Mollie Hunte: Educational Psychologist, educator and activist

Mollie Hunte (1932-2015) was an educational psychologist from British Guiana, now Guyana, born in 1932. She was a significant part of the Black Education Movement in the UK during the 1970s onwards, and she made large impacts on the African-Caribbean London community. She founded and co-founded a variety of community organisations to advocate for young black children in London, during a time when they faced racism and prejudice within the UK education system.

The Mollie Hunte Collection was gifted by Mollie's family in 2017 and was deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in London. LMA is the is the principal archive for the city of London and the Greater London area. The Mollie Hunte Collection is both a personal and business collection, presenting letters, correspondence, audio-visual material, and ephemera. We are afforded a glimpse into the life and work of a Black female educational psychologist working during the 1970s onwards, and the challenges as well as critical work produced by her peers and other Black activists and educators of the time.

Mollie began as an assistant teacher in Georgetown, Guyana between 1956 until 1961 when she decided to migrate to the UK to continue her higher education. Mollie didn't have the financial means to be able to further her studies and see herself through university full-time. For 12 years she taught in infant, junior and three types of special schools whilst she completed her part-time study from 1961 to 1973. After many years of vigorous study across several higher education institutions she received MSc in Child Development and Education Psychology from the North East London Polytechnic in the 1970s.

Mollie was employed at the London Borough of Ealing in 1973 until 1982 and then moved onto working at the London Borough of Brent between 1982 and 1988. Both roles were as Educational Psychologists, where she was expected to produce reviews and assessments of children, liaise with teachers, schools and health authorities as well as aftercare services.

Throughout her employment at Brent and Ealing, Mollie founded and co-founded various community organisations designed to aid African-Caribbean families in education, health and employment.

These included the Caribbean Parents Group, The Caribbean Parents Group Credit Union, Westphi Academy and PEV Consultancy. The Caribbean Parents group (CPG) was an advocacy group formed in July 1975 and was created in reaction to Ealing Councils movement of Black and Asian children to outside their local catchment area to Special schools or as they were called at the time 'Educationally Subnormal Schools'. Parents and teachers in Southall, Ealing came together to oppose this action which they viewed as racist and an interference to their children's education.

Although Mollie sadly passed away in 2015, the Mollie Hunte Collection is an incredibly significant archive. The materials can hopefully contribute towards changing the ways in which we view neurodivergent people and the support which they were afforded during the 1970s to the present day. The collection provides us with the tools to gain a better understanding of the ways that Black children and families were treated within the education system and their needs being dismissed during a time when they needed the help the most.

Mollie created a support network which provided black people the resources to provide neurotypical tests which could lead to a diagnosis, which for many was the first time they had been recognised as being neurodivergent, offering them tools to deal with their conditions. She helped to encourage the continued nurturing of young black children and gave their families the support they deserved.'

Further reading: 'Mollie Hunte: Educational Psychologist, Educator and Activist. What her Collection can tell us about Caribbean Community Groups', by Rebecca Adams in Many Struggles, and 'Mollie Hunte' in Blazing Trails: Stories of a Heroic Generation, by Gus John.

Image is courtesy of the London Metropolitan Archives, City of London.

Find more about the History of Psychology Centre, and the Mollie Hunte project. Visit the exhibition.