the black house

in a photo project called the black house photojournalist colin jones spent 3 years (1973 to 1976) in the harambee housing project in northern london. description of the project from a recent exhibition of the images:

This tall, dilapidated terraced house on a busy main street in Islington, had became a hostel for troubled young black men run by a charismatic Caribbean migrant, Brother Herman Edwards. The project was often visited by the police and always in strife with neighbours over too much noise and overcrowding. Many of the youths photographed embraced their portrayal in the media as iconic delinquents, reinforcing their status as outcasts. Never officially named The Black House, the building was given this name both by residents and by newspaper editors as an easy headline. At this time, the first generation of Afro-Caribean young people to be born in Britain were encountering problems with schooling, employment and the law – Jones’ photographs put a face to this news story.

via the last issue of straight no chaser