School of Law students commemorate Stephen Lawrence Day through reflective zine-making workshop

Stephen Lawrence Day takes place on 22 April every year, on the anniversary of Stephen’s death.

The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation says the day is “...a national moment of reflection and a call to action. Each year, we honour Stephen’s life by inspiring individuals, schools, and communities to drive change”.

For 2025’s Stephen Lawrence Day, the School of Law at the University of Leeds and Mr Dwayne Hutchinson of AccomplishBCEL® co-hosted a creative zine-making workshop at the Leeds Central Library's magnificent Art Library. A zine is a self-published booklet, typically made from a few sheets of paper and often photocopied, that allows individuals to share their thoughts, ideas, or artwork with others.   

Student zines

The School of Law’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Lead, Dr James Greenwood-Reeves arranged for a number of students (Isioma Okwechime, Jack Edwards-Morris, James Gadd, Jasmin Whiteside, Mehul Patel, Ruby Kelly and Zainab Iqbal) to participate in the workshop. These students had made exceptional zines on policing and the state of racial injustice in the UK, as part of the new assessment method for “Law and Society”, a compulsory second-year module of which Dr Greenwood-Reeves is the module leader. Printed copies of those zines were presented at the event.  

 

Remembering Stephen

Community development specialist, Mr Dwayne Hutchinson, spoke at the event about the importance of remembering Stephen Lawrence as a young man, with hopes and ambitions. He also talked about the Lawrence family's long (indeed, continuing) pursuit of justice. During the workshop members of the community, students, and law school staff collectively created pages for a zine on Stephen Lawrence and his legacy, and his family's ongoing fight for justice, which will be kept at the Leeds Central Library.  

I am tremendously proud of our students, not just for their creative and academically rigorous zines, but for taking the time to work with, and learn from, members of the community outside of our university. I hope we can build on this workshop, and find other engaging ways of sharing knowledge and experience with people across Leeds.