Film Number

7690

Title

STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM, THE LIFE AND WORK OF LEN JOHNSON - WFA 5

Producer

WFA

Date

1987

Gauge

U-matic LB

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

60 mins 24 secs

Description

A performance of the musical drama, Struggle for Freedom, at WFA Media and Cultural Centre in Manchester, based on the life and work of the black Mancunian boxer Len Johnson who was regarded as one of the greatest middleweight boxers of his generation in the years between the world wars. He remained untitled because of the racist colour bar. He married an Irish woman and the play raises important issues about class, race and gender equality and imperialism. The performance by young people from Burnage, Ducie Central and St Vincent de Paul schools was part of a Manchester Schools Project, it was produced by Frontline Culture and Education and directed by Dan Baron Cohen. In this performance (left side stage view), Dan Baron Cohen introduces the play to the large audience and acknowledges the contributions of Sid Booth, who was involved in the original production which toured Ireland, Wilf Charles whose life helped shape the play and African Dawn, the African cultural group from London.

[Catalogued as part of 'Revitalising the Regions' a Screen Heritage UK project, 2011]