Our history

JACARI was founded in 1956 as a student society tackling racial discrimination. The name originates from the society’s initials “Joint Action Committee Against Racial Intolerance -JACARI. The initial aim was to consider the problem of racial intolerance, and if possible to give useful expression to the views of members of the University. The main activities of the society were regular meetings and speaker events.

The epoch was ripe for such discussion. Internationally, apartheid in South Africa and civil rights demonstrations in America were reaching their respective peaks. Internally, post-World War II Britain was facing social difficulties as many Afro-Caribbean immigrants arrived to ease the labour shortage and suffered from discrimination.

It appears that JACARI was a great political force for good and very successful almost immediately, with a wide range of clubs and societies supporting the organisation. Within two years of its inception, JACARI had captured the imagination of the University. The Michaelmas 1958 end-of-term report cites the membership as 2,354 and claims Jacari to be the largest University club.

“In 1956 I founded JACARI with Anthony Smith and was its first Chair. I was also President of the OU Liberal Club (Michaelmas Term 1956). I was at that time the only woman Chair of a political club in the University. Our aim was to raise funds to bring a black South African to the University. Apartheid was at its height and opportunities for university education were few for young black people.”
‍_{Jacari Founder: Sarah Curtis (née Myers)}

“I remember the time, there was a lot of very good energy; it was a very creative decade, with the war behind us and a new world opening up. Racism was rife, however, right here in Oxford. There was an army of landladies who thought nothing of sticking posters in the front window that read, ‘No Irish, no blacks.’ We led a campaign to try and change the racism. It was difficult, but we were motivated by the ideas and tried to keep it above politics.”
‍_{Jacari Founder: Antony Smith}

To be a member of JACARI was not simply to be a card-carrying opponent of racial intolerance. Indeed, many members were actively involved in various initiatives. The main area of interest appears to have been in the regular events put on by the committee. These ranged from small student discussion forums and lunch-time meetings to grand-scale debates in the Oxford Union main chamber. Speakers as high profile as former Prime Minister James Callaghan, former MPs Barbara Castle and Sir Leslie Plummer. spoke to packed rooms. JACARI also attracted speakers from overseas, including the Prime Minister of British Guiana and Ambrose Reeves, Bishop of Johannesburg. JACARI was also involved in a famous debate at the Oxford Union in 1964 where Malcolm X was one of the speakers.

"JACARI attracted an amazing array of activists and academics from Britain and abroad – some already well known and some who would become famous in the future – to speak at its meetings, especially the Monday lunchtime gatherings."
‍_{Shirley Vinall}

From 1961, there was a bookstall at JACARI speaker events for members to purchase relevant books and magazines about race relations. By 1964, this had become the first JACARI library of books and pamphlets, originally located at St Ebbe's Voluntary Centre and open at lunchtimes. The library later moved to Rhodes House in 1966.

One of the initial activities of JACARI was to raise £2000 for a scholarship for a black South African to study at Oxford. A 1956 letter from JACARI's Secretary to College JCRs said "We particularly want to show that we, the members of the University, are not merely prepared to have coloured people among us, but are prepared to welcome them by paying for them to come. This is the object of our Southern African Scholarship Fund." It was later named the “William Brogden Memorial Scholarship” to commemorate one of the founding members of JACARI, undergraduate Bill Brogden, who sadly died in 1957. After extensive fundraising by members, the first scholar, Jeppe Mei, arrived in 1959.

The scholarship appears to have been very successful, with the scholar returning to Africa in 1962 to take up a teaching post in Tanzania. In October 1961 efforts to repeat the scholarship began but it is unclear how long the scholarship fund actually continued.

"Bill Brogden was the instigator of JACARI in 1956 in response to a visit to Oxford by Father Trevor Huddleston. St Mary's University Church had been packed to hear him. Bill was energised to invite the Christian and political groups in the university to send reps to a meeting to respond to the cruelty of apartheid in South Africa ... hence the Joint Action Committee Against Racial Intolerance. The committee decided on its initial target : to raise funds to bring an African student to Oxford."
‍_{Canon Christopher Hall}

During the 1960s, JACARI members were involved in various anti-apartheid campaigns, boycotts and petitions. JACARI ran campaigns to boycott the sale and use of South African goods in all colleges. They also organised a petition against a joint Oxford-Cambridge rugby team tour of South Africa where they would be playing all white teams in front of segregated audiences. JACARI members also campaigned against British Government Policy, calling for members to write to their MPs against a government bill designed to curb immigration.

JACARI was also actively involved in anti-racism initiatives closer to home, including organising a survey which found two thirds of University-approved landladies in Oxford wouldn’t accept nonwhite students. This resulted in a petition to the University signed by 2000 people.

1965 saw the birth of JACARI's tutoring scheme. Members helped immigrant children in Oxford with their English. As the Trinity 1967 term card explained: "Many members help immigrant school children, of different ages, to learn English. Many of them can't get on at school as they have not mastered the language and without extra help can never really overcome their handicap. An hour or so sometimes makes all the difference". The first real indication of the size of the scheme comes in Trinity 1969 when nearly 100 JACARI members were actively involved.

"I can quite clearly remember that one of my activities was to help with Maths and English tuition to a couple of children in a house off of the Abingdon Road quite near Folly Bridge. I remember the family being very grateful and having the occasional excellent curry with them."
‍_{Iain Duff}

During the late 1960s, JACARI volunteers took part in vacation projects across the country tackling discrimination in deprived areas with high immigrant populations. From 1968, groups of JACARI volunteers started going every vacation to Balsall Heath, a very deprived district of Birmingham, to help run a multi-racial day nursery.

"I joined JACARI at Freshers' Fair in 1966 and was chair in 1968. I volunteered for a number of holiday schemes in Balsall Heath and Bradford and remember so many children of different ethnic groups. The majority were Afro-Caribbean, but there were also Asian, Gypsy/Traveller, Irish and English children. And their parents, who made us so welcome, often in terrible housing."
‍_{Thomas Acton}

"My most vivid memories are of spending part of two vacations in 1968 at a JACARI project. This was based at St Paul’s Church in Balsall Heath in Birmingham, a very deprived area which was home to many immigrants, especially from the West Indies. We camped in the church hall, helping to run a playgroup for local children during the days, and painting the hall in the evenings, so that it could be used as a children’s centre.”
‍_{Shirley Vinall}

During the 1970s, JACARI moved away from its political roots to focus on the teaching scheme. Unfortunately there are almost no records of activities from 1971-80, just enough to prove that the society cannot have died out completely during this time. One of the remaining documents is an approved copy of the constitution for the "JACARI Immigrant Teaching Scheme," dated February 1975. The constitution states that: "The aims of the society are to promote racial harmony through education and other available means and to give educational help to those who need it". There are also some records showing that JACARI volunteers may have continued to be involved in summer camps and organising activities and events for children.

"I used to cycle out to Headington where I was shown into the front room of the house and promptly given a cup of tea. In those days the front room was sometimes the ‘best’ room – i.e. kept immaculate for entertaining visitors etc. There I would practise reading with a young boy (about 8 years old). I don’t remember much political activism – but I do remember the reading program. I’ve always thought that the task Jacari then set itself was simple, practical and achievable."
‍_{Denis Rixson}

JACARI continued to focus on the teaching scheme in the 1980s. A newsletter from October 1980 stated that ‘JACARI now has over 200 members in the University and the Polytechnic and we work closely with local schools’. This is the first mention of the partnership with what is now Oxford Brookes. JACARI volunteers also helped to tutor sixth-formers taking A-levels and some adults, mostly mothers who had little English language and were very isolated in society. By 1987, Jacari was calling itself a "non-political" organisation, using the name Jacari instead of the acronym, which shows how much it had developed from its activist roots.

The social side of Jacari had developed in the 1980s with term-time kids' events including visits to London, Southsea and the Cotswold Wildlife Park, a Christmas Party and a garden party with punting and a magician. There was also a Children's Christmas Camp at a farmhouse outside Oxford. Jacari also arranged weekly Thursday lunches for volunteers which offered a chance to discuss and exchange experiences.

"I volunteered from 1981 to 1983. I was a tutor to an eight-year old Pakistani boy. He spoke Urdu when not at school. I taught him either at his primary school in Cowley or at his home nearby. I was fond of him, but he was difficult to teach, as he disliked reading. I had to rely on playing educational games or simply conversing with him. His sister was delightful. Some of my happiest memories of Oxford were reading with her in her home."
‍_{Graeme Cooper}

‍

"During 1985/86 I visited a Bangladeshi family in East Oxford to help their daughter with English, although it often became more of a chat than schoolwork and on one memorable occasion they decided I should try wearing a sari, which caused great amusement."
‍_{Louise Sykes}

During the 1990s, Jacari was a thriving student society providing educational support to children across Oxford. Membership seems to have peaked in 1996, when an incredible 550 children from 20 schools were being taught through the scheme. The area covered by Jacari tutors seems to have expanded quickly. By 1994 volunteers were teaching all over Oxford - areas included Cowley Road, Cowley, Iffley Road, Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys, Abingdon Road, Hollow Way, Barton and Marston. Jacari's committee also organised regular events for children and volunteers including outings, parties and boat trips.

Jacari volunteers also taught English to adults, especially mothers who had limited English and were socially isolated. During the 1990s, Jacari did a lot of work with refugees, liaising closely with the Oxford Refugee Council (ORC), arranging English tuition and fundraising. An important moment was when Jacari got its first office in New College in 1995, which meant that the society and library no longer had to be run from college bedrooms.

"I was involved with Jacari throughout my time at Oxford (1989-92). I was on the committee (I remember the T-shirts we had printed!) and I visited the same family and taught their numerous children (and cousins) throughout my time in Oxford and after graduation. In fact, one of my best memories of Oxford is leaving the confines of college and travelling up Iffley Road to their house each week to be treated to very sweet milky tea and more onion bhajis and samosas than I could ever eat."
‍_{Rachel Norridge}

"I tutored a young Pakistani girl who lived in East Oxford from about 1991 to 1994 when I was studying for my DPhil. I remember going to her family home near Iffley Road and tutoring in the front room. She had a lot of younger siblings so the house could be really noisy and this was the only quiet place for tutoring. I would always be invited to stay for some food and drink with the family and really got to know them."
‍_{Jane Itzhaki}

The first decade of the 2000s was a key period in Jacari's development as it moved from being a student run society to registered charity with a salaried Coordinator. Jacari registered as a charity in 2005, led by a Board of Trustees which made it a much more stable entity, with a long-term vision. In 2008, Jacari employed its first paid Coordinator, Mona Sakr and has successfully fundraised to maintain this position ever since. This meant the responsibility for recruiting volunteers and running the charity no longer fell to students, however Jacari continued to have a Student Committee supporting the Coordinator. In the 2000s, Jacari also introduced important aspects of working with volunteers including Criminal Records Bureau (now DBS) checks and mandatory training, including safeguarding. Jacari's relationship with Oxford Brookes was also revived in the 2000s and students from Brookes joined the Student Committee and were successfully recruited as volunteer tutors.

"My pupil was an 8 year old boy and we got along brilliantly. He was a bit shy at first, and it was a little bit difficult to get him to open up about things (let alone to do his homework) but we soon got talking. Despite my relative ambivalence, we spoke about football a lot and read Shoot and Match magazines as we did work on his reading and writing. So there was always a lot of football. I was delighted to get back in touch with him a few years ago and to find that he was studying politics at Kingston University."
‍_{Tom Pugh}

"I used to support a Somali child who lived near the Cowley Road. We used to read together on a Sunday evening – the family was lovely and I remember the endless cups of tea and sweet treats I was constantly offered while there! It became a really nice, grounding part of my week – almost like the hour when I escaped the uni bubble and entered the real world. I hope it benefitted him – and was definitely an interesting and formative experience for me too."
‍_{Mark Coates}

Through the 2010s, Jacari continued to have a salaried Coordinator, supported by a board of trustees, and established itself as a thriving Oxford charity. We continued our close links to Oxford University and Oxford Brookes, forming student committees made up of students from both Universities. Perhaps the most significant development for Jacari occurred in this decade. Keen to replicate the tutoring programme that was proving so successful in Oxford, in 2015 Jacari’s trustee board started to look at which cities would provide a good place for Jacari’s second home. Due to its diverse population and active student volunteering community, they decided on Bristol. A part-time Coordinator was recruited and partnerships with local schools established and In September 2016, Jacari Bristol opened!

In 2012, Jacari’s board of trustees also set up Oxford's Charity Football League, a social enterprise which donates its profits to Jacari providing an important source of income for the charity.

"I tutored a 15 year old boy from Guinea Bissau who spoke Portuguese. He was extremely bright but struggling at school due to the language barrier. I remember cycling down the Cowley Road to see my pupil every week and finding it really enlightening to leave the University world, see another side of the city and get to know people from different backgrounds. It was so important to leave that bubble and relate to people very different to me, but at the same time not so different."
‍_{Pedro Aparicio}