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A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance – Resistance lecture series

Join author and feminist Stella Dadzie for an online lecture as part of the latest resistance lecture series!

Stella Dadzie is a published writer and feminist historian, best known for The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s lives in Britain which won the 1985 Martin Luther King Award for Literature and was re-published by Verso in 2018 as a Feminist Classic. Her latest book A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery & Resistance was published by Verso in October 2020 to much acclaim.

In this exclusive online talk for Fulham Palace Trust, Stella will show how women played a dynamic and distinctly female role in the development of a culture of resistance to slavery. Ranging from rebellions on board ship during the middle passage, to resistance by controlling or limiting their fertility, women’s roles are fascinating and inspirational.

Stella Dadzie was recently described as one of the “grandmothers“ of Black Feminism in the UK, and her personal archive in Brixton‘s Black Cultural Archives is one of the most visited by researchers and scholars from all over the world.

Her career as a writer, artist and education activist spans over 40 years. She has written numerous publications and resources aimed at promoting equality and good practice, including resources to decolonise and diversify the UK national curriculum in schools and colleges. She is currently working to support the National Maritime Museum’s commitment to highlighting the untold narratives of people of African heritage.


This lecture series accompanies the Palace’s upcoming exhibition on the Bishop of London, colonialism and transatlantic slavery.  The focus of the exhibition is the systems of physical and spiritual resistance that ultimately led to the ending of the transatlantic traffic in enslaved Africans and slavery itself in the British Empire. The exhibition will include a film featuring the work by Adisa, the project artist, and schools and community groups, and a timeline featuring resistance, Church of England against the backdrop of world events.