Papers of Martha Osamor

Martha Osamor was born in 1940 in the Delta State, Nigeria, Africa. Martha moved to the UK in 1963 to join her late husband who was then a student here. Whilst they lived here, they had four children and although they had plans to move back to Nigeria, they never managed to do it due to the political instability in the country. When things subsided and they finally thought they could move back, Martha's husband unexpectedly died in a car crush during one of his preparation trips to Nigeria. As a single mother of 4, Martha then decided to remain in the UK, where her children had been born and brought up.



Osamor joined the Black Women's Movement, which started when she became a single mother and she became involved with other women to organise themselves around issues of childcare, the after-school club, the Residents' Association, and so on. As a result she and a group of other women founded the United Black Women's Action Group (UBWAG).



Osamor has been active within the Unions and has been part of the NUT, the Transport and General Workers' Union - now called UNITE. She has taken positions in these Unions as Chair, Equalities Officer, Race Committee member, and so on.



Osamor began working at Tottenham Law Centre (from '77 till '97, now called Haringey Law Centre) which overlapped with her work with the UBWG. During this time, Martha was part of Broad Water Farm Youth Association Mothers' Project and helped to organise the Black community of a near-by estate