ABOUT US
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust was established in 2001. We archive the life stories of global majority* communities in Manchester, by running oral history projects, hosting events and exhibitions, and working with schools, for past, present and future generations. Our activities include:
- Working with global majority community groups to collect life histories, photographs and documents so their histories are preserved and shared.
- Supporting schools and teachers develop an anti-racist curriculum.
- Creating Black history resources for use in school and community settings.
- Publishing multicultural stories and biographies of Black heroes written and illustrated by school children.
- Organising events, exhibitions and activities to share knowledge of the contributions of global majority communities to British history.
Trust and Centre staff works closely together on many projects. The outputs of most community and school based projects are available for visitors to explore at the Resource Centre.
*Global majority – we are moving towards using this term in preference to BAME/Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic to refer to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and/or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah was a 13-year-old schoolboy whose parents migrated to Manchester in search of work and a better life. Ahmed liked reading, creative writing and was good at sports. His favourite pop song ‘19’ by Paul Hardcastle, was about young soldiers in the Vietnam war.
Ahmed was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil in the school playground after defending younger boys who were being bullied. In response, Manchester City Council commissioned a public inquiry into racism and racial violence in Manchester schools. The ensuing report, ‘Murder in the Playground’ was published by Ian Macdonald QC and concluded that race had been a key factor in Ahmed’s murder.The Education Trust is named in Ahmed’s memory. Our archive contains reflections on his life and legacies as well as papers from the solicitor to the public inquiry (access restrictions apply to some of this collection, please contact us for more details).
Helen Cooley
Finance Officer
Hafsah Aneela Bashir
Community Producer
Lianne Smith
Archivist and Library Manager
Annie Dickinson
Library Assistant
Kadija Ollow
Collections Assistant (Digital Engagement)
Sonbal Khokhar
Collections Assistant (Digitisation)
Angela Smith
Audience Development Officer
Laila Benhaida
Community Archivist
Maya Sharma
Collections Engagement Officer & Coming in from the Cold Project Manager
Dr Safina Islam
Head of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre & CEO of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust
Joanne Robson
Archivist
Archives +
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust are partnered with Archives+. Situated at Manchester Central Library, this purpose-built centre brings together a partnership of regional and national collections of documents, photographs and films, and helps to satisfy a growing demand for accessible community history and personal heritage.
