Lionel Morrison memoir launch
Join the NUJ Black Members’ Council (BMC) for an event celebrating the life and legacy of Lionel Morrison and the publication of his posthumous memoir ‘Footprints: A Black Journalist’s Fight Against Apartheid in South Africa and in Exile’.
The discussion, taking place at Headland House on 30 September from 6:30-8pm, will feature speakers Mathatha Tsedu, former South African editor and trade unionist; Liz Morrison, Lionel’s wife and co-writer of Footprints; Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary; Jim Boumelha, Francis Beckett, and Scarlett McGuire, former NUJ presidents, and will be chaired by Alex Pascall from the BMC.
The book tells the story of Morrison’s remarkable career as a journalist, trade unionist, and campaigner against racism and apartheid: from his early life in South Africa, where he was arrested for high treason against the state and put on trial along with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, through to his work in the UK, where he established some of the country’s first Black newspapers such as The Voice and the West Indian World.
Morrison was a dedicated trade unionist, helping to found the integrated South African National Union of Journalists. After moving to the UK in 1961, Morrison became a member of the NUJ executive council in 1971 and was elected NUJ president in 1987 – the union’s first Black president – having helped establish the union’s Black Members’ Council. Much of his work was dedicated to increasing Black participation in journalism and trade unionism.
Morrison was awarded an OBE in 2000, and in 2008 he received the South African national honour, the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver).
A decade after his death in October 2016, Footprints offers an opportunity to reflect on Morrison’s extraordinary contribution to journalism and the fight against racism.
The memoir features a preface by Gary Younge, who says:
"Lionel Morrison always held that ‘double perspective’, constantly weaving what he had ‘left behind’ with the ‘here and now’ into an apparently seamless thread of struggle. He held it gently, proudly, without pomp or condescension and with an open and welcoming hand."
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