The Ammanford Anarchist

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Elis James explores how the 'world's most dangerous woman' came to Wales in the 1920s.

Emma Goldman was called ‘one of the most dangerous women in America because of her commitment to anarchism. Elis James searches for Goldman’s 100-year-old connection to Ammanford.

Emma Goldman was one of the most celebrated female revolutionaries and radical thinkers in the early 20th century USA. Dubbed the "most dangerous woman in America", Goldman was a firebrand socialist who encouraged working people to tear up the fabric of society around them: stirring up riots and rebellion wherever she went. 

When she was deported from the US, she ended up marrying a man from Ammanford. 

How and why was this town in South Wales a hotbed of anarchist thinking? 

Elis James goes in search of the story of an extraordinary woman, and the ordinary man who helped her. 

With contributions from Terry Norman, local historian of Ammanford’s local historian, Dr Martin Wright, Cardiff University, Yasmin Begum, writer and campaigner, and Joanna Pocock, writer and lecturer at University of the Arts London. 

Producer: Leonie Thomas
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media Production

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