My friend Gerlin Bean, who has died aged 85, was a leading light of the British Black feminist movement. A founding member of OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent), she was an effective and persuasive organiser, fiercely committed to empowering her community.
Also a founder member in 1973 of the Brixton Black Women’s Group, Gerlin remained a key figure in the south London area for the next decade. She helped set up Sabaar Books, one of the first Black bookshops in Brixton, in the late 1970s, and, as a guidance counsellor at Brixton College, was instrumental in securing creche facilities there that allowed countless women to gain access to further education. Prior to that, she had helped establish the WIPAG (West Indian Parents’ Action Group), which provided nursery facilities and early years’ education for working mothers in Lambeth.
