From Beneath the Press: On Black Feminist Archival Belonging and Permanence, Explored Through the Brixton Black Women’s Group

Author

• Maya Williams, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Date of Degree

6-2026

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Women's and Gender Studies

Advisor

Angeles Donoso Macaya

Advisor

Dana-Ain Davis

Subject Categories

Cultural History | Digital Humanities | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Women's History | Women's Studies

Keywords

Brixton Black Women's Group, Archive, Civil Rights, DIY, Black Feminism, The Heart of the Nation

Abstract

Looking to the past in hopes of imagining a path forward, this paper explores the strenuous question of archival permeance through a look at the history of the Brixton Black Women’s Group. Centering on their legacy, the guiding text of this work is Speak Out! The Brixton Black Women’s Group by Milo Miller. This research will connect histories of Black feminist dissent and archiving methodologies, their legacy within the academic field, and their relationship to the archive. By bringing together various scholars from various vantage points, this work aspires to illustrate a web of relationality in which we address the habitual extraction of Black women’s intellectual and political labor. This work seeks to ensure Black feminist labors are recognized as vital and wholly generative.

Including excerpts from the Brixton Black Women’s Group’s newsletter Speak Out, this work offers itself as an archival imprint that follows the archival work of Milo Miller and Jade Bentil, succeeding the work of their inspirations.

Recommended Citation

Williams, Maya, "From Beneath the Press: On Black Feminist Archival Belonging and Permanence, Explored Through the Brixton Black Women’s Group" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6770