Gifty Burrows

Gifty talks about her childhood leaving Ghana as a 7 year old girl with her younger brother without being able to speak English. Her upbringing in Huddersfield and Bury in an exclusively white neighbourhood brought her face to face with insidious racism. She describes how her self-confidence grew out of necessity whilst graduating as a nurse in Leeds. After meeting her husband whilst students at university she mentions the difficulties experienced in embarking on a mixed-marriage and the challenges of staying together whilst raising 3 children in a rural East Yorkshire market town. Her drive to challenge the stereotypes of blackness in all forms of life has brought her to this point where the African Stories project is helping to bring history of people of African descent to a wider audience.

Media No: 1178
Interviewee Forename: Gifty
Interviewee Surname: Burrows
Year of Birth Late 60’s
Interviewer: Jerome Whittingham
Producer: Gifty Burrows
Location: Unknown
Date of Interview: 2017
Duration (HH:MM:SS): 00:36:58

This interview was recorded as part of the ‘African Stories – Contemporary Voices’ project. You can read a full transcript of this interview over on the African Stories website by clicking here.