Revolutionary Acts by Jason Okundaye review – bringing Black gay history to life

This groundbreaking debut tells the stories of six radicals who were among the first out Black gay men in Britain

For much of the 1980s and 90s, every corner of Brixton seemed to be a visible site of resistance and radicalism – from the disturbances of April 1981 to the emergence of the Voice newspaper, the Brixton Black Women’s Group and the Race Today collective. At the same time, though, the south London neighbourhood was& home to another mostly hidden struggle for& recognition, fought by the first generation of out Black gay men.

Jason Okundaye’s groundbreaking debut focuses on those pioneers, using six mini-biographies to craft a lucid account of a story that’s long been obscured. The first section introduces us to the activists: Ted Brown, Dirg Aaab-Richards and Alex Owolade; while the second takes us inside the world of the so-called Brixton Whores: Calvin “Biggy” Dawkins, Dennis Carney, Ajamu X and Marc Thompson (whose own podcast We Were Always Here has done much to bring Black British gay history to the fore).