Having moved to London from Jamaica in the early 1960s, photographer Dennis Morris went on to document the mounting black consciousness and political activism in Britain during the 1970s. His personal photographs, since published together as the series Growing Up Black, conclude with a photograph inside the infamous British Black Power commune, the Black House.

Located on Holloway Road, London, the Black House was set up in 1969 by the British Trinidadian Black Power advocate Michael de Freitas (1933-1975), better known as Michael X. The house was supported by funding from high profile figures like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but the project ended in 1970 after reports of violent abuse taking place there. Although the Black House remains controversial, Dennis Morris has emphasised the fact that it was ‘the first project of its kind to exist in England,’ functioning as a refuge for young black people where they could engage in ideas and develop black consciousness. Morris described the house as a black cultural centre, which ‘contained a library with books and artefacts on black history.’

The V&A acquired ten photographs by Dennis Morris as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives. Photographs by Colin Jones documenting a subsequent housing refuge for young black people were also acquired as part of Staying Power. Jones titled his series The Black House, playing on the associations that were made with the later refuge and Michael X’s commune, both of which were located on Holloway Road.