Dr. William 'Lez' Henry
Director & Co-founder

Dr. William 'Lez' Henry was born in Lewisham, South east London, England of Jamaican Parents and is an experienced youth worker, a poet, writer and was one of the pioneer, British, Reggae-dancehall Deejays. Dr. Henryis a Social Anthropologist who lectured in the Department Of Sociology, Goldsmiths College for a number of years and is now a Visiting Research Fellow. Dr. Henry is a researcher, consultant and staff trainer for Nu-Beyond Ltd: Learning By Choice! Dr. Henry was until recently the Centre Manager for Southeast London based Family Health Isis, which is one of the oldest African, African-Caribbean Mental Health organisations.

Dr. Henry received an Excellence In Education Award at the Challenging The Genius: Excellent Education for Children: “Our Future is Not a dream”, Conference Chicago, IL, USA, September 16-18th 2005. Dr. Henry is the proud recipient of an award from the South east London based Mandiani Project, For his valuable contribution to the community and the Mandiani Project, 1st October 2005. Dr. Henry has also been honoured with an award from Lewisham Council’s Black Staff Forum, October 25th 2007, for his Key Note address as part of the Council’s 2007 Abolition 200 commemorative events and for ten years loyal service to their organisation. His research direction seeks to use cultural history as an educational tool to assist our contemporary understanding of many of the problems that affect the various communities in Britain. His research is therefore conducted in a manner that will provide practical information to various interested public and private bodies.

Dr. Henry delivers empowerment, education interventionist packages in schools, colleges and universities based on his critically acclaimed 'GOAL MODELS' Programme. He collaborated on the Challenge to Succeed-Learning By Choice initiative with Greenwich Education that was designed to bridge the attainment gap between African-African Caribbean students and other social groups. Dr. Henry recently co-designed an educational interventionist programme for Key Stage 2 – 4 pupils on behalf of Southwark Black Parents Forum: ‘Investigating Identity in The Inner City: A Challenge to Learn’ (2009), Henry W.& Simmonds. L.

Dr Henry partook in the British Council’s InterAction: Trust the Difference Leadership Programme: which is an international programme that aims to strengthen leadership in contexts where difference leads to tension and threatens peace within communities. He  attended training in Abuja, Nigeria and London, UK. The work is being developed and delivered, by way of lectures and seminars, as a strategic intervention between black Islamic and Christian communities in the UK.

Dr. Henry is a founder member of the National Independent Education Coalition (NIEC) who held the 1st annual STOP BLAMING THE CHILDREN - Raising Achievement Through Partnership: Parent, Teacher and Child, conference at Croydon Town Hall, London, England on Saturday 14th October 2006 and their second conference Striving For Excellence at the Greater London Authority, October 12th 2007. Their third conference CROSSING BORDERS: Overcoming Boundaries took place at the Harrow Civic Suite on October 24th 2009. Dr. Henry is also a founder member of The Black Fathers Support Group that is based in the Lewisham Way Centre, London, UK and meets weekly to discuss all aspects of parenting.

He is also the creator of Black Liberation Afrikan Knowledge—B.L.A.K. FRIDAY, where on the last Friday of each month, grassroots community speakers present insights into the legacy of the MAAFA (Afrikan Holocaust) from various perspectives as a way to provide practical solutions to real problems.

Due to Dr. Henry’s dynamic and engaging style of presentation he is renowned as a first class public speaker and as such has lectured/spoken nationally in several universities, schools, colleges, as well as on behalf of various public and private organisations. He also has an impressive international profile as a public speaker and has delivered talks at various institutions, including: University Of The West Indies, Department of Literature-Reggae Studies Unit, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica, WI: University of Gothenburg: Centre for Cultural Studies, Gothenburg, Sweden. The African American Studies Department, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Queens University Belfast: Department of Ethnomusicology, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Howard University: Department of Humanities, Washington DC, USA and African And African American Studies Program, University Of Oklahoma: Tulsa, USA.

He has been interviewed nationally and internationally on several TV and Radio stations and features in several documentaries including WHITEY BLIGHTY, Channel 4, 2003; BANG BANG IN DA MANOR, BBC 3, 2005; BLEACH MY SKIN WHITE, ITV 2005; GHOST TOWN, BBC 2, 2006, INSIDE OUT, BBC1, 2007, and Have Your Say programme on the Abolition of Slavery, BBC World 2007. He was featured on Channel 4’s ‘Race and Intelligence: Science’s Last Taboo’, which was  broadcast on 26th October 2009. Dr. Henry has published in the areas of Afrikan history, race, ethnicity, music and education and is a regular contributor to www.blackbritain.co.uk and to the recently defunct New Nation Newspaper.

Selected Publications
Henry, W ‘Lez’ (2007) Whiteness Made Simple: stepping into the GREY zone, London: Learning By Choice
Henry, W ‘Lez’ (2006) What The Deejay Said: A Critique From The Street! London: Learning By Choice Publications
Beckford R. & Henry, W. A. (2005), ‘Church-hall Vs the Dance-hall’ (in) Beckford, R. Jesus Dub, London: Routledge. [Chapter in book]
Henry, W. A. (2005), ‘Projecting The Natural: Language, Citizenship and Representation In Outernational Culture’ (in) Besson. J, and Olwig. K. F, (eds), Caribbean Narratives of Belonging , London: Macmillan Press Ltd. [Chapter in book]
Henry, W. A. (2005), ‘British Deejay culture – a Voice of the ‘the Voiceless’ Black Inner-city Youth’ (in) Youth, Otherness and the Plural City: Modes of belonging and Social Life Göteborg, Sweden: Daidalos [Chapter in book]
Henry, W. A. ‘Chatting For Change’ (2003), (in) L. Back. L & Bull. M, The Auditory Cultures Reader, Oxford: Berg . [Chapter in book]
Henry, W. A. (2002), ‘Music’, ‘Sound System Deejays’, ‘Lovers Rock’ and various biographical articles (in) A. Donnell (ed), Companion To Contemporary Black British Culture, London: Routledge.

Forthcoming Publication
Henry, W. A. (2009) ‘Conceptualisation and effects of social exclusion, racism and discrimination and coping strategies of individuals and families’ (in) Hylton, C. & Ochieng, B. (eds) Black Families in Britain as the Site of Struggle, Manchester University Press[Chapter in book]