01 October 2019 - Black History Month in the UK
Black History Month 2019: What is it?
(BBC, 01/10/2019)
October is Black History Month in the UK and it's been celebrated nationwide every year for nearly 40 years.
This month was originally founded to recognise the contributions that people of African and Caribbean backgrounds have made to this country over many generations.
Now, Black History Month has expanded to include the history of Asian people and their contributions too.
Black History Month: First black magistrate Eric Irons honoured
(BBC News, 01/10/2019)
A plaque is to be unveiled to commemorate the life of Britain's first black magistrate.
Eric Irons was born in Jamaica in 1921 and then settled in Nottingham following RAF service in World War Two.
Mr Irons, who died in 2007, was a campaigner for social justice, became the country's first black justice of the peace in 1962 and was made an OBE.
Year after year, white teachers’ guilt stifles the fullness of Black History in our schools
Nadena Doharty (The Independent, 30/09/2019)
In a school near you, they might be preparing for Black History Month. What you may not realise among the celebrations of familiar black history heroes such as Walter Tull and Martin Luther King are some of the questionable methods some teachers are using to do that.
In the past couple of years alone, teachers have placed children under tables and asked them to imagine what life aboard a slave ship was like. They have also asked pupils to engage in mock slave auctions with rulers as proxy for whips to cultivate empathy, to learn lessons from the past and to ensure, as one white teacher admitted to me during my doctoral research, that people “know our shame” because she feels personally “guilty” about enslavement. But who is the “our” in her admission? Teachers in England overwhelmingly self-identify as white, and while it is perfectly justifiable and decent to feel emotions including guilt when encountering human tragedies, this should not be foundational for how black histories are engaged with.
10 Ways To Mark Black History Month 2019 In London
Maire Rose Connor (Londonist, 30/09/2019)
October is Black History Month. Since 1987, this annual commemoration has shone the spotlight on the achievements and contributions of black communities in the UK, while bearing witness to the oppression face by these communities and celebrating efforts of resistance.
Here are 10 brilliant ways to celebrate Black History Month 2019 here in London.