We’re very lucky in Hackney to have a tradition of changemakers and pioneers. The history here is full of brave figures who stood up for everything from the Abolition of Slavery through to gender equality and no war. It carries on today, with a river of consciousness that manifests itself in contemporary activism and also…
Tag: Mary Wollstonecraft
When Mary Met Marcus: Virtue Returns
Today is Mary Wollstonecraft’s birthday. I can’t help thinking she’d be hugely impressed by the incredible phenomenon that is Mutual Aid groups
William Blake to Hackney Social Enterprise & Sustainability Walks
What’s the connection between this famous poet and Hackney social enterprise?
Why Men Need IWD Too
What’s in it for men to celebrate International Women’s Day? Quite a lot actually. From doing the right thing and being allies to reinforcing the Lockean ideals of the Enlightenment that allow us all to be individuals capable (ish) of reason and conceptualising the notion of creating a better world… Nobody would dare suggest
Finding the Gold in Hackney
Finding the gold on the streets of Hackney with William Blake and the curious of London…
Never the Bride: Mary Wollstonecraft and the Crash of Wedding Symbols
Symbols matter. There’s a serious bit of state theatre going on this weekend apparently (Hackney Tours is too busy being out on the street to follow the media) and it’s all about reinforcing the ancient (feudal?) concept of monarchy. Apparently we’re paying for an elaborate spectacle that is designed to reassure us that being Subjects…
Mary Wollstonecraft: Transcending Gender
Why is a man leading walks about Mary Wollstonecraft in Stoke Newington and Newington Green and why does he think it’s important that she has a monument? Saturday’s walk (see below) sees half the funds go to two local causes including the campaign for a statue of Mary Wollstonecraft. Why? Many of us broadly accept…
Frankenstein, Freedom and Suffragettes: Forged in Hackney
Like a little radical history? Love books? Enjoy big ideas from famous Hackney figures who rocked the boat for reform? On London Bookshop Crawl Weekend, we celebrated 100 years since women entered Parliament for the first time, 200 years since Mary Shelley published Frankenstein and
Hackney Tours Tomorrow’s World
It’s apt that the exhibition Tomorrow’s World at Atom Gallery on Green Lanes– opening tomorrow, naturally – should explore ideas of Utopia and Dystopia so close to Newington Green. This is where
Really Discover East London!
Radical History Lover? Curious Local? Love Photography? Something for Everyone… It’s been a busy summer, so you may have missed the Hampstead Heath walk for Hackney Council or the literary adventure that was our trip to a Margate book festival in the guise of Half Day Holidays. I took some Wickers around Hackney Wick to…
Mary Wollstonecraft: Celebrating Heroines of Hackney on IWD
The most amazing woman you never heard of? Single mum; war correspondent; businesswoman; writer; educator; activist; political radical; patriarchy-smasher: if you’ve read “In Search of Mary” by Newington Green resident Bee Rowlatt you’ll know that Mary Wollstonecraft was a woman ahead of her time (and still is? Discuss…).
The Original Suffragette – Hackney Hero Mary Wollstonecraft
The big movie release this week is Suffragette, but 100 years before the Pankhurst-led push for suffrage, a Hackney-based hero was scandalising the establishment by suggesting a woman could be a man’s equal. She is the star of our polemical walk ‘Feminist (Or Is It?) Stoke Newington’. Often referred to as the ‘founder of modern…
Hackney Tours: East LDN Creative Exploration 