October marks Black History Month in the UK. Bishop Luffa is marking this in many ways. This includes a display outside the Bartlett Hall. The theme underpinning the display is that ‘it’s not just history, and not just a month’, hence the contributions from across Faculties.
Clearly Black British history is not something which should be restricted to just one month each year. However, Black History Month 2020 offers a great opportunity to reflect and explore lesser-known people and events from our past.
These two websites are ideal resources for everyone:
Other resources include:
- The main Black History Month website is a hub of current information about BHM 2020, including a directory of events (many of them online)
- The Black Cultural Archives aim to record, preserve and celebrate the history of people of African descent in Britain. It includes easy-to-use themed collections.
- Our Migration Story seeks to understand and appreciate the range of peoples, from all places, who have journeyed to and helped to shape the British Isles.
- There are a growing number of web resources about individuals who have played a significant part in British history. Examples include the Five Black Heroes of the Abolition Movement in Britain and 100 Great Black Britons websites.
- The Collaborative Learning website features a collection of learning activities centred around Black history.
- The National Archives has a dedicated section on Black British history, as well as an excellent guide on how to conduct your own research.
As a school we have also been looking at Black Lives Matter and racism, with a group of students regularly meeting with the Head Teacher to discuss these issues.
Pastor Bruno Kondabeka and Andy Morgan, who are members of our Clergy Team, talked about racial injustice and prejudice in this discussion on YouTube ‘An interview with Bruno Kondabeka’
John Amaechi is a psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author and a former NBA basketball player. In the wake of the George Floyd killing and the Black Lives Matter protests, and at a time when many people want to learn how they can be better allies for black people, BBC Bitesize asked John what it means to be anti-racist. ‘Non-racist or Anti-racist?’
Alex Holmes is a leading anti-bullying campaigner, Founder of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Deputy CEO of The Diana Award. Here, he tells us about how he overcame racist bullying at school and shares his advice for dealing with it if it happens to you or if you see it happening to someone else. ‘Racist bullying’