore Bean’s vital contributions to youth work, Black Power politics, gay liberation, and her deeply relational approach to leadership. Bean’s efforts in intergenerational organising and transnational activism are also highlighted, while unpacking the challenges of documenting her legacy and the process behind writing her story.
This episode is part of a mini-series inspired by our latest shado bookclub season: To Be Loved, Is To Be Remembered: Archiving for Liberation. We explored titles from Lawrence Wishart Books’ Radical Black Women collection, curated in collaboration with the Black Cultural Archives to redress erasures of Black British and Black Transnational Feminist Histories. These works shine a light on the lives and activism of Claudia Jones, Gerlin Bean and Amy Ashwood Garvey – three revolutionary figures whose legacies continue to shape global justice movements.
Amelia Francis is a PhD researcher examining women’s involvement in Britain’s Black radical organisations during the 1960s-1980s and the development of a Black women’s movement. Amelia also works in production at Tate Modern, serves as a consultant to the Young Historians Project, and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the History MattersJournal.
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